Spring is well and truly upon us and that means many agricultural contractors are gearing up for the busy summer months ahead.
At present, slurry, hedge cutting and ploughing are the three main areas being focused on over the next couple of months.
Agricultural contractors generally provide a wide range of services to their customers and as the ‘mad season’ approaches, we profile one of the Northern Ireland’s finest contractors.
Gray Agri Contracts are based in Co Antrim and for the past 17 years, they have been servicing the needs of their farming customers.
The family-run concern offers a comprehensive agri contracting service which includes silage cutting, slurry spreading, ploughing, reseeding and plant hire.
Committed to providing an unrivalled service and complete customer satisfaction, the Gray’s have a wide range 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.
David Gray and his father John have worked hard over the years to deliver a service that is not only high in quality, but efficient and cost effective as well.
David revealed to us that the business grew from humble beginnings working with one customer to working with many in a ten-mile radius of them.
“I was studying in Greenmount College before I started mowing for a local contractor. An opportunity then arose in 2004 to buy a baler and wrapper, which I began doing,” said David.
“A year later and we were not only mowing for the contractor, but raking as well with our own machinery. Then in 2006, the contractor asked if I was interested in taking over his whole business and I was.
“I then sold the baler as I couldn’t keep it all going and I purchased a harvester in ’06. We had a great start in that I got all the contractors’ customers and thankfully they are still with us today.”
The company’s success is down to the knowledge, skill and expertise of its staff, as well as the quality of its equipment. The family business delivers the value and quality farmers expect from their agricultural contracting partner.
“My father did all the mowing up until last year, but is still actively involved. There are four employed full time here along with my father and I, while we would have part time drives during peak times. We also have a dairy farm where we milk 130 cows twice daily.”
The business is kept busy all year round with their agricultural contracting business. In the early part of the year, the focus is very much on slurry spreading of which David operates two umbilical slurry systems to get through the workload.
The umbilical application system has many advantages over traditional tanker-based application methods, the main ones being it empties slurry tanks and lagoons much faster, reduces/eliminates soil compaction and reduces fuel consumption as the contractor is not constantly travelling from the yard to the field.
However, David cannot get his head around the slurry ban that is in place during the winter months.
“The ban makes no sense at all, the land is wetter now that it was all winter. During December the land was in great condition and yet you are not allowed out on it, but you are now and you can’t as it is too wet.”
The silage and baling season gets underway in May and runs until September. This is a particularly hectic time for the family who will work around the clock to keep their clients happy. It’s followed in the autumn by more slurry spreading.
“At least six months of the year is taken up with slurry spreading. The rest of the year is filled in with silage, ploughing and reseeding.”
To carry out their work, the Gray’s have an extensive range of machinery at their disposal with Claas and John Deere being top of the list.
“We used to use New Holland but for a good few years now all the tractors are John Deere. We have a 6215R, 6155R, three 6150R’s, 6930 and a 6420 which is used for the umbilical system. We also have a JCB 435s.
“Our harvester is a Claas 850. Since the first one we bought was brand new, we have always bought brand new ones ever since. We would change the harvester every two years and we receive an excellent service from Erwin Agri-Care and Johnson & Gilpin (John Deere).
“During the summer months in particular, we cannot afford to have any breakdowns, so it is essential to have the fleet in good working order. As I already stated, all machines are upgraded on a regular basis to avoid breakdowns and downtime.”
Lastly, David was keen to pay tribute to his customer base who have stood by them over the years as he looks forward to dealing with them for the foreseeable future.
“They have stayed loyal to us because we offer a professional, reliable and clean service at a competitive price. We would like to take this opportunity to thank them for their business and look forward to working for and with them for many more years to come.”
Contact Details:
Gray Agri Contracts
Dunadry
Co. Antrim
Taken from Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 5 No 3, April/May 2017
