Established 50 years now, Pat Cronin & Sons in Gattabawn, Co Kerry provides its customers with a wide range of agri contracting services. Irish Tractor Agri & Plant caught up with Paudie Cronin to hear about the services on offer from this family outfit and the impressive fleet in which it operates with.
Half a century on from its inception and Pat Cronin & Sons is still busy servicing the customers which have been placing their trust in the family-run business for many years now.
Based in Gattabawn, Gneeveguilla, Rathmore, Co Kerry, the company has a wide range of machinery to carry out work quickly and efficiently, providing the customer with value for money and an alternative to investing in their own equipment.
Pat Cronin set-up his agri contracting firm back in 1974 and, along with his wife Kathleen who also looks after company’s books, they’ve oversaw a successful operation to the point now where the second generation of Cronins – Paudie, Shane, Alan, Kieran and Conor – are now driving it on.
Irish Tractor Agri & Plant spoke with Paudie Cronin recently to discuss the ins and outs of the business, it’s work for Coillte down through the years and overall hopes going forward as a company.
“We’d have 15 to 20 working here and it could go up to 30 during the busy season. It really depends on workload,” he outlined.
“There’s 16 tractors in the fleet. We got three new Donnelly trailers this season and a new Fusion 4 as well. Whether or not we’ll add anything more this year depends on work. I can’t see us adding much to the agri side really, it’s hard to know. When we need something, we get it.”
The tractor fleet down in Gattabawn is made up of Claas, Massey Ferguson, John Deere and New Holland, with one Case also in the yard.
Pat Cronin & Sons run two silage crews during the season, while also providing customers services in baling, ploughing, slurry spreading, reseeding, etc.
It all helps the Cronins and their team of staff to keep busy year-round and, as is so often the case in their line of work, weather can dictate when or where they can work at times.
It means that when the opportunity comes, the Cronins must take it and it’s an approach that has certainly served them well over the past 50 years.
Right now, business is in a decent place for the company and, like any ambitious agri contractor, Paudie is keen to see things pick up even more in the months ahead.
“It’s okay. I suppose, farming is tough enough at the moment with grass growth way back. It’s been a tough year for farming and that affects us as well,” he said.
“Business is alright. We’re doing a good bit of deep drainage, pipelaying and all that, so we’re busy anyway.
“We’re still doing work for Coillte and other private companies as well here. We’re doing the reforestation with Coillte around north Cork at the moment, so we’re tipping away at that.”
Along with its long-standing contract with Coillte, Pat Cronin & Sons also work for numerous construction and forestry companies, supplying over ten excavators, bulldozers and dumpers of all sizes to housing estates, roads, reforestation sites and others, all year round, which is another string to their already impressive bow.
Add to that one of the company’s biggest services in slurry spreading and it’s not hard to see how the Cronin clan keep busy 12 months a year.
Using the SlurryQuip brand, they have two umbilical systems on the go, do tanker work as well, and, between both systems, they are able to operate on any sort of land.
It goes without saying that Health & Safety is always paramount at Pat Cronin & Sons, and the company has all of the required permits kept up to date.
So, all of that considered, the clear question is what has been the secret behind Pat Cronin & Sons’ undoubted success to date?
How has a small start-up grown into what is now very much a thriving agri contracting firm with a golden reputation amongst its customers?
The way Paudie sees it, those customers know that they can trust in the business each and every time that it’s hired to do a job.
“They’re used to us, I suppose. We get the job done properly for them. They know they can rely on us and, with the training, all of our lads do a professional job,” stated the Kingdom native.
Along with the contracting business, the Cronins also farm roughly 60 acres where they keep a share of dry stock and sell a bit of silage off of it.
It all combines for little downtime for Pat, Kathleen, Paudie, Shane, Alan, Kieran and Conor, but they wouldn’t have it any other way.
Looking towards another year for the family business, Paudie says they’ll hope for more of the same business-wise, while also ensuring that everything is in place to continue supplying specialised services to their customers.
“We want to just try and keep going through slower times. Things are after slowing a bit. We’d hope for a bit of better weather as well because it has had an impact on things too,” he concluded.
For a full list of services visit the website www.patcroninandsonsltd.com and you can also keep up to date on Facebook and Instagram.
Pat Cronin & Sons
Gattabawn,
Gneeveguilla,
Rathmore,
Co Kerry.
Tel: (064) 664 3218
Web www.patcroninandsonsltd.com
First published in Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 12 No 3, September/October 2024
