Bernard Byrne Combines Ltd. in County Wexford is Ireland’s largest combine breaker, supplying a host of satisfied customers nationwide with a comprehensive range of parts for combine harvesters (new and used) and balers. We travelled to Bernard’s ever-expanding base in Gorey to get an insight into this unique operation.
It’s one thing finding a niche market; it’s another thing entirely to go into that market with energy, vision and commitment to provide quality products backed up by a top-class service.
Bernard Byrne Combines Ltd. has succeeded on all these fronts and is going stronger than ever almost four decades since the eponymous founder broke his first combine.
Based in Ballytarsna, Gorey, County Wexford, the well-appointed combine breaker, which sources and supplies new and used spare parts for a range of agricultural machinery, is by far and away Ireland’s largest and premier breaker of combines.
Reflecting on the modest genesis of the business, Bernard notes: “I’ve been in business since 1978. We were farming ourselves and we had trouble with a Massey Ferguson combine, which was burning off belts. We were told by the local dealer that it needed a new belt and two drum pulleys and the cost of those was fairly hefty.
“So I bought a similar old, damaged combine for £150 and brought it home and we got what we wanted off that and we got our machine up and running again. There was no real plan to set up a business or anything but people started to come around looking for parts and we started selling parts off that initial combine. The penny dropped and I realised that there was a business opportunity there and bought a few more combines.”
From there, the business just grew organically, in line with demand. Word spread that Bernard Byrne was the go-to man for combine parts and soon he was serving a vast niche market. The mechanical end of the work, in terms of identifying and removing parts correctly, was never a problem…
“Our father brought us up to do everything ourselves when it came to maintaining the machinery on the farm,” he reflects. “As there wasn’t a lot of money in farming and you had to keep your overheads down, you had to handle all the mechanical work yourself. Sure, we made mistakes in the beginning but you got there in the end and you got your experience of the workings of the machinery.”
Before he knew it, the combine parts business took on a life all of its own. In double-quick time, Bernard Byrne Combines Ltd. was the No.1 port of call for affordable combine parts and calls were coming in from farmers, contractors, dealers and garages island-wide: “We started sourcing more and more combines every year because our customers’ businesses started to grow and dealers were also contacting us looking for parts,” he recalls. “The business just grew and grew. We were providing a great service because it wasn’t a lot of money in fairness compared to getting a brand-new part or replacing the machine. People were able to buy second-hand parts for half the price or even a quarter of the price that they might have paid elsewhere and that part was still exactly the same.”
Bernard now has customers from all over the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland and England. Amazingly, his customer base continues to grow! Parts are sold all over Europe and Asia and also as far afield as Australia.
Bernard Byrne Combines Ltd. is a family-run business. Bernard’s wife Breda handles accounts, the shop counter and looks after the family around the clock, while son Bernard handles every corner of the business from retail to dismantling combines and balers alongside his father and co-workers.
Bernard Jnr. is very involved in the business when he is not in college, studying Mechanical Engineering. Once qualified, he hopes to use his degree to add to the family business. He is very interested and eager to be a part of the future of the business.
At any given time, Bernard Byrne Combines would have up to 250 combines in the yard for breaking. “We break every make and model,” the Wexford man reveals. “John Deere, New Holland, Claas and Deutz Fahr would be the four main makes but we also do Massey Ferguson, Laverda and Fortschritt from the Eastern Bloc – we actually sell quite a few spare parts for those.”
It would be nigh on impossible to estimate the number of parts available. “We’d have thousands upon thousands of parts of all descriptions in stock but we don’t actually remove them until they are wanted because it is far easier to find the parts while they are still on the combine. We leave them where they are until somebody needs them and after that our staff would be extremely efficient at getting any part off. The longest it would take to remove any part is half an hour. We do absolutely everything from engines to wheels and everything in between and all our parts are fully operational.”
The customer base is wide and varied, transcending agricultural machinery dealers and operators. For example, a lot of engines and parts are sold to fisheries for boats, which have similar engines to combines. Bernard runs a tight and efficient ship: “During the busy season, we would have three lads working here and they are all very efficient and know their jobs,” the founder notes.
“During the off season, we buy and dismantle and sell combines to markets worldwide. We also do balers and intend to get back into tractor breaking again. We’re in the process of building a new store and will get back into tractor parts once we get that up and running.
“We also supply a lot of new replacement parts for combines, which are sourced mainly in the UK and Germany. We have almost everything for combines from knife-drive boxes, pulleys, sheaves, bubble-up boxes and reversing gears for headers of New Holland combines as well as elevator cases, rasp bars, concaves, complete knives, knife heads, fingers, sections, shafts for all main makes of gearboxes, sprockets, jockey pulleys, impeller blades, clutches, a large stock of grain elevator chains complete with paddles for all makes, straw elevator chains and slats for all popular makes.”
Bernard Byrne Combines also carries a good stock of new belts including drum belts, traction belts, bearings, brake discs, brake cylinders, grain pans etc. as well as oil, batteries and new baler chains. Claas, John Deere, Welger and Viking balers are also broken. Last year, he also started supplying ripple sheets for grain pans, which can save the operator hundreds of euro provided the frame of the old pan is still in good condition.
All major cards are accepted and a next-day delivery service is provided. Typically, customers will have their new part on site before lunch the following day.
Bernard Snr. reveals: “We still farm, sowing a mix of barley, wheat and oats and we love nothing more than to get out on the land in the off season. It gives us a break from the yard and allows us to clear our heads before the busy season starts up again.” His son adds: “I would love to be out on the combine cutting our own corn during the harvest but as it’s our busiest time of year, I don’t get the chance to get out to the field. The customers always come first”.
Looking to the future, Bernard predicts further growth: “The business has expanded and the present store is too small. I’m in the process of building a much larger store, which will enable us to carry a lot more parts. We’ll be breaking combines, balers and tractors. Generally, we would look at parts that we didn’t have one year and try to source them for the following year, but it’s an unpredictable market and you have to try to keep a good supply of everything in stock.
“We have a lot of customers all over Ireland for both second-hand and new parts for combines and balers. We make a big effort to source the machines at the right price so we can provide our customers with the parts they need at the best value possible – that’s what they want at the end of the day.”
Anyone who is interested in selling of trading farm machinery is urged to contact Bernard through any of the avenues listed below. “We work hard to make our business successful and it pays off for us,” he concludes. “We are very proud of the company and appreciate the business our customers give us”.
Bernard Byrne Combines Ltd.,
Ballytarsna,
Gorey,
County Wexford.
Tel: 05394 26390
Mobile: 087 2250538
Facebook: Bernard Byrne
Combines Ltd
E: [email protected]
Taken from Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 3 No 4, May 2015
