Based just outside of Dunleer, Co Louth, Taaffe Agri Services offers its customers excellence when it comes to agricultural contracting services. Irish Tractor & Agri spoke with David Taaffe to learn all about this company situated in the Wee County – from its origins to the state of business at the moment.
Business is good these days at Taaffe Agri Services and the plan for David Taaffe and the rest of the team down in Philipstown, Co Louth is to try and keep things that way right through to 2023 in spite of all the challenges out there at the moment for agri contractors.
Operating with six in its team, the company specialises in silage work, maize and slurry spreading while offering its customers an array of different agricultural services.
David himself has been in charge of the business four years now, having taken over from his uncle John, and has been immersed in ensuring its continued success ever since.
Irish Tractor Agri & Plant touched base with David recently to find out more about what they’ve been up to lately in Philipstown and the machinery fleet they’re operating with.
“Our biggest services here would be silage, maize and slurry. They’re what we’d be known for in the area,” he said.
“I took over the business from my uncle four years ago and it’s going 30 years before that, so it’s a well-established business and would be well-known around here.”
David’s late father Peter and uncle John started up their agri contracting business in the 1980s and, after Peter’s passing 25 years ago, David has since followed in his father’s footsteps by taking on the running of the business, while his cousin Mark is involved as well.
It means Taaffe Agri Services is now very much a second-generation family business and the plan is to continue providing customers with the renowned excellent service year-round.
Right now, business is going well according to David. The 35-year-old Co Louth native hopes that it stays that way too as so many challenges are facing contractors at the moment.
High machinery prices coupled with rising fuel costs mean that it’s a constant battle at the moment for men like David but, in saying that, there is certainly no shortage of work out there as it stands.
“Things are very good business-wise and we’re looking at another busy summer, hopefully as well,” he said.
“Things are definitely getting up their price-wise, whether it be machinery or diesel, but you just have to get on with it and hopefully it’ll eventually level out.”
As for the machinery that Taaffe Agri Services operates with, there have been some new additions to the yard in Philipstown since the start of 2022.
All of the company’s machinery is maintained to an excellent standard and today the tractor count is up to seven as the demand from customers remains high week in, week out.
“Right now, we have seven tractors in the fleet here. Four them are John Deeres, two Claas and a Case tractor as well,” David outlined.
“We recently bought a new 4,000-gallon Redrock slurry tanker from CR Morrow agri dealers in Newry and we’ve bought a new harvester as well, which is a 970 Claas harvester that we bought off Leinster Farm Machinery.
“We’re constantly upgrading our machinery here and it’s something you have to do to meet demand, I suppose. We also have three umbilical pipe systems going as well at the moment here.”
So, all of that considered, what has been the secret to success down through the years for Taaffe Agri Services?
Operating more than three decades, the Taaffe clan has developed an excellent reputation amongst its customers and, according to David, it’s namely down to the service and the men he has working with him to ensure that it’s carried out to a tee.
“I suppose we just try to give as good as service as we can,” he stated plainly.
“We have a great team of lads working with us here and our customers know they can rely on us to get the job done right for them. We never let them down.”
As for the family farm, it sits on just a few acres off the yard in Philipstown.
The trend of recent years has saw Taaffe Agri Services busy with agri contracting 11 out of months of the year and it is very much the main focus for David to ensure that the company’s customers are looked after.
Looking ahead to the coming months for the business, David knows there be will be struggles for agri contractors given the rising fuels costs at the moment.
However, like everyone else, he hopes that they can eventually level out and that his business will be able to maintain the current workload it has.
“We’ll be just looking to manage all these costs at the moment and keep going the way that we’re going with the work we have on at the moment.
“As I said, hopefully diesel prices and the cost of machinery will drop as well but we’ll just have to wait and see,” David concluded.
Taaffe Agri Services
Philipstown,
Dunleer,
Co Louth
Mobile: 087 293 5895
First published in Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 10 No 3, May/June 2022
