John Kelly & Son Agri Hire Ltd. is a third-generation family business operating out of Currow in County Kerry and synonymous with the consistent delivery of exceptional agri contracting and digger hire services. Darragh Kelly kindly took some time out from his busy schedule to talk to Irish Tractor & Agri.
Three generations of the Kelly family are on hand every day to keep the wheels turning at John Kelly & Son Agri Hire.
From their base in Currow, at the heart of the Kingdom’s dairy hinterland, almost equidistant between Killarney and Tralee and close to Kerry Airport, the eponymous John and his father Dan Joe and son Darragh provide a range of prompt and professional contracting solutions to the local farming community.
Known near and far for the quality of their silage, baling, ploughing, slurry, digger hire and hedge cutting solutions, the Kellys are renowned for dependable workmanship and that’s one of the many reasons whey John Kelly & Son Agri Hire boasts a long line of loyal customers going back decades.
Following in the footsteps of dad John and grandfather Dan Joe, 21-year-old Darragh Kelly has been part of the family contracting business for six or seven years already. “I’ve been working alongside Dad since I was 14 or 15,” he comments, reflecting on the history of John Kelly & Son Agri Hire Ltd. “My grandfather Dan Joe started contracting around 50 years ago.
“As far as I know, he started out doing silage and he also did a bit of farming at the time. Eventually, my uncle Paul took over the family farm and dad got the machinery. My father eventually took over and it was probably inevitable that I’d get involved, too.”
When it comes to agri contracting services, John Kelly & Son has the experience, machinery and manpower to provide a comprehensive array of superb services to local farmers.
Offering both pit and baled silage, they run a 2004 Claas Jaguar 850 self-propelled harvester alongside a pair of Fusion 3+ balers. For slurry, they have an umbilical cord system with dribble bars and trailing shoe on the back of the tankers. Ploughing, reseeding and dung spreading services are also provided, while digger hire – for both agri and commercial work – is a big part of the business model.
To this end, the Kellys currently own and operate four diggers – a 14-tonne Doosan, two 13-tonne Hitachis and a 21-tonne Case excavator – as well as a couple of JCB loaders, a 416 and 419. “We also have a McConnel hedge cutter, which we bought new two year ago, and my grandfather is obsessed with that,” Darragh continues. “He’s 76 now but he’s showing no signs of slowing down. He’s still going strong and loves nothing better than being out mowing or hedge cutting.
“Family-wise, the three of us are all involved, while my cousin Daniel has also been involved a lot over the years, but he was in Australia this year so he wasn’t with us this season. All of my dad’s brothers would also have driven for us when they were younger. As well as the three family members, we also have six or seven other lads who we’d use regularly as well – one is full-time on the digger and the rest are younger lads who come in when the pressure in on.”
Does the digger work help ensure that there is plenty of work to keep money coming in all year around? “Yes, but not just the diggers, as you also have the hedge cutting and even the slurry keeps you going in the Spring. There’s always work, thankfully. Once you have that work for the diggers during the winter, you can’t complain. We do a lot of mulching for farmers and we also have the diggers out doing schools and factories and jobs like that. We do a good bit with Callaghan Bros in Castleisland and that’s very important to us.”
All the machinery is kept in immaculate condition at all times, which ensures no let-downs – another key strength of this long-running family business. “John O’Sullivan from Kilcummin looks after the machinery for us and he is a great mechanic. We trade the balers in every two or three years to keep them fresh and rotate them,” says Darragh. “You’d change the oldest one each time.
“You have to keep investing in the fleet. The hedge cutter is only two years old and we also bought a new Krone 20-foot rake a couple of years ago. We also have a 30-foot Claas rake so we can keep up. On top of that, we purchased two new New Hollands for this season – a brand new T7 225 and a T7 270 Blue Power.”
There are four New Hollands in total in the tractor fleet – a T6070 and T7200 being the others – as well as four John Deeres (6150M, 6155M, 6930 and 6830) and the obligatory Massey Ferguson.
As for the secret of John Kelly & Son Agri Hire’s success down through the years, Darragh references keeping the machinery firing on all cylinders to minimise downtime… “It’s tough sometimes but at the end of the day you have to make sure you do every job right,” he states. “Keeping all the machinery and equipment right is paramount because otherwise you might not be going anywhere as you are more likely to have a breakdown.
“We also do our best to keep all the workers happy because without good workers you won’t be doing a thing. Three or four of these lads have been with us since they turned 16 and got their licences and they are well able to drive anything, which is a huge help. This includes triple mowers, which is no easy thing to operate, so experience is very important.”
In a beautiful part of the country where dairy dominates but beef is also reasonably popular, John Kelly & Son Agri have an uncanny knack of holding onto their customers, as Darragh confirms: “The majority of the customers we have go back to when Dan Joe started out. A lot of them are older farmers as well as descendants of those men. We believe in looking after customers and this means giving your full attention to every job.”
It’s no secret that 2024 wasn’t a great year for either farmers or contractors, but John, Dan Joe and Darragh kept going and refused to let their enthusiasm or energy levels drop: “It was a tough year to be fair,” the latter concludes. “Especially the first part of the year was tough going. There were a few days where it was sunny but you knew the rain was coming so you had to go hell for leather for 16 or 17 hours. It has to be done and you know that it’s only for a short period of time that you’ll be working those hours.
“It’s tough for farmers and for us but we all work together and make sure all the work is done. We have at least two of everything and have cover for all our mowers and balers, so we’re not too bad that way. We know that when we are needed, we have the men and the machines to get every job done as quickly as possible without any unexpected setbacks.”
John Kelly & Son Agri Hire Ltd.,
Rossanean,
Currow,
Killarney,
County Kerry.
First published in Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 12 No 4, November/December 2024
