Soon to be celebrating 20 years in business, Scanlon Agri & Plant Contractors in Co Mayo have grown to become a leading contracting outfit out west. Irish tractor & Agri spoke with business partner John Scanlon to learn more about the contacting outfit.
Established back in 1997, the busy times keep on coming at Scanlon Agri & Plant Contractors as another hectic summer for the family run business is nearing to an end like many before them.
For cousins John and Michael, it’s a cycle that they’ve become accustom to over the past two decades having learned so much about the industry and their not about to change their ways now. Indeed the Scanlon’s have been immersed in the agri contracting game for years for the majority of their working lives – back in the times when their fathers had them out on the land helping with the pit silage.
John took some time from his busy summer schedule to give us a little insight into the business.
“We are based in Shraugh, Louisburgh in Mayo & started up nearly 20 years ago back in 1997. It’s a family run business between myself and Michael, my father still cuts some pit silage & looks after the slurry spreading,” John stated.
John and Michael offer their customers’ all aspects of a typical agricultural contracting service, while specialising in a range of areas.
“Our main work here is round baled silage, ploughing & reseeding, mulching of rushes & scrub & we also do hedge-cutting. During the winter months we are involved in digger work with a Hitachi 125 for the likes of site clearance, land reclamation and drainage.” John explained.
While the weather this past summer has presented the Scanlons with some challenges at times, they’ve got through them.
“We’ve had a challenging year with the unpredictable weather but from past experience over the years, we’ve learned how to overcome wet conditions and what comes with it,” said the Mayo man.
“So far we’ve completed three quarters of production this summer with another quarter to do towards October.”
When you’re producing a large amount of bales in a summer, you don’t have too much to complain about and the consistent work is something the Scanlons have certainly earned over the past 20 years.
Many of their customers are from the surrounding area and have remained loyal to them having built a solid client base down through the years because of the quality of work, as well as the reliability they have to offer.
“We aim to provide the best service we can to our customers with efficient machinery including two mowers, two McHale balers & a hi-speed McHale wrapper. We strive to be on time – when we specify a time to our customers, we will be there at that time,” said John.
High quality machinery and capable men operating it is perhaps another reason why the Scanlons’ clients tend to choose them first.
At present they operate with Case tractors and McHale balers – two brands John believes are top of the line, particularly McHale which he feels are unrivalled when it comes to baling machinery.
“On top of being brilliant to work with, McHale give a very good back up service,” he said. “Since we started using their farm machinery we haven’t gone back and we upgrade our balers every two years and our mowers every three years.”
On the tractor end of the fleet, Case has been the brand that Liam Scanlon Snr has put his trust in down through the years and John and Michael have followed suit. Altogether they have seven Case tractors between them.
“Our local Case dealer also provides a good back up service & is only 30 miles away, so why would we go anywhere else?
“Our fathers have been farming all their lives, having worked alongside them, silage contracting was of particular interest to myself and Michael. At that time there was no baling outfit in the area & took a chance in setting up the business.”
It’s safe to say that many of John and Michael’s long-time customers share the same outlook when it comes to the work they carry out, with many availing of the services of Scanlon Agri & Plant Contractors’ since the business inception.
Always grateful for their business, John & Michael thanked them for their strong loyalty they’ve shown to them over the years. “We really appreciate it.”
The following is a list of the machinery currently being operated at Scanlon Agri & Plant Contractors; 2 x Case MXU 125, Case MXU 115, Case Maxxum 5150 Pro, Case Maxxum 5140, Case Farmall 105 Pro, Case 1056, Kuhn Mower, Keverland Mower, 2 x McHale 5500 balers, McHale hi speed wrapper, McConnell Hedge Cutter, Keverland AB85 plough, Keverland Qualdisc disc Harrow, Kuhn Power Harrow with APV Air seeder, Major Mulcher, 2 x 1350 slurry spreaders, NC Agitator and a Hitachi Axis 130.
Scanlon Agri & Plant Contractors
Address: Shraugh,
Louisburgh, Co.Mayo
Mobiles: 0872774348/0872788771
Taken from Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 4 No 7, September 2016
Scanlon Agri & Plant Contractors
