Based in Callan in Co Kilkenny, Maher AGRI Services Contracting offers its clients an unrivalled service via its experience, expertise and magnificent machinery fleet. Irish Tractor & Agri heard more from Sean Maher, who is third generation in the family business.
Since setting up shop six years ago, Maher AGRI Services has always guaranteed complete customer satisfaction across a wide range of contracting services.
The Maher family has been providing keen contracting solutions to a host of satisfied customers for three generations now and today brothers Sean and Liam Maher are running a magnificent fleet of namely John Deere tractors to help ensure that all of their clients are satisfied all year round.
Coming towards the summer, Sean took some time from what was becoming an increasingly hectic work schedule to explain to Irish Tractor & Agri all about his family’s business.
“At the moment there are seven working here and we’ve 11 tractors, eight of them John Deeres,” he stated.
“This year we’ve been really busy with slurry. For 98 days there we were spreading slurry and everything else was basically at a standstill for us. We’ve two slurry tanks and they’re kept going the whole time. We get it out quick.”
Indeed a wide and varied range of services is provided. Slurry spreading is one of Maher AGRI’s main services and their rapid and affordable umbilical system is extremely popular across Kilkenny and with clients throughout the Leinster region.
Silage, tilling, corn cutting, baling, wrapping and hedge cutting are some of the other expert services provided by the Mahers while they also run their own farm, keeping themselves busy all year round, as Sean outlined:
“The company itself – Maher AGRI Services – is going now for five or six years but my father is at this a lifetime and my grandfather was at it before him, so it’s in the blood,” he said.
“We also have our own farm here. We own 145 acres and are milking 170 cows. We rent an additional 200 acres for tillage too, so we’re kept busy.”
Like with any business, customer satisfaction has been key for the Mahers down through the decades and many of Sean and Liam’s clientele have been with the family during the three generations.
Their grandfather John Maher set-up the business many years ago and was the first in the family to offer a contracting service.
His son Willie then followed suit and took over the business before Sean and Liam eventually decided to become involved. The latter three now work full-time and bring a couple more men in to do seasonal work during the peak season.
During the summer time, they could have anything from one to six additional lads involved and there’s one man who has been involved in the family business for 40 years now.
Just to put some further emphasis on the family element of Maher AGRI Services, Willie’s wife Joan also does a lot of work on the farm in Callan and takes care of the books for the company.
It’s very much a team effort for the Mahers, but they’d be nowhere if it were for the continued loyal support of their clients.
Maher AGRI Services has benefited from a tremendous amount of customer loyalty over the years, with some of the company’s customer base stretching back across the three generations of the family business.
“Nearly all of our clients are from within a 20-mile radius. We do travel a bit sometimes for the slurry work but generally we stick to our area,” said Sean.
“A lot of them are there for years. I think they choose us because we do the work how they want and when they want. We’ve good drivers out there and some of the clients we have been doing work for a long time – we know where to go for them.”
Excellent service from the Mahers is rewarded with continued business from their clients all year round and part of providing that top class service is having a top class machinery fleet.
When it comes to their tractors, the Mahers tend to go for John Deere as Sean outlined:
“We find them very reliable and never really have trouble with them,” he said. “We’ve actually had a good bit of trouble with New Holland in the past so we’ve stuck with John Deere more recently and we’re happy with their products.”
The fleet in question comprises of 11 tractors in total – eight John Deeres and three New Hollands, with a 7340 being the latest addition this past March.
The Mahers do all the maintenance and servicing themselves as well as minor repair jobs, while local mechanic Mikey Dunphy – who formerly worked in Comerfords Garage, which is a main John Deere dealer – handles the bigger jobs.
Also in the fleet are combines, a JCB loader, a Claas silage harvester, a baler and McHale wrapper, two slurry tankers, a hedge cutter, four Dooley Bros silage trailers and one Red Rock, a Samson dung spreader and an umbilical piping system.
As well as all this, Maher AGRI Services also own and operate a nine-metre specialised lagoon agitator.
“We bought a 7820 this year and also bought a 7430 two or three weeks ago. We’ve also bought a few new dump trailers, so we’re happy with where the fleet is at right now heading into the summer. We’ll be adding to it again next year I’m sure,” said Sean.
And as for an excellent and unrivalled service, you can be sure of it time and time again when you choose Maher AGRI Services.
Maher AGRI Services
Contracting
Tullamaine,
Callan,
Co. Kilkenny
Mob: 086 8313560
Taken from Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 6 No 5, August 2018
