Sometimes people just know what they want to do. They are exposed to something at a young age and that interest sticks with them. This was the case for Martin Kavanagh. Growing up on a suckler cattle and tillage farm in Gorey, Co Wexford, he was surrounded by machinery. His interest in tillage equipment and mechanical work continued to develop as he got older, which led him to recently complete the four-year land-based engineering apprenticeship with CLAAS.

Working for machinery dealer Kellys of Borris, Martin was given the opportunity to undertake the CLAAS apprenticeship in the machinery manufacturer’s training academy in Scotland. The apprenticeship is no longer offered in Scotland. The programme has since moved to the CLAAS Saxham site in the UK. Here the team of 11 staff provide over 4,000 hours of training each year, but they are also leading the way in the development of remote online training programmes. Martin, now a fully qualified agri mechanic, encourages anyone with an interest in mechanics to “give it a go”.

Springing into machinery

There wasn’t a time in his life when Martin wasn’t questioning how a piece of machinery operated.

With the family always doing their own silage work at home, he was naturally exposed to machinery at a young age.

“I worked with a lot of contractors when I was younger. I did a lot of farm work during school and in the summers,” he says.

After finishing school, Martin started an aeroplane apprenticeship with Stobart Air, which has since closed. After the first year of this programme, he realised it wasn’t for him so the decision to move to Kellys of Borris was not difficult.

In relation to the wide variety of work that the programme offers, Martin says: “You can be working on anything; it is a big established place and they cover the whole country.”

Martin Kavanagh working with Kellys of Borris. \ Philip Doyle

Land-based engineering apprenticeship

The CLAAS Agricultural Apprenticeship Martin completed is a four-year course with three key elements – college-based training, practical experience and working alongside experienced service engineers within a CLAAS dealership.

The new CLAAS UK apprenticeship scheme was established in 2022 and is delivered in the training academy at the CUK headquarters at Saxham.

“When I first started, they got me to work on everything in the first year, this was to see what you’re most interested in. I was mainly on tillage gear. The main things I would be working on were combines, corn sowers and sprayers,” says Martin.

During the college-based training element of his apprenticeship, which was for four-week blocks, Martin traveled to the training academy in Scotland. “?My accommodation ?was provided. ?It’s an agricultural and forestry college so it was on a dairy farm with big workshops for us and the forestry machinery [cohort].”

He particularly enjoyed this aspect of being split between college and the practical aspect of work as “it was a nice break” between the two.

“You’re not just going to purely know about CLAAS, they have a lot of machinery to work on,” says Martin. “We did modules on silage harvesters and combines, you’re not going to do that in other apprenticeships.

“You do your classroom work in the morning and then we go out and they would have a silage harvester or combine to take apart.”

Day-to-day life

Back home in Ireland, Martin’s daily work mainly consists of working in the shed on combine harvesters and sprayers. During the summer it switches to being out on the road. At this time of the year, he is on the road a lot with the repair van.

“I would be setting up new drills and on breakdown calls. It’s a nice mix, you’re not stuck in one place every day,” he explains.

Kellys of Borris has customers all over Ireland and Martin’s work takes him all over the country. It is particularly busy at the moment as staff with the right qualifications and skillsets are hard to find. With such demand, it is a good time to consider working in the sector.

“Look it’s very hard to get people into it, especially lately. It is a great job – even to qualify in it you do learn an awful lot,” says Martin.

With the increase in machinery on the roads at the moment, the demand for land-based engineers is strong. Another factor in this according to Martin is the short weather spans, meaning there is a very short space of time to get work done, like harvesting.

“When the machines are out, they have to be working,” says Martin.

“If we are at a job and someone has broken down, they can’t be waiting for two or three hours for us to get there. Kellys is such a big company too because they have so many vans on the road. There would generally be someone there [with the customer] in half an hour.”

Advice for future mechanics

Martin encourages anyone with an interest in electronics or mechanics to consider it as a career as with modern machinery and advancements in technology it is a great industry to be in at the moment.

“I would advise anyone to give it a try, or even start while you’re in school doing some weekend work in somewhere like Kelly’s just to get a feel for it,” he says.

“It’s a job where you’re not stuck inside every day, you are out all day in the shed, at machines or on the road. There is a big variety of work. I am at the tillage end of it but you can be doing whatever you’re most interested in.”

About the apprenticeship

The land-based engineering apprenticeship is a four-year course.

Years one to three consist of

Spending between 12 and 20 weeks at college in blocks of four weeks.

Attending additional training provided by CLAAS UK.

Working full-time within a CLAAS dealership when not studying at college.

Year four consists of

Studying at college for one week, with the study content prepared exclusively by CLAAS UK.

Undertaking full-time employment within a CLAAS dealer workshop.

Having an opportunity to visit the CLAAS group headquarters in Harsewinkel, Germany.

Entry Requirements

Four GCSEs grade 4/C or above, including maths, science and English, or