It is estimated that there are more than 4,000 agricultural contractors scattered throughout the island of Ireland. Irish conditions, particularly along the west with dense and often wet swaths, sometimes on marginal ground, are known by machinery manufacturers worldwide as being some of the toughest for operating grassland machinery.
We visited Brian Carey, an agricultural contractor with an impressive fleet of machinery based less than 800m from the Atlantic coast.
Carey Agri also run two balers, a McHale Fusion 3 and a McHale F5500. \ Olivia Charles Photgraphy
Brian said operating a contracting business in west Clare has a lot of challenges, but he wouldn’t change what he does for anything. Because he is based on the coast, he has to travel great distances to get through a large workload. His team travel up to 40 miles north of his base to cut silage. Your typical Irish contractor would travel within 10 miles of their base.
Another distinguishing feature of Brian’s operation is that his fleet of machinery rarely returns to the home yard during the busy silage season. He said that when they move into different areas they tend to leave the machines in farmers’ yards overnight instead of bringing them back. A diesel lorry then calls to these yards to fill up the tanks.
Brian said he works on the worst of ground but he has the best of customers. However, running machines on marginal ground has its challenges.
Carey Agri's contracting fleet consists of 12 John Deere tractors. \ Olivia Charles Photography
Wagons
Brian runs one of the largest fleets of forage wagons in the country. He first got into pit silage in 2003, and now operates five PÖttinger Jumbo wagons. He has tested a number of self-propelled forage harvesters and seriously considered changing his system over the years, but he decided to stick with a fleet of forage wagons for a number of reasons.
Firstly, the running costs of the wagons are very low, averaging around €1,500 per year in his experience.
Secondly, he carries out a lot of silage harvesting on very marginal ground and in small fields. He feels his wagons, which run on 710 flotation tyres, will do less damage on the run of the mill than a large high-output forager as the drivers can pick and choose where to travel and where to load up the wagons.
He added that if he had a silage harvester in these small fields with four or five trailers, it might result in some of the trailers being static from time to time. With the forage wagons he likes to send them to various different fields on one job, providing a steady flow of grass to the loader driver on the pit.
Brian’s average cut is 30 to 40 acres. He feels the wagons suit his system. As he has two loading shovels, he can send one, two or three wagons to one job and one or two wagons to another job, meaning two farmers are getting their silage cut at the same time as opposed to one if he had a forager.
Brian felt the only downside of running five wagons is that he needs to have five very capable drivers. However, he said he’s lucky to have the same drivers on these machines each year.
Brian said he started off running PÖttinger wagons in 2003. He said he’s tried out the various brands on the market but he feels for his operation the PÖttinger machines have the edge. He trades in one wagon each year for a new one, meaning no wagon in the fleet goes beyond five seasons before being upgraded.
Tractors
The contracting fleet consists of 12 John Deere tractors. Brian runs John Deeres for two reasons, reliability and dealer backup. Starting off with a pristine John Deere 7710, his fleet includes 20 series, 30 series and the modern M and R series tractors. Brian said his favourite tractors would be his two 6920s. He explained they’ve put in thousands of hours of hard work and had low running costs, with no major issues.
Brian has adopted a system in his contracting business where the same person drives the same tractor the whole time. If this tractor is then traded in against a new tractor, the driver will be upgraded to the new tractor. This means that each driver is solely responsible for looking after their assigned tractor.
To keep the grass shifted from the five wagons, Brian runs two JCB wheel loaders, a 414s and a 435s. First starting off with a JCB 412s, Brian stuck with JCB down through the years. Last year he traded in his 2008 JCB 434s for a 2016 JCB 435s. He said the newer machine is more comfortable on the road, but he’s still not convinced it’s as good as his previous 434s on the pit.
To keep the grass shifted from the five wagons Carey Agri run two JCB wheel loaders, a 414s and a 435s. \ Olivia Charles Photography
Challenges
Brian feels one of the biggest challenges for all contractors is the consistent increase in new machinery prices. He explained that in 2013 he bought a new John Deere 6170M and the same tractor in today’s market would cost an additional €25,000 plus VAT. He said rates for work are not increasing to match these significant machinery price hikes.
Brian believes that with the ageing farmer profile in his area, there are going to be big changes in the farming sector over the coming years. He said: “I sometimes wonder will the work be there in the coming years. There are not enough young farmers coming through in our local area. It’s worrying when contractors are signing themselves into five-year finance contracts”.
Another challenge running a contracting business alongside the coastline is the exposure of the machinery to the salty air. Brian needs to thoroughly steam-wash the machines at the end of the season, spray them with an oil to preserve the paintwork and tuck them away in a shed.
The most unusual issue that Brian’s team often have to face in the summer months is the tourist traffic on the small roads.
Brian is lucky to generally have the same guys working for him year in, year out. This consists of some part-time local farmers who drive for the summer months and a number of full-time staff.
One of Brian’s policies is to ensure they don’t work on Sundays. He said: “We will work as many hours as we need to during the week but I think it’s important that the staff get at least the Sunday off.”
It is estimated that there are more than 4,000 agricultural contractors scattered throughout the island of Ireland. Irish conditions, particularly along the west with dense and often wet swaths, sometimes on marginal ground, are known by machinery manufacturers worldwide as being some of the toughest for operating grassland machinery.
We visited Brian Carey, an agricultural contractor with an impressive fleet of machinery based less than 800m from the Atlantic coast.
Carey Agri also run two balers, a McHale Fusion 3 and a McHale F5500. \ Olivia Charles Photgraphy
Brian said operating a contracting business in west Clare has a lot of challenges, but he wouldn’t change what he does for anything. Because he is based on the coast, he has to travel great distances to get through a large workload. His team travel up to 40 miles north of his base to cut silage. Your typical Irish contractor would travel within 10 miles of their base.
Another distinguishing feature of Brian’s operation is that his fleet of machinery rarely returns to the home yard during the busy silage season. He said that when they move into different areas they tend to leave the machines in farmers’ yards overnight instead of bringing them back. A diesel lorry then calls to these yards to fill up the tanks.
Brian said he works on the worst of ground but he has the best of customers. However, running machines on marginal ground has its challenges.
Carey Agri's contracting fleet consists of 12 John Deere tractors. \ Olivia Charles Photography
Wagons
Brian runs one of the largest fleets of forage wagons in the country. He first got into pit silage in 2003, and now operates five PÖttinger Jumbo wagons. He has tested a number of self-propelled forage harvesters and seriously considered changing his system over the years, but he decided to stick with a fleet of forage wagons for a number of reasons.
Firstly, the running costs of the wagons are very low, averaging around €1,500 per year in his experience.
Secondly, he carries out a lot of silage harvesting on very marginal ground and in small fields. He feels his wagons, which run on 710 flotation tyres, will do less damage on the run of the mill than a large high-output forager as the drivers can pick and choose where to travel and where to load up the wagons.
He added that if he had a silage harvester in these small fields with four or five trailers, it might result in some of the trailers being static from time to time. With the forage wagons he likes to send them to various different fields on one job, providing a steady flow of grass to the loader driver on the pit.
Brian’s average cut is 30 to 40 acres. He feels the wagons suit his system. As he has two loading shovels, he can send one, two or three wagons to one job and one or two wagons to another job, meaning two farmers are getting their silage cut at the same time as opposed to one if he had a forager.
Brian felt the only downside of running five wagons is that he needs to have five very capable drivers. However, he said he’s lucky to have the same drivers on these machines each year.
Brian said he started off running PÖttinger wagons in 2003. He said he’s tried out the various brands on the market but he feels for his operation the PÖttinger machines have the edge. He trades in one wagon each year for a new one, meaning no wagon in the fleet goes beyond five seasons before being upgraded.
Tractors
The contracting fleet consists of 12 John Deere tractors. Brian runs John Deeres for two reasons, reliability and dealer backup. Starting off with a pristine John Deere 7710, his fleet includes 20 series, 30 series and the modern M and R series tractors. Brian said his favourite tractors would be his two 6920s. He explained they’ve put in thousands of hours of hard work and had low running costs, with no major issues.
Brian has adopted a system in his contracting business where the same person drives the same tractor the whole time. If this tractor is then traded in against a new tractor, the driver will be upgraded to the new tractor. This means that each driver is solely responsible for looking after their assigned tractor.
To keep the grass shifted from the five wagons, Brian runs two JCB wheel loaders, a 414s and a 435s. First starting off with a JCB 412s, Brian stuck with JCB down through the years. Last year he traded in his 2008 JCB 434s for a 2016 JCB 435s. He said the newer machine is more comfortable on the road, but he’s still not convinced it’s as good as his previous 434s on the pit.
To keep the grass shifted from the five wagons Carey Agri run two JCB wheel loaders, a 414s and a 435s. \ Olivia Charles Photography
Challenges
Brian feels one of the biggest challenges for all contractors is the consistent increase in new machinery prices. He explained that in 2013 he bought a new John Deere 6170M and the same tractor in today’s market would cost an additional €25,000 plus VAT. He said rates for work are not increasing to match these significant machinery price hikes.
Brian believes that with the ageing farmer profile in his area, there are going to be big changes in the farming sector over the coming years. He said: “I sometimes wonder will the work be there in the coming years. There are not enough young farmers coming through in our local area. It’s worrying when contractors are signing themselves into five-year finance contracts”.
Another challenge running a contracting business alongside the coastline is the exposure of the machinery to the salty air. Brian needs to thoroughly steam-wash the machines at the end of the season, spray them with an oil to preserve the paintwork and tuck them away in a shed.
The most unusual issue that Brian’s team often have to face in the summer months is the tourist traffic on the small roads.
Brian is lucky to generally have the same guys working for him year in, year out. This consists of some part-time local farmers who drive for the summer months and a number of full-time staff.
One of Brian’s policies is to ensure they don’t work on Sundays. He said: “We will work as many hours as we need to during the week but I think it’s important that the staff get at least the Sunday off.”
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