Over the last decade-and-a-half, McGee Farm Machinery & Tractor Hire Ltd. – main dealer for Krone, Amazone and Zuidberg – has developed into one of Louth’s premier suppliers of agricultural machinery, providing farmers and contractors alike with an unrivalled range of equipment. An excellent maintenance, parts and repairs service is also provided from the state-of-the-art workshop at Salterstown, Dunleer.
Founder-proprietor Kevin McGee reflects on the formation of his steadily-expanding, quality-orientated and 100% customer-focussed operation:
“I set the business up in 2000. I served my time working in a main John Deere dealership and I had always hoped to set up on my own.” Kevin hails from a dairy farming background, his father John McGee being widely renowned as a progressive dairy farmer in the Salterstown area.
“I began by hiring tractors out to farmers and contractors,” he continues. “We started off with just the one tractor and built it up from there. We went up to 47 at one stage during the silly days. I gradually curtained the hire side of the business and have now cut that back to a fleet of five or six. It’s mostly sales and servicing now.”
McGee Farm Machinery started selling in 2007 and set out with the Farmhand range of machinery (Amazone, Krone, Zuidberg). In conjunction with Barry McKenna Agri Ltd. in Emyvale, Kevin has also been New Holland sub-dealer for Louth since 2014.
As well as sales, a full parts, servicing and repairs service is also offered on all makes of machinery (servicing John Deeres being a particular speciality), while an afterhours breakdown / repairs service is also available. Meanwhile, the tractor hire fleet ensures that customers are never in a fix during those times when they need an extra unit or two.
The core of the business revolves around Amazone’s top-class spreaders and sprayers as well as the world-renowned Krone grass harvesting machinery. Thirteen Amazone sprayers were sold last year alone, while McGee Farm Machinery & Tractor Hire is also fully certified for sprayer testing. Meanwhile, Krone’s stunning range of Big X harvesters, Big M mowers, forage wagons, square and round balers, rotary rakes and tedders are extremely popular not just in County Louth and surrounding counties but much further afield.
“For the more regular stuff, the catchment area would be Louth and parts of Meath but for the Krone Big X and Big M, we cover parts of Northern Ireland and the northern half of Leinster,” Kevin notes. “We are one of only five or six Big X dealers in Ireland, so we have good coverage.
“We also specialise in Zuidberg linkage and PTO repairs. We carry a full range of spare parts for all Krone, Amazone and Zuidberg machinery, and have a store counter here on site with a display at the front. We also have APV, Quicke and New Holland parts.”
Business is conducted from a brand-new, purpose-built facility, which was constructed in 2013, the state-of-the-art workshop incorporating a pit and overhead gantry and utilising all the latest technology and diagnostic equipment. Money had been regularly invested in the business down through the years and this has enabled McGee Farm Machinery & Tractor Hire to consistently serve customers with products and a service that they can depend upon.
“Our mechanic – Michael Fitzpatrick, who has been with me for ten years – attends all advanced courses run by Amazone and Krone and we offer a 24-hour call-out service during silage season. Michael has been a great asset to the business. He takes work on himself and has always been proactive. We work very well together. In response to an ongoing rise in demand, we’re hoping to increase staff numbers in the coming months,” says the Louth man.
Of course, the success of McGee Farm Machinery & Tractor Hire hasn’t happened by chance. A tremendous amount of hard work has gone into bringing this business to where it’s at today and the fact that Kevin McGee never switches his mobile off – morning, noon or night – speaks for itself. He is always on hand to answer queries and to deal with his customers’ needs.
“It takes a lot of time to build a business like this up and it certainly didn’t happen overnight,” he confirms. “I was the new kid on the block in ’07, even though I would have been well-known as a John Deere mechanic and had served my time in the industry. Still, starting out in machinery sales, I had to take small steps at the beginning.”
Any new dealerships on the horizon? “At the moment, we have enough to keep us going and we are very happy with the products we’re selling, as are our customers. We also sell Leica GPS equipment for field-mapping etc. and sell and fit Trailer Vision wireless camera systems for tractors.
“The majority of the Amazone sprayers we sell would come with GPS and a GPS switch so that it automatically cuts off on sections you’ve already covered to save you money. It won’t overlap any of the spray area. The same concept applies to our fertiliser systems.”
Service is at the very heart of everything Kevin McGee and McGee Farm Machinery & Tractor Hire do. “We thrive on service,” he agrees. “Our aftersales service is very comprehensive and our home place is right beside the business – I won’t turn any customer away if they knock on my door any time of the morning or night.
“I pride myself on running a family business with a personal touch. I’ve three kids – who are 16, 15 and 12 – and they are showing a good interest in the business, so maybe they’ll come on board one day.”
The bottom line is that while the products supplied are excellent, the level of customer service provided is even better. Without the latter, it wouldn’t be possible to survive in the highly-competitive field of agri machinery sales. “The salesman will sell the first machine but the workshop, mechanic and aftersales team will sell the second one.” Kevin points out.
With an eye on the future, he concludes: “I just want to try to keep building up sales and hopefully develop a bigger customer base. But we will keep it local in order to ensure that we can provide everybody with a good service.”
McGee Farm Machinery & Tractor Hire,
Salterstown,
Dunleer,
County Louth.
Tel: 041 6852407
Mobile: 0874185292
Email: [email protected]
Taken from Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 3 No 4, May 2015
Hire, McGee Farm Machinery, Tractor
