Mulligan Plant & Agri Contractors in Tullamore has earned itself a reputation as one of the most professional and reliable agri contract outfits around the midlands. Irish Tractor & Agri found out more from the company’s three directors.
When it comes to agricultural contracting, there aren’t many things more important to the customer than reliability. At least that’s the way the Mulligan brothers of Tullamore have always seen it.
Peter, David, Eoghan and Wayne have been immersed in the agricultural business since back in the days when their father Sean (RIP) had them out working on the family farm shortly after each one of could walk.
Since that time, Sean has passed away, tragically killed in a farming accident in January of 2010, but the Mulligan name still continues to be synonymous with farming in their local area as Eoghan, one of three directors at Mulligan Plant & Agri Contractors, explained to us.
“We’re here in Geashill, Tullamore, Co Offaly,” Eoghan outlined.
“My father Sean established the company in 1986 and there are four of us working here now altogether. The directors are me and my two brothers Peter and David and then Wayne is another brother that is involved with the company as well.”
While the three aforementioned owners run the business, Wayne Mulligan is preoccupied with running a farm of his own which consists of 80 acres and 50 suckler cows – 10 of which are pedigree charolais.
In the summer months, all four Mulligans are flat out ensuring the silage’s cut and the slurry’s spread.
“We are agricultural contractors and provide all the services of a typical agri contractor, you could say,” he explained.
“Our main work is primarily silage cutting, bale wrapping, sowing corn and spreading slurry. We’re into hedge cutting as well and we’ve also got our own gravel pit here.
“Slurry and dung spreading is a big aspect of the business too and we’re also doing land reclamation and forestry work as well. We’re growing between 150 to 200 acres of corn and we’d also do some slatted tanks for slurry spreading and do a lot of site development.”
Ploughing, tilling and shuttering all fall under the services that Mulligan Plant & Agri Contractors provide as well. They also carry out shed work, walls, floors and gravel roads – hence them having their own pit.
The variety of options that the Mulligans provide their customers is part of the reason why they’re kept busy all year round and not just in the summer months.
They are currently gearing up for silage season, which is set to see them putting in the long shifts throughout the summer and into autumn.
“Business is average enough at the moment. The farmer always has to get his work done and for us the plant hire end of things has really picked up, so we are always kept busy all year round,” said Eoghan.
“From May through to September you wouldn’t have time to bless yourself with all that’s going on! Between silage cutting, slurry spreading and everything else you’re kept flat out all throughout the summer.
“March-April is also a fairly busy time when you’re getting into crops, so January is probably the quietest time for us. In saying that though, it isn’t completely dead either, so we can’t really complain about it.”
Sometimes a short slow period can be necessary for a thriving period but Mulligans aren’t going know much about it over the next few months due to their customers’ demand.
The family have built up a strong local customer base through their professionalism and reliability, according to them, and they’re two characteristics that have funnelled through from the company’s previous generation.
“All of our customers are local and within a 10 to 20-mile radius. Reliability is a huge thing in this line of work. Our family have been in the business for 29 years now and I guess you could say that we’ve grown it up through our reputation of being reliable towards our customers.
“When we say we’re going to be there, we’re going to be there. Reliability is everything to customers and we have always been there for them when they’ve needed us.”
Mulligan Plant & Agri Contractors carry out their day-to-day work with an impressive fleet of John Deere tractors – a brand which the family puts huge trust in when it comes to carrying out their work.
“Right now we are running five John Deeres. Those are a 7810 John Deere, a 7530, 6930, 6530 and a 6810,” said Eoghan.
“We also have a 7500 harvester, a 4070 top line combine and a Volvo L70 loading shovel. With regards to the mowers that we have here, we’re going to start working with a new set of Butterfly mowers this year.”
The Offaly man continued: “We also have a McHale Fusion 2 and a John Deere 578 baler. There are two 20-foot Smyth trailers here and a Dooley trailer which is an 18-footer.
“We’ve a 2900 Klass rake for silage as well and a Cross 2250 gallon tanker for slurry, three dump trailers and a Dooley low loader. For hedge cutting, we have a saw head and spearhead 605 hedge- cutter.
“It can be hard to keep them all maintained all year round but you have to do it and next year we’ll be looking into adding one or two machines.”
The likelihood is that the machinery will be John Deere as it a brand which the Mulligan brothers have tried and tested for years now.
“We feel that there’s huge reliability with John Deere tractors,” said Eoghan. “We started off with the 10 Series in 2002 and could get the better of it so we’ve stuck with John Deere ever since then.”
So if it’s a first class and reliable agri contractor service you’re looking for, look no further than Mulligan Plant & Agri Contractors.
Mulligan Plant & Agri Contractors
Address: Geashill, Tullamore, Co Offaly
Mob: 087 6289939
Taken from Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 4 No 3, March 2016
Agri, Contractors, Mulligan, Plant
