Based near Smithborough, Co Monaghan, Graeme Martin is an agricultural contractor, with a background in poultry and dairy farming. As many contractors know, breakdowns are inevitable, the skill is one’s ability to adapt and overcome such issues.
Since tanker production started in 2025, in the region of 15 units have been built.
For Graeme, this was a part of the job he enjoyed and took an interest in. Crafty with his hands, he also enjoyed steel fabrication work.
Background
Having started out at silage and slurry work, Graeme steadily expanded his services to include umbilical slurry spreading. In the interest of keeping costs to a minimum and putting his fabrication skills to use, he decided to manufacture his own hose reeler which was later followed by a dribble bar in 2021.
Around this time there were strong demands and long lead times for Low Emission Slurry Spreading (LESS) systems, driven by their required use on certain farms, and TAMS grant aid for dribble bars and trailing shoes.
Over the years, Graeme has worked to offer the complete range of LESS applicators which now includes dribble bars, trailing shoes and flexible trailing shoes of all sizes and configurations.
Production has recently expanded into a repurposed poultry shed offering good space for the fabrication of trailing shoes and dribble bars.
Having had a few locals show interest and commend his craftsmanship, Graeme decided to manufacture and supply a few units. “Having owned and worked a number of other dribble bars, I felt that there were tweaks that could be made to each.
The first machine built for my own use wasn’t perfect but it worked well. It wasn’t built from drawings, but more a vision in my head. The winter periods, naturally tend to be quieter on the contracting front, so we decided to tweak the design and make another dribble bar. We advertised it during winter 2021, really to gauge interest,” Graeme explained.
Graeme is constantly working to improve design and production techniques. Here this one piece of folded steel will replace what was previously two separate components.
This was a simple, 7.5m unit designed for retrofit to smaller slurry tankers and at a competitive price.
Much to Graeme’s surprise, interest was pretty much instant, which led to him finishing out 2022 having built and sold over 40 units.
“It was a busy year, I learnt lots about the machinery trade and manufacturing. The macerator was something that needed to be right, so we went down the route of fitting the Truflo unit which we still fit today. Everything else, with the exception of subbing out the plasma cutting of steel, was and still is done in-house, including retrofitting,” Graeme explained.
Two painted tankers, a 3,000 single-axle and 4,000 gallon tandem-axle back from painting alongside a finished 1,600 gallon model.
Seizing the opportunity
Satisfied that there was good potential to push on and develop a range of umbilical and LESS solutions, Graeme did just that and soon offered larger tanker and umbilical dribble bars, as well as a trailing shoe range. This was complemented by becoming an agent for Bauer umbilical pumps and Gollmer and Hummel lay flat hose.
“At this point, I could offer the full umbilical solution, including pumps, reelers and hosing. We first attended the AJS farm machinery shows in spring of 2023 which were a good success. Having posted some videos and photos on social media, we then had interest from Holland, UK, Norway and Sweden,” Graeme explained.
The first 4,000 gallon tandem tanker is almost ready for final assembly before delivery to its UK customer.
All of which are markets that have been steady since without actively pushing for sales. “We probably have somewhere in the region of 30-40 machines working abroad now.” Last year (2025), Graeme attended a number of trade shows including the National Ploughing Championships, Lamma show and the Royal Highland Show, all of where he intends to exhibit at this year.
Slurry tankers
“As time passed, I noticed more and more enquiries from smaller farmers, wondering if we could offer the complete tanker and applicator to avoid sourcing a tanker and applicator separately.
“We were sourcing Newrock tankers and fitting our applicators for a while. But, having got good buy-in, we said we’d give it a go and build our own tankers.”
An umbilical dribble outfit working abroad.
Unfazed by a challenge, Graeme did his research and established all the dimensions required to build his first tanker. It was a 1,600 gallon model, finished just in time for the 2025 Cavan machinery show where it received good interest. To date, 15 units have been built , the largest being a 4,000 gallon tandem axle unit which we saw when we recently visited the Martin Equipment HQ. Having just returned from being painted, the tanker is currently being finished before delivery to a customer in the UK.
“Again, the tanker game is not something we have pushed hard, orders have naturally come our way. We’ve put a lot of effort into putting the strength where it needs to be. All our tankers feature a 6mm steel barrel which is fully seam-welded inside and out and feature internal reinforcing and baffles. The arches and chassis are made from 10mm steel.
It's clear a lot of time and workmanship has went into the design of the Martin tankers.
“Component wise, everything is premium including the Battioni pumps, Distag axles, RIV gate valves etc. We’re getting faster at producing them all the time too as we invest in new tools and techniques,” Graeme added.
Also new to the range in 2025 was a PTO air compressor, available in 300 and 400CFM outputs. Graeme explained that the compressor itself is Italian-sourced and fully assembled in-house onto his own compact chassis. Units can be either front or rear linkage mounted.
Fabrication
Graeme started out fabricating dribble bars in an old egg store on the home farm which has since expanded to two other repurposed sheds on the farm to accommodate larger applicators and the tankers. As the engineering business has grown it has become a full-time job for Graeme and four employees.
The passion for machinery certainly hasn’t disappeared either, with the contracting business still running alongside the engineering business.
Two tankers undergoing fabrication work.
Like many manufacturers, Graeme subs out the steel cutting to a local engineering firm for plasma cutting. The rest of the manufacturing process such as welding, dribble bar/trailing shoe retrofitting takes place in-house.
Both paint and galvanising is contracted out and done professionally.
Graeme Martin, Smithborough, Monaghan.
Future plans
Five years on, Martin Equipment has flourished into a successful business, focused on manufacturing strong, practical products at competitive prices for farmer and contractor customers.
While Ireland is naturally its largest market, export markets continue to grow and offer opportunity.
With over 500 trailing shoes and dribble bars sold alone, Graeme is happy with the progress made in a relatively short space of time.
“For what is now a four-man team and still a makeshift premises, albeit well improved, I’m happy with our output and the quality of machines being turned out. Whether it’s new tools, production methods or the end product, we’re constantly investing and finding ways to reduce labour and improve the quality and presentation of the product. Going forward, the plan would be to employ someone in the design side of things, to help progress things on.”
“We’re well established now in terms of suppliers and have good relationships in place which makes things easier.
“The future plans would be to erect a purpose-built manufacturing facility where all operations would be done under one roof as opposed to between three sheds at the moment,” outlined Graeme.
From speaking with Graeme, it’s clear that he is a determined individual, with a can-do attitude, which has helped him overcome obstacles along the way.
Although keen to remain tight-lipped, a number of new products remain under wraps and are expected to launch as early as this spring.
Based near Smithborough, Co Monaghan, Graeme Martin is an agricultural contractor, with a background in poultry and dairy farming. As many contractors know, breakdowns are inevitable, the skill is one’s ability to adapt and overcome such issues.
Since tanker production started in 2025, in the region of 15 units have been built.
For Graeme, this was a part of the job he enjoyed and took an interest in. Crafty with his hands, he also enjoyed steel fabrication work.
Background
Having started out at silage and slurry work, Graeme steadily expanded his services to include umbilical slurry spreading. In the interest of keeping costs to a minimum and putting his fabrication skills to use, he decided to manufacture his own hose reeler which was later followed by a dribble bar in 2021.
Around this time there were strong demands and long lead times for Low Emission Slurry Spreading (LESS) systems, driven by their required use on certain farms, and TAMS grant aid for dribble bars and trailing shoes.
Over the years, Graeme has worked to offer the complete range of LESS applicators which now includes dribble bars, trailing shoes and flexible trailing shoes of all sizes and configurations.
Production has recently expanded into a repurposed poultry shed offering good space for the fabrication of trailing shoes and dribble bars.
Having had a few locals show interest and commend his craftsmanship, Graeme decided to manufacture and supply a few units. “Having owned and worked a number of other dribble bars, I felt that there were tweaks that could be made to each.
The first machine built for my own use wasn’t perfect but it worked well. It wasn’t built from drawings, but more a vision in my head. The winter periods, naturally tend to be quieter on the contracting front, so we decided to tweak the design and make another dribble bar. We advertised it during winter 2021, really to gauge interest,” Graeme explained.
Graeme is constantly working to improve design and production techniques. Here this one piece of folded steel will replace what was previously two separate components.
This was a simple, 7.5m unit designed for retrofit to smaller slurry tankers and at a competitive price.
Much to Graeme’s surprise, interest was pretty much instant, which led to him finishing out 2022 having built and sold over 40 units.
“It was a busy year, I learnt lots about the machinery trade and manufacturing. The macerator was something that needed to be right, so we went down the route of fitting the Truflo unit which we still fit today. Everything else, with the exception of subbing out the plasma cutting of steel, was and still is done in-house, including retrofitting,” Graeme explained.
Two painted tankers, a 3,000 single-axle and 4,000 gallon tandem-axle back from painting alongside a finished 1,600 gallon model.
Seizing the opportunity
Satisfied that there was good potential to push on and develop a range of umbilical and LESS solutions, Graeme did just that and soon offered larger tanker and umbilical dribble bars, as well as a trailing shoe range. This was complemented by becoming an agent for Bauer umbilical pumps and Gollmer and Hummel lay flat hose.
“At this point, I could offer the full umbilical solution, including pumps, reelers and hosing. We first attended the AJS farm machinery shows in spring of 2023 which were a good success. Having posted some videos and photos on social media, we then had interest from Holland, UK, Norway and Sweden,” Graeme explained.
The first 4,000 gallon tandem tanker is almost ready for final assembly before delivery to its UK customer.
All of which are markets that have been steady since without actively pushing for sales. “We probably have somewhere in the region of 30-40 machines working abroad now.” Last year (2025), Graeme attended a number of trade shows including the National Ploughing Championships, Lamma show and the Royal Highland Show, all of where he intends to exhibit at this year.
Slurry tankers
“As time passed, I noticed more and more enquiries from smaller farmers, wondering if we could offer the complete tanker and applicator to avoid sourcing a tanker and applicator separately.
“We were sourcing Newrock tankers and fitting our applicators for a while. But, having got good buy-in, we said we’d give it a go and build our own tankers.”
An umbilical dribble outfit working abroad.
Unfazed by a challenge, Graeme did his research and established all the dimensions required to build his first tanker. It was a 1,600 gallon model, finished just in time for the 2025 Cavan machinery show where it received good interest. To date, 15 units have been built , the largest being a 4,000 gallon tandem axle unit which we saw when we recently visited the Martin Equipment HQ. Having just returned from being painted, the tanker is currently being finished before delivery to a customer in the UK.
“Again, the tanker game is not something we have pushed hard, orders have naturally come our way. We’ve put a lot of effort into putting the strength where it needs to be. All our tankers feature a 6mm steel barrel which is fully seam-welded inside and out and feature internal reinforcing and baffles. The arches and chassis are made from 10mm steel.
It's clear a lot of time and workmanship has went into the design of the Martin tankers.
“Component wise, everything is premium including the Battioni pumps, Distag axles, RIV gate valves etc. We’re getting faster at producing them all the time too as we invest in new tools and techniques,” Graeme added.
Also new to the range in 2025 was a PTO air compressor, available in 300 and 400CFM outputs. Graeme explained that the compressor itself is Italian-sourced and fully assembled in-house onto his own compact chassis. Units can be either front or rear linkage mounted.
Fabrication
Graeme started out fabricating dribble bars in an old egg store on the home farm which has since expanded to two other repurposed sheds on the farm to accommodate larger applicators and the tankers. As the engineering business has grown it has become a full-time job for Graeme and four employees.
The passion for machinery certainly hasn’t disappeared either, with the contracting business still running alongside the engineering business.
Two tankers undergoing fabrication work.
Like many manufacturers, Graeme subs out the steel cutting to a local engineering firm for plasma cutting. The rest of the manufacturing process such as welding, dribble bar/trailing shoe retrofitting takes place in-house.
Both paint and galvanising is contracted out and done professionally.
Graeme Martin, Smithborough, Monaghan.
Future plans
Five years on, Martin Equipment has flourished into a successful business, focused on manufacturing strong, practical products at competitive prices for farmer and contractor customers.
While Ireland is naturally its largest market, export markets continue to grow and offer opportunity.
With over 500 trailing shoes and dribble bars sold alone, Graeme is happy with the progress made in a relatively short space of time.
“For what is now a four-man team and still a makeshift premises, albeit well improved, I’m happy with our output and the quality of machines being turned out. Whether it’s new tools, production methods or the end product, we’re constantly investing and finding ways to reduce labour and improve the quality and presentation of the product. Going forward, the plan would be to employ someone in the design side of things, to help progress things on.”
“We’re well established now in terms of suppliers and have good relationships in place which makes things easier.
“The future plans would be to erect a purpose-built manufacturing facility where all operations would be done under one roof as opposed to between three sheds at the moment,” outlined Graeme.
From speaking with Graeme, it’s clear that he is a determined individual, with a can-do attitude, which has helped him overcome obstacles along the way.
Although keen to remain tight-lipped, a number of new products remain under wraps and are expected to launch as early as this spring.
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