Pat O’Connor & Sons Agri Plant is a leading agricultural contracting firm based in Ballyporeen, Co. Tipperary. The family-run business provides a wide range of services to farmers in four different counties, including silage cutting, slurry spreading, lime spreading, ploughing, reseeding, hedge-cutting and excavation work.
The O’Connor family have been in the farm contracting business for decades. It all started in Drinagh, a village situated between the towns of Dunmanway and Skibbereen in West Cork, where Tom O’Connor catered for the needs of local farmers for many years, and was the first in the area to own a tractor, before moving his operation to Ballyporeen in 1976. Now approaching his 90th birthday, Tom handed down the business to his son Pat who has worked hard to make it the contractor of choice for numerous farmers within a 25-mile radius of Ballyporeen. With Pat’s sons Patrick and Aidan now involved – both studied agri mechanisation at LIT after leaving school to further their knowledge of farm machines – the future of the successful family business looks to be in safe hands.
“We’ve been in Ballyporeen since my father bought a dairy farm here in 1976. He continued to provide an agri contracting service which we’ve built up over the years. I’ve been in this business since I was 16, so I have a fair knowledge of it at this stage,” Pat says.
Committed to providing a top-class service and complete customer satisfaction, Pat O’Connor & Sons Agri Plant has 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. Its success is down to the knowledge, skill and expertise of its staff, as well as the quality of its equipment. Pat and his professional team deliver the value and quality farmers expect from their agricultural contracting partner.
Pat O’Connor & Sons Agri Plant runs a fleet of nine tractors, five New Holland (TM115, TM150, T6080, T6090 and T6155) and four Case IH Pumas (Maxum 140, Puma 160, Puma 215 and Puma CVX230), ranging from 115hp to 230hp.
Other plant / equipment operated by the contractor include a new Claas 870 (496) sliage harvester, a Manitou telehandler, JCB 434 loading shovels, Tarup and Pottinger mowers, Claas and Pottinger rakes, a Pottinger silage wagon, a Lely tedder, three Red Rock 2,500-gallon slurry tankers, Hitachi EX200, Case CX130C and Takeuchi TV230 excavators, a McConnel hedgecutter, a Kverneland five-furrow reversible plough, a Maschio disc harrow, a Bredal lime spreader, a Tulip fertiliser spreader with GPS system, a new Hardi sprayer operated by trained operators using GPS as well as Red Rock, Dooley and Broughan silage trailers.
All machines are upgraded on a regular basis to avoid breakdowns and downtime. Servicing and maintenance is carried out in-house, while the bigger repair jobs are handled by Lynch & McCarthy in Little Island or M&S Machinery in Cashel, who are main Case IH and New Holland dealers respectively. Breen Farm Machinery in Cashel and McCarthy’s in Cork are the O’Connor’s local Claas dealers. “A machine is only as good as the back-up you get from your dealer network,” Pat says.
There is no such thing as a quiet time for this highly-regarded agricultural contracting firm. In the early months of the year, the focus is on slurry spreading, lime spreading, ploughing and reseeding. The silage season gets underway in May and runs until September. This is a particularly busy time for the O’Connors who take on part-time staff and work around the clock to keep their clients happy. They cut between 3,500 and 4,000 acres of pit and baled silage every summer. Pat has noticed a growing demand for baled silage in recent years due to the increase in the size of dairy herds and the fact that bales are often more convenient for part-time farmers, and has invested in a second Keltec 10-bale carrier to handle the extra work. When the silage is done with, it’s back to slurry spreading and hedge-cutting.
The three excavators are always in demand, whether it is for digging out slatted tanks or foundations for houses. The firm takes on all aspects of concrete works, including farm buildings, slatted tanks, cubical houses, milking parlours, workshops, storage sheds, driveways and new homes.
“We can do any sort of excavation work… milking parlours, slatted tanks, drainage or land reclamation. This is a large part of our work throughout the year. We take care of jobs from start to finish,” the affable farm contractor continues.
“We take great pride in the quality of our work and machinery. We like to be able to walk away having done a good job. Our customers are some of the best farmers in Ireland.
“We have customers in parts of Tipperary, Cork, Waterford and Limerick, and would like to take this opportunity to thank them for the support and loyalty they’ve shown us over the past 40 years. We look forward to working for and with them for many more years to come. We would also like to thank our staff down through the years for putting in the hours when required of them.”
Pat is married to Mary, who is a teacher in Ballyporeen National School. They have two sons, the aforementioned Patrick and Aidan, and three daughters, Emma, Claire and Maeve.
For all your agriculture contracting needs, look no further than Pat O’Connor & Sons Agri Plant!
Pat O’Connor & Sons Agri Plant,
Barrabue,
Ballyporeen,
Co. Tipperary.
Telephone: 052 7467430
Taken from Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 6 No 1, February 2018
Pat O’Connor & Sons Agri Plant
