Steven Kilroy – 27, Ballinagh, Co Cavan

While studying Mechanical Engineering at Sligo IT, Steven Kilroy was travelling over and back to the UK working for large tillage farmers. Shortly after finishing his degree, he travelled to New Zealand to work for a Claas dealership for three months. However, five years later and he’s still working in the country. During these years, Steven has travelled to both the UK and Canada, again working with Claas, chasing the busy harvest periods.

Steven works with small farmers right up to large contractors with six foragers and 40 tractors. The dealership he’s working with covers a radius in excess of 200km so there can be quite a bit of travelling between jobs.

He said: “I decided to keep coming back to New Zealand as the people are very sound and the weather is very nice. Farmers and contractors have a slightly more relaxed attitude and the season is much longer than in Ireland. The wages and living costs are higher out here, but cars and insurance costs are lower, so all in all it balances itself out. I’ve met a lot of good friends out here. To be successful in the machinery game in New Zealand you have to work very hard, but there’s loads to do on your days off such as fishing and hunting. The big thing I see nowadays as a mechanic is that you have to be able to adapt to the modern technology. There are less and less cables and more and more wires. The laptop is the most used tool nowadays. Every day really is a school day.”