Galway and Mayo account for 13.7% of all agricultural tractors registered in Ireland. Galway is marginally ahead of Mayo in the numbers game, making the region one of the most important in terms of tractor sales in Ireland.

And the figures stack up in so many respects. The 2014 new tractor sales figure adds to the picture, with the two-county region now accounting for 10% of all new tractors registered for the first time during 2014, as well as 14.5% of used ones imported into Ireland.

The registration data also shows us that Massey Ferguson is the dominant tractor brand in both counties. Mayo and Galway account for the No 1 and No 2 positions on a county basis in terms of total numbers of Massey Ferguson tractors working on Irish farms.

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The second most popular tractor brand in Galway is John Deere, while Mayo farmers have opted for Case IH as their second choice.

In Galway, Zetor and New Holland took third and fourth places respectively. Galway has the highest population of Zetor tractors in Ireland, while Claas tractor numbers were the third highest in the country.

In Mayo, Landini was ahead of John Deere in third place in the popularity stakes among the top four tractor brands. The popularity of the Case IH and David Brown brands together makes Mayo the county with the highest number of these makes of tractors in Ireland.

Manufacturing hub

Mayo has become a hub of farm machinery manufacturing in Ireland. While other counties have more retail dealers, Mayo and Carlow remain the two most important counties in terms of farm machinery manufacturing output, with Mayo in the lead.

The county exports more farm machinery than any other, with names such as McHale Engineering, Major Equipment, Cashels Engineering, Malone Engineering, Running Gear and Mayo Metal Works all in Mayo.

This evolution as a farm machinery manufacturing hub is a relatively new situation, not much more than 30 years old. Some of these companies, such as Major and McHale, have spawned others as the talents and skills within the locality were nurtured.

Farming conditions in Mayo have provided impressive testing grounds for farm machinery development. Cashels, McHale, Major and Malone have all produced machines for world markets, based on research and development programmes developed locally to cope with difficult farming conditions.

Local machinery dealers play their part

As thriving tractor markets, Galway and Mayo have their share of retail farm machinery dealers. Both counties have significant areas of limestone-based arable tillage land in bordering areas that have encouraged an uptake of modern machinery systems.

The scale of part-time farming in both counties has encouraged the move towards mechanised feeding systems incorporated around many smaller-scale slatted sheds.

Local farm machinery dealers have played their part in encouraging more efficient machine systems. The success of the various tractor brands is significantly down to the performance of these local dealers. McHale Farm Machinery in Kilmaine, from which McHale Engineering emerged, is just one of these and is a Massey Ferguson and Fendt tractor dealer.

Significant other farm machinery companies include John Deere dealer Murphy’s Garage on the border in Headford and Ballina, Case IH dealer Jennings, independent dealer Kelly’s in Castlebar, Mulchrones in Westport, which is a Kubota agent, and Landini dealer O’Brien’s in Bohola.

Further south in Galway, established dealers include New Holland dealer Hogan’s of Eyrecourt, Western Tractors in Aughrim, Michael O’Connell in Claregalway, Athenry Co-op, new Case IH dealer Pat Rabbitt in Athenry, Brogans in Tuam, Claas dealer Quigley’s in Ahascragh, Tony Brady in Ballinasloe, Whelan’s new Massey Ferguson dealership in Loughrea and DH Farm Machinery in Gort.