A & JJ Walsh Agri Contractors in Kilmaine, County Mayo is a third-generation family business that provides an exceptional service to farmers in the surrounding area.
Agri Contracting is a way of life for the Walsh family who have been in the business for over 60 years. Still going strong, founder Andy Walsh is joined by his sons John Joe and Padraic, as well as John Joe’s son Sean. They are supported by John Joe’s wife Julie and a dedicated team which expands during the busy summer months. The Walsh’s also run a beef enterprise in tandem with the contracting business, supplying their cattle to Dawn Meats in Ballyhaunis.
Their services include pit and baled silage, slurry, fertilizer and dung spreading, crop spraying, lime spreading and supply, hedge-cutting, digger work, reseeding and ploughing. They make about 18,000 bales and cut approximately 2,500 acres of pit silage every year.
Committed to providing supplier service and complete customer satisfaction, A & JJ Walsh Agri Contractors have an array of machinery to carry out your work quickly and efficiently, providing you with value for money and an alternative to investing in your own expensive equipment. The contracting firm’s longevity and success can be attributed to the knowledge, experience, skill and expertise of its staff as well as the quality of its machinery. The Walsh’s highly skilled and highly motivated team deliver the value and quality farmers expect from their agricultural contracting partner.
Range and quality are two excellent traits to possess for any agri contracting outfit and they are part of the reason why A & JJ Walsh Agri Contractors has unearthed such a glowing reputation for itself. “We like to provide a good fast and efficient service to our customers at all times and the key to that is to be able to meet each and every demand our customers expect of us with the minimum of delay,” John Joe says.
“We’ve been trading as A & JJ Walsh Agri Contractors since 1987, but have been in the business for much longer than that. We have a great reputation which has enabled us to build up a large and loyal customer-base in south Mayo and also in parts of Galway and Roscommon. We always go the extra mile for the customer.” John Joe adds.
The Walsh’s run an 11 strong fleet of tractors, including a stunning new wine-colored Valtra T215 which was purchased from James Clarke Tractors in nearby Ballindine. Boasting 215HP, the new arrival has a range of features, including front links and PTO, reverse cameras, climate control, Valtra Guidance and Valtra Connect. It has been put to work drawing slurry and will be on bailing duty come the summer.
“James Clarke put a deal in front of us which was hard to turn down” says John Joe.
“We had a Valtra before back around 2000, so we knew what they were like. They’re a great tractor in terms of power, fuel efficiency, reliability and comfort, and we expect this one to serve us well over the next few years”.
The other tractors in the fleet are Deutz-Fahr and CLAAS. There are four Deutz 6210’s, along with a 6180, a 6185 and a 7250. The three CLAAS are Arion 640s. The Walsh’s also have a John Deere 3050 which is attached to a Triolet Diet Feeder.
A & JJ Walsh Agri Contractors’ machinery includes a New Holland FR650 Forage Harvester, two Class front and rear mounted mowers and a McHale triple mower, two McHale Fusion 3 Plus balers, three silage rakes (two McHale and one Kverneland), a Komatsu 320 Loading shovel, JCB and New Holland teleporters and five 20ft SlurryKat and Herron silage tailers.
For slurry, the family operates 5 2,500-3500-gallon tankers which are a mix of SlurryKat, HiSpec, Agrimac and Major. In addition, they have a Mastek umbilical system, complete with 1,300 meters of piping, and a SlurryKat agitator which was recently purchased new from Bailey Machinery Sales in Mountrath, County Laois. They also run a 14-tonne Metal Fach rear discharge dung spreader, a Kverneland four-furrow reversible plough, a Pottinger air drill, a tolmet 3m disc harrow, a Heva 6.3m disc harrow a PJ Coen made 16ft hydraulic folding land leveller, an Alstrong Auctus direct seeder, a John Deere sprayer with 28m boom, an Arbocut hedge-cutter and two excavators (Hitachi 130 and Komatsu 5t).
In addition, A & JJ Walsh Agri Contractors spread lime which comes from local quarries such as McGrath’s, Mortimers and Colemans.
There is no such thing as a quiet time for this highly-regarded contractor who will work around the clock at busy times and take on extra staff if needs be to keep the clients happy. Slurry spreading, ploughing and sowing takes precedence in the early part of the year, followed by pit and baled silage during the summer months. After that comes more slurry spreading and head-cutting. “Most people think when the summer season is over, we would be quiet but it’s busy all year round with other services being provided,” John Joe points out.
The family business retains customers and attracts new ones by providing a top-class, reliable, clear and cost-effective service.
“We have some great customers who have stuck with us through thick and thin. You try to do the best you can to keep them happy. We are always at the end of the phone from them if they’re looking for us. As such we are always thinking of how to provide and improve our services to our customers, therefore our brains never go to sleep, they are always active and thinking of more opportunities of how to improve our service.”
The Walsh family’s quality work hasn’t been compromised by soaring diesel, bale wrapping, parts of machinery costs. Passionate about agri contracting, they would like to take this opportunity to thank their customers and supplies for their continued support as well as their staff for their dedication, hard work and expertise.
Contact Details
A&JJ Walsh Agri Contractors
Turin,
Kilmaine,
Co. Mayo.
Telephone: John Joe: 087-2549260 Padraic: 087 9668377 Sean: 086 0325515
First published in Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 11 No 3, May/June 2023
