Celebrating 15 years in business, Patrick Halpin Agri Contracting Ltd is a leading farm contracting firm based in Knocklong, Co. Limerick. The family business provides a wide range of services, including baled and pit silage, slurry spreading, dung spreading, reseeding, lime and fertiliser spreading, hedge cutting and digger work.
There is never a dull moment for owner Pat Halpin and his wife Carmel who also run a large dairy and beef operation in the heart of the Golden Vale at Lackelly. But they aren’t short of help from their children Katie (17), Padraig (15), Oonagh (12), Emily (10) and Trish (eight), or their 13-strong full-time team who are supplemented by part-timers during the busy silage season.
“There’s nothing we don’t do when it comes to agri contracting,” Pat says.
“It couldn’t be done without the support of the family and some very loyal, long-serving and passionate staff who buy into our business model on a daily basis. Everyone has a role to play. We are also fortunate to have part-time staff who never see us stuck at busy times and are only a phone call away.
“And not forgetting our loyal customers who are a pleasure to work with and always pay on time.”
Every aspect of the family business had grown dramatically in recent years which wouldn’t have been possible without the backing of Permanent TSB and their Business Banking Manager, Shane Walsh.
“Since entering the agri market, Permanent TSB have been very decent to deal with it. They’re competitive and offer a very good product which has been key to us building a good, strong business,” Pat explains.
“We’ve come a long way since setting up the business on February 9 2009, which was a week before Padraig was born. Our own farm wasn’t big enough to make a living from, so we decided to get into agri contracting and dairying on a larger scale.
“We had 123 acres of our own, which we’ve since increased to 187 acres, but it still wouldn’t be enough to sustain us. We lease and rent 1,000 acres and have gone from milking 36 cows to 600. We recently extended our Fullwood milking parlour from 32 units to 44. We also finish 500 beef cattle a year. We supply our milk to Dairygold and beef to Dawn Meats.
“We have five people working full-time on the farm which has allowed me to concentrate on the contracting side of the business. Carmel and our oldest two daughters Katie and Oonagh look after the calves with support from the younger two (Emily and Trish). Padraig has a huge interest in machinery, so hopefully he will follow in my footsteps. It’s a real team effort.”
He continues: “The agri contracting business has grown in tandem with the dairy and beef enterprises. We have invested heavily in the best of machinery and have received tremendous support from farmers in the area. I have made enormous personal sacrifices to get to where we are today.”
Committed to providing a top-class service and complete customer satisfaction, Patrick Halpin Agri Contracting Ltd has 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 company’s success can be attributed to the knowledge, skill and expertise of its staff as well as the quality of its machinery. Pat and his highly-skilled team deliver the value and quality farmers expect from their agricultural contracting partner.
Pat runs one of the most modern CLAAS tractors fleets in the country. He has 11 in all, including Axion 810 and 830 Cmatics. He also has two 650s, two 640s, two 630s as well 697, 550 and 450 models. The latter three are all fitted with front loaders. The other tractors in the fleet are a Massey Ferguson 7720, John Deere 175M with front loader, John Deere 155M with front loader, New Holland TM120 and New Holland T6125, bringing the total to 16.
Patrick Halpin Agri Contractor Ltd’s grass machinery includes a CLAAS 880 self-propelled harvester, five McHale Fusion balers, three CLAAS rakes and one Fella rake, two Kuhn eight-rotor tedders, six Broughan silage trailers (four 20ft and two 22ft), two sets of CLAAS triple mowers, one set of CLAAS double mowers, three 10 pack bale chasers (two Keltec and one Wilson), a CLAAS Scorpion telehandler with a Keltec double bale handler, Volvo L60E and Komatsu 320 loading shovels, three bale trailers and one low loader.
The contractor makes up to 30,000 silage bales and cuts 2,000 acres of pit silage per annum. “We have a lot of customers doing 1,000-plus bales a year. They stretch from Tipperary town back as far as West Limerick,” reveals Pat, whose baled silage service includes mowing, tedding, baling, moving and stacking bales.
For slurry, Pat is running two Abbey and one new Red Rock 2,500-gallon tankers with dribble bars, two Mastek umbilical systems with 2.3km of piping, Red Rock and Cross agitators and a Samson rear discharge. His reseeding equipment includes a 6m Gregoire Besson disc harrow, a 6m Kuhn power harrow with air seeder and a Dusseldorf green rake.
The affable Limerick man uses an Agrispread for spreading lime which comes from McGrath Quarries in Herbertstown. He also has a Sulky fertiliser spreader and three Hyundai, Hitachi and Takeuchi excavators. Purchased in 2019, the Hyundai 140XL can often be found attached to a mulcher or shears. Another piece of kit he operates is a Twose hedge cutter.
All of the CLAAS tractors were purchased from Breen’s Farm Machinery in Cashel, while the CLAAS forage harvester was bought from McCarthy’s Plant & Agri Sales in Carrigtwohill. All machines are upgraded and serviced regularly to avoid breakdowns and downtime. Maintenance is carried out in house as well as by Breen’s Farm Machinery, Greencare Mechanical Services in Golden, Co. Tipperary and CMS (Cathal McCourt).
Pat and his team will work around the clock during the silage season to keep their clients happy. They retain long-time customers and attract new ones by offering a professional, reliable, clean and value-for-money service.
“We pride ourselves on providing a good service. We don’t take any shortcuts. We can cater for all your agri contracting needs. We would like to take this opportunity to thank our customers for their support and loyalty, and look forward to working for and with them for many more years to come,” he concludes.
Here’s to the next 15 years of this exceptional farm contractor.
Patrick Halpin Agri Contracting Ltd
Lackelly,
Knocklong,
Co. Limerick.
Telephone: 087 6449168
Email: [email protected]
First published in Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 12 No 3, September/October 2024
Featured, Patrick Halpin Agri Contracting
