Based in Ballyporeen, Co Tipperary, William Hanrahan has been working as a agricultural contractor alongside farming for over 60 years trading under W Hanrahan Agri Contracting Ltd.

It has been a challenging year for contractors in general with wet weather and poor ground conditions; when there is a break in the rain, they are stretched to get everything done at once.

“It’s all down to the weather. You get a wet week and then when it clears up, they all want it cut in the one day,” says William.

ADVERTISEMENT

With first-cut currently being carried out across the country, he admits they were under pressure due to the high demand.

“Last week was ok but the pressure was enormous. It was impossible to keep up with the work. We have three round balers, two Kuhn’s and a McHale, and a new square Kuhn baler,” says William.

William recently purchased a brand-new Kuhn SB 1290 iD from Cork Farm Machinery as more farmers were demanding square bales for both silage and straw.

“They are easier to handle and store and you have less of them. It has an awful lot of advantages. It is a brand-new machine and I would be the only one in this area with one. You would have to go to Cahir to find the next one. It is the first of many I am sure as when I got the round baler first no one would use it,” says William.

To keep the price of baling down, William gets the farmer to supply their own wrapping.

“We let the farmers supply the wrapping; it keeps the price of the baling down and it’s easier to collect the money. The last year has been hard enough at times to collect money. Last year was the easiest year because the price of milk was good. But farmers in general are pretty good to pay up. If they have it, they give it to you,” he explains.

Watch our video with William here:

Labour

As it’s the busiest time of the year for William he has 13 people working for him, including his 18-year-old grandson, Jack.

“I have been at it since I got the licence two years ago. It has been fairly busy,” says Jack.

Working for his grandad has been going very well for jack as he has grown up around machinery and it is all he knows.

“We get on well, thank God, and are used to each other so we don’t take much notice,” he adds.

Jack is a Leaving Certificate student who is at the end of his exams, he is hoping to study agriculture at Kildalton in September.

“The first-cut has gone well it was dry enough it wasn’t too bad. The last few weeks have been off and on, a bit, but if it stays dry for the harvest, we will be happy enough. People are going mowing and there might be only two days drying. We are trying to get around to everyone then in the two days, we had a few late nights the last two days,” explains Jack.

Watch the full tractor cab interview with Jack below: