With a superb fleet of machinery at their disposal allied to decades of experience, JF McGlynn & Sons provides an unrivalled agricultural contracting and plant hire service to customers from across County Donegal and beyond. We dropped into their Ballybofey base and caught up with Stephen McGlynn to get an insight into this magnificent, multifaceted family operation.
The genesis of JF McGlynn & Sons dates back over two decades, to 1993, when Jack McGlynn – who runs the operation alongside his son Stephen – first started providing an agri contracting service. “He would have been farming before that and worked as a sales agent for Ormonds in Dublin. I finished up in St Columba’s College in ’92 and we started the contracting business together the following year,” Stephen notes.
Like most agri contracting businesses, JF McGlynn & Sons started off small and built their customer base up gradually over the years. “We started with a new Claas round baler and a new wrapper and built it up from there,” says Stephen. Today, the father-and-son team operate eight tractors in total – five John Deeres and three Cases. This Spring, they added a striking brand new John Deere 6215R to the fleet, purchased from Agri-Power in Lifford along with a new set of John Deere triple mowers. In 2012, a superb John Deere 7350 self-propelled forage harvester was acquired. This is all in keeping with the policy of operating a fresh and well-maintained fleet. “We look to buy a new tractor or digger at least every couple of years,” Stephen confirms.
Complementing the tractors is a McHale Fusion 3 integrated baler wrapper purchased from Eamonn Tinney Agri Sales in Letterkenny, a new Krone 30-foot rake purchased this year from Donegal Tractors in Letterkenny, a Hi-Spec 2,000-gallon tanker, a mower and a variety of silage trailers, low loaders and dump trailers.
Not long after the contracting business was established, JF McGlynn & Sons also branched into plant hire. In 1999, the McGlynns purchased four diggers, which were put to work on roads projects with Wills Bros in Mayo. This work still continues today.
“Our diggers – which come with drivers – range from 14-tonne to 35-tonne,” Stephen explains. “The 35-tonne digger has been moved from Wicklow, where it was working on the M11 for a year, to Gort, where it will be put to work on the new Gort-Tuam motorway for another twelve months. In late April, we added a second 35-tonne digger to that project in Galway.
“We also provide snow ploughing and gritting services to a local wind farm in the winter time. In addition, we have a digger on hire long-term to Safetech in Letterkenny, who provide nationwide driver training.”
On the agri contracting front, JF McGlynn & Sons offers a varied service, specialising in baling, pit silage, slurry spreading and land reclamation, covering a catchment area within a 20-mile radius of their Curraghamone base, some three miles from Ballybofey. Here, they also have their own farm, fattening 200 beef cattle per year.
Jack and Stephen benefit from a lot of repeat business and customer loyalty. “We have a steady customer base and a lot of the customers who are with us today have been with us since we started.”
Since its inception, JF McGlynn & Sons has grown in popularity by providing customers with a service they can depend upon. They have no intention of deviating from this winning formula any time soon! “We aim to do a good job at all times and to be punctual. We’ll be there when we say we’ll be there. We pride ourselves on the quality of our work and we are very hands-on. The phones are never off and any of our customers can contact us at any time, day or night. We have very good working relationships with our customers and our plan is to stick to what we are doing for the time being anyway…”
At the height of the summer, JF McGlynn & Sons will provide gainful employment to a crew of five – weather-permitting, of course! “We’re always at the mercy of the weather,” says Stephen. “When it’s raining nobody wants you and then when the sun comes out everyone wants you! So you have some quiet days and then you are flat out when it’s dry. But that’s all part and parcel of this line of work and you have to be ready for it.”
The McGlynns also sell TamaNet and Silawrap plastic bale wrap to other contractors and farmers in the region. “The Silawrap is manufactured in Wexford and we’ve been using it ourselves for 15 years,” Stephen notes.
Generally speaking, JF McGlynn & Sons is holding its own in a very difficult market. With farmers coming under increasing pressure due to reduced rates for primary producers, everybody is feeling the pinch.
“Farming in general is a very hard business,” Stephen observes. “When farmers are struggling, that leaves it hard for the contractor as well. Margins are very small. We see it for ourselves with the beef cattle – there is certainly a lot of room for beef prices to pick up. Farmers are getting squeezed.
“Cash flow is hard to manage for farmers but we know our customers and we understand where they are coming from. We know they only have income at certain times of the year and you have to work around this and be flexible with them. Farmers are asset-rich but income-poor and they work very hard for every penny they make. We work alongside them and try to help in whatever way we can.”
As a family business, JF McGlynn & Sons has always provided a strong personal touch. “I’d like to acknowledge and thank my mother Kate for all her hard work down through the years. She has worked very hard since we were children and made a massive contribution to the success of the business, boiling kettles and cooking meals for the men and raising the family at the same time. She deserves great credit for that,” Stephen concludes
JF McGlynn & Sons,
Curraghamore,
Ballybofey,
County Donegal.
Tel: 074-9131513
Taken from Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 3 No 6, July 2015
