While making my way down through the Canterbury region in the South Island of New Zealand, I caught up with Clare man Pa Nagle and his Kiwi girlfriend Catherine, who have just set up their own contracting business in a town called Methven.
Now 27, the Lisacannor man first came to New Zealand at the age of 19 to drive for a season for a contractor in Invercargill, which is at very bottom of the South Island. Upon returning to Ireland, Pa worked with a local contractor and later spent time working in England. He and a friend always wanted to go back to New Zealand and they were advised that they should work a season in the Canterbury region. After working in Canterbury, Pa liked the area and the people so much that he came back each season for six years, returning home to work the alternating seasons in either Ireland or England.
This is Pa's first season in business and he started off with 55 farmers who were willing to come on board and help him out.
Three years ago, Pa was offered the operations manager role with a contractor in the Methven area and decided to take it on, committing to working in New Zealand on a full-time basis. There was an opportunity for Pa to become a shareholder in the business. However, when things didn’t work out, Pa gathered his thoughts and felt there was an opportunity to set up his own business in the area.
Starting off
At the end of last season, Pa visited farmers with whom he had built up a relationship during his previous role.
He explained: “Many of the local farmers I visited were really supportive and reassured me they would help me out. I was commonly told that when they started off their farming career that someone gave them an opportunity, and they were willing to do the same for me. I was overwhelmed with the response to be honest. I really didn’t know if it was going to be feasible up to that.”
Some Fendt tractors were purchased based on competitive pricing, strong secondhand value and good local dealer backup.
From here, Pa and his partner Catherine began to crack the figures. Pa said: “Based on work that was promised to us if we went ahead and set up the business, the figures stacked up and it definitely seemed feasible. We had a list of 55 farmers who were willing to come on board with us. Many of these were dairy farmers who were farming anywhere from 700 to 1,500 cows. Our next step was to look to the machinery market to source the right equipment”.
Machinery
Pa said that he and Catherine looked at various brands of both new and used tractors and machinery. Where possible, new gear was purchased but it obviously wasn’t possible to buy a full fleet of new gear. He said: “When we decided we were going to set up the business, we knew we had only one shot to make a name for ourselves and make it happen. We could have made a much smaller initial investment and bought a lot of used equipment, but the last thing we wanted to do in our first year of business was have down time due to unreliable machinery.”
Some of Pa's outfit.
As a result, a lot of thought was put into buying the machinery. The decision to buy certain brands was based on his experience with the service backup provided by the local dealership and the machine’s reliability in New Zealand conditions. Certain finance companies that were associated with certain brands also played a role.
Another important aspect to any business is its premises. When making such a significant investment in machinery, a good shed to carry out maintenance works and keep machines inside and dry during the winter months is very important. At the same time Pa and Catherine were looking at setting up the business, a site with a large portal frame shed on the outskirts of Methven came up for lease. The decision was made to sign a five-year lease on the premises.
Finances
As every farmer and contractor is well aware, new machinery comes with a significant price tag. When asked how he secured the funds, he explained: “I was very lucky in the fact that my partner’s family were willing to help us out with the finances. Once a proper business plan is presented to the banks out here, they’re also willing to help. It’s also relatively easy to secure a low rate of finance on new and used machinery here in New Zealand.”
Once the finance was in place, the machines were ordered. Pa calculated a budget for each machine and the amount of work it would have to do each season in order to pay for itself.
Fleet
“We looked at Fendt, Massey and Claas in the larger-frame tractors. Fendt were very competitive and I felt their secondhand value after a few thousand hours was going to be strong. The local dealer was also very keen. I’m also a fan of the Fendt technology and the Vario transmission so we ended up buying two Fendt 724s and a 718.”
Pa works up to 70km from his base and around 80% of his clients are dairy farmers with 700 to 1,500 cows.
For the smaller tractors, Pa opted for two John Deeres with front-end loaders. He went for tractors with a power quad transmission as he felt they were well proven and easy to maintain.
Machinery
“I had operated and overseen the running of a lot of Claas equipment in my previous role. Our local dealer was very supportive from the start and as a result we decided to buy two new Claas four-rotor rakes, a new set of Claas butterfly combination mowers, a Claas Quadrant square baler and a Claas Jaguar 950. A new JCB 435s soon landed and was followed by a McHale Fusion and a Bergmann wagon.
Pa kitted out his new JCB 435S with a 14ft MDE folding fork which are built in Co Armagh.
Pa made the decision that for the first few years he was going to hire a local transport company to haul the grass from the field to the pit. He felt that this was the most viable option at the time. The transport company is actually owned by a Scottish man and Pa said that to date this relationship is working really well. They use articulated lorries with 70m3 trailers.
Staff
When it came to manning the crew, Pa knew how important it was to have good staff, especially for his first year in business. After speaking to some Irish guys he was friendly with in the Methven area and some more guys from home, he secured two experienced Clare men who had spent six seasons working in New Zealand. Through word of mouth, Pa got in touch with more Irish lads and secured staff from Cavan, Waterford and Clare. Through advertising, an Englishman and two Canadians also joined the team. Pa’s partner’s family, Mark and Nicky, are also involved in the business and help out when some extra hands are needed.
Pa Nagle and his partner Catherine Leonard.
Before the season kicked off, Pa was quietly worried that keeping work in front of this large crew of 11 staff was going to be a challenge. Initially, he was hoping to have a steady 40 to 50 hours per week for each of the lads.
Pa's crew is made up of staff from Clare, Cavan, Waterford, England and Canada.
However, as the workload increased over the past few weeks, this has turned into 70 and 80 hour weeks. Although all the staff are currently seasonal, Pa noted that some of the crew are would like to stay on in a full-time capacity so he is currently looking into some options for winter work.
Catherine isn’t in the business on a full-time capacity just yet. She looks after all the office work, including invoicing and paying the wages. She plans to join the business in a full-time capacity next year.
The season to date
The silage season here in Methven kicked off in September but only really got going in early October. When I visited Pa and the team, they were just over eight weeks into the busy period.
Pa said: “We couldn’t be any happier with where we are right now. We have done more work up to now than what we had budgeted to do up until February. The figures are showing that we have got through two and a quarter times of what we had budgeted for this stage of the season.
Busy
“Things got that busy here a few weeks ago that we were forced to buy a second set of butterfly combination mowers. All going to plan, we are hoping to surpass our full season’s budget (up to end April) by the end of December. So it’s smiles all around for now.”
“We have a client list of 55 farmers, and speaking to some other farmers we would be hoping to work for 65 farmers in total within a 70km radius. Eighty per cent of our clients are dairy farmers and the remaining 20% is made up of beef and sheep farmers.
“A local agricultural contractor has just decided to get out of the business so there is now even more opportunity in the area. This was something that we hadn’t accounted for up to now. It’s exciting times for us.”
Contracting: Ireland v New Zealand
Talking to Pa about contracting in Ireland versus New Zealand, he said: “New Zealand is very similar to Ireland, just over here the scale of farming is much bigger.
“The gear is very similar, it’s just bigger here. The longer season with generally more settled spells of weather means farmers are usually more laid back.
“But this isn’t always the case and a big part of contracting out here is harvesting surplus paddocks. Dairy farmers can’t afford to lose a week waiting on a contractor to cut paddocks that are in a 21-day rotation.
“A big problem in this region is grass going too dry after it’s been cut, especially with the strong winds in Canterbury. Wind is a bigger issue in this region than rain. The northwest winds that we get here can dry 5mm to 7mm of moisture out of the soils each day.”
Contracting in New Zealand is run the same as any other business. All bills are issued on the first day of each month, with payment due on the 20th.
Bills
This works both ways and includes the contractor’s bill to the farmer and the diesel, plastic/net and parts bills to the contractor, etc. Interestingly, 99% of bills are sent out by email and the same proportion of bills are then paid via bank transfer. Cheques are used very rarely and cash payments are non-existent.
Other opportunities
While looking to the machinery market for a folding fork for pushing up the silage, Pa wasn’t quite satisfied that he could find one that he was happy with.
While he was home in Ireland on holidays, he called to his local contractor and spotted that he was running an MDE folding fork. After speaking to some contractors who were using them and seeing the heavy-duty build, Pa knew this was the fork for him.
Upon further investigation, he learnt that MDE hadn’t any presence in New Zealand up to that point. Shortly after this, a trip to MDE in Co Armagh was on the cards.
The design and spec was slightly tweaked for the New Zealand market and Pa decided to purchase three folding forks, one for himself and two more to try to retail.
The day I visited Pa, he had just delivered one fork to a contractor in Southland was ready to deliver the second one to a neighbouring contractor. He is now hoping to capitalise on this opportunity and sell more MDE attachments in New Zealand.
Plan going forward
Pa is going to try and grow the business further next year and noted that he is currently in talks with some farmers and some government-owned large-scale farms.
However, he doesn’t want the business to get to the stage where he can’t run it himself and needs operations managers. This would be the case with many large contracting outfits in New Zealand.
All in all, he said that he was always a home bird and could never see himself moving away from home.
Growing up near the cliffs of Moher, setting up his own contracting business was always something he had in the back of his head, but he never really thought it would materialise.
He said that things are really working out and it’s exciting times ahead for him and his partner Catherine with their new business venture.
While making my way down through the Canterbury region in the South Island of New Zealand, I caught up with Clare man Pa Nagle and his Kiwi girlfriend Catherine, who have just set up their own contracting business in a town called Methven.
Now 27, the Lisacannor man first came to New Zealand at the age of 19 to drive for a season for a contractor in Invercargill, which is at very bottom of the South Island. Upon returning to Ireland, Pa worked with a local contractor and later spent time working in England. He and a friend always wanted to go back to New Zealand and they were advised that they should work a season in the Canterbury region. After working in Canterbury, Pa liked the area and the people so much that he came back each season for six years, returning home to work the alternating seasons in either Ireland or England.
This is Pa's first season in business and he started off with 55 farmers who were willing to come on board and help him out.
Three years ago, Pa was offered the operations manager role with a contractor in the Methven area and decided to take it on, committing to working in New Zealand on a full-time basis. There was an opportunity for Pa to become a shareholder in the business. However, when things didn’t work out, Pa gathered his thoughts and felt there was an opportunity to set up his own business in the area.
Starting off
At the end of last season, Pa visited farmers with whom he had built up a relationship during his previous role.
He explained: “Many of the local farmers I visited were really supportive and reassured me they would help me out. I was commonly told that when they started off their farming career that someone gave them an opportunity, and they were willing to do the same for me. I was overwhelmed with the response to be honest. I really didn’t know if it was going to be feasible up to that.”
Some Fendt tractors were purchased based on competitive pricing, strong secondhand value and good local dealer backup.
From here, Pa and his partner Catherine began to crack the figures. Pa said: “Based on work that was promised to us if we went ahead and set up the business, the figures stacked up and it definitely seemed feasible. We had a list of 55 farmers who were willing to come on board with us. Many of these were dairy farmers who were farming anywhere from 700 to 1,500 cows. Our next step was to look to the machinery market to source the right equipment”.
Machinery
Pa said that he and Catherine looked at various brands of both new and used tractors and machinery. Where possible, new gear was purchased but it obviously wasn’t possible to buy a full fleet of new gear. He said: “When we decided we were going to set up the business, we knew we had only one shot to make a name for ourselves and make it happen. We could have made a much smaller initial investment and bought a lot of used equipment, but the last thing we wanted to do in our first year of business was have down time due to unreliable machinery.”
Some of Pa's outfit.
As a result, a lot of thought was put into buying the machinery. The decision to buy certain brands was based on his experience with the service backup provided by the local dealership and the machine’s reliability in New Zealand conditions. Certain finance companies that were associated with certain brands also played a role.
Another important aspect to any business is its premises. When making such a significant investment in machinery, a good shed to carry out maintenance works and keep machines inside and dry during the winter months is very important. At the same time Pa and Catherine were looking at setting up the business, a site with a large portal frame shed on the outskirts of Methven came up for lease. The decision was made to sign a five-year lease on the premises.
Finances
As every farmer and contractor is well aware, new machinery comes with a significant price tag. When asked how he secured the funds, he explained: “I was very lucky in the fact that my partner’s family were willing to help us out with the finances. Once a proper business plan is presented to the banks out here, they’re also willing to help. It’s also relatively easy to secure a low rate of finance on new and used machinery here in New Zealand.”
Once the finance was in place, the machines were ordered. Pa calculated a budget for each machine and the amount of work it would have to do each season in order to pay for itself.
Fleet
“We looked at Fendt, Massey and Claas in the larger-frame tractors. Fendt were very competitive and I felt their secondhand value after a few thousand hours was going to be strong. The local dealer was also very keen. I’m also a fan of the Fendt technology and the Vario transmission so we ended up buying two Fendt 724s and a 718.”
Pa works up to 70km from his base and around 80% of his clients are dairy farmers with 700 to 1,500 cows.
For the smaller tractors, Pa opted for two John Deeres with front-end loaders. He went for tractors with a power quad transmission as he felt they were well proven and easy to maintain.
Machinery
“I had operated and overseen the running of a lot of Claas equipment in my previous role. Our local dealer was very supportive from the start and as a result we decided to buy two new Claas four-rotor rakes, a new set of Claas butterfly combination mowers, a Claas Quadrant square baler and a Claas Jaguar 950. A new JCB 435s soon landed and was followed by a McHale Fusion and a Bergmann wagon.
Pa kitted out his new JCB 435S with a 14ft MDE folding fork which are built in Co Armagh.
Pa made the decision that for the first few years he was going to hire a local transport company to haul the grass from the field to the pit. He felt that this was the most viable option at the time. The transport company is actually owned by a Scottish man and Pa said that to date this relationship is working really well. They use articulated lorries with 70m3 trailers.
Staff
When it came to manning the crew, Pa knew how important it was to have good staff, especially for his first year in business. After speaking to some Irish guys he was friendly with in the Methven area and some more guys from home, he secured two experienced Clare men who had spent six seasons working in New Zealand. Through word of mouth, Pa got in touch with more Irish lads and secured staff from Cavan, Waterford and Clare. Through advertising, an Englishman and two Canadians also joined the team. Pa’s partner’s family, Mark and Nicky, are also involved in the business and help out when some extra hands are needed.
Pa Nagle and his partner Catherine Leonard.
Before the season kicked off, Pa was quietly worried that keeping work in front of this large crew of 11 staff was going to be a challenge. Initially, he was hoping to have a steady 40 to 50 hours per week for each of the lads.
Pa's crew is made up of staff from Clare, Cavan, Waterford, England and Canada.
However, as the workload increased over the past few weeks, this has turned into 70 and 80 hour weeks. Although all the staff are currently seasonal, Pa noted that some of the crew are would like to stay on in a full-time capacity so he is currently looking into some options for winter work.
Catherine isn’t in the business on a full-time capacity just yet. She looks after all the office work, including invoicing and paying the wages. She plans to join the business in a full-time capacity next year.
The season to date
The silage season here in Methven kicked off in September but only really got going in early October. When I visited Pa and the team, they were just over eight weeks into the busy period.
Pa said: “We couldn’t be any happier with where we are right now. We have done more work up to now than what we had budgeted to do up until February. The figures are showing that we have got through two and a quarter times of what we had budgeted for this stage of the season.
Busy
“Things got that busy here a few weeks ago that we were forced to buy a second set of butterfly combination mowers. All going to plan, we are hoping to surpass our full season’s budget (up to end April) by the end of December. So it’s smiles all around for now.”
“We have a client list of 55 farmers, and speaking to some other farmers we would be hoping to work for 65 farmers in total within a 70km radius. Eighty per cent of our clients are dairy farmers and the remaining 20% is made up of beef and sheep farmers.
“A local agricultural contractor has just decided to get out of the business so there is now even more opportunity in the area. This was something that we hadn’t accounted for up to now. It’s exciting times for us.”
Contracting: Ireland v New Zealand
Talking to Pa about contracting in Ireland versus New Zealand, he said: “New Zealand is very similar to Ireland, just over here the scale of farming is much bigger.
“The gear is very similar, it’s just bigger here. The longer season with generally more settled spells of weather means farmers are usually more laid back.
“But this isn’t always the case and a big part of contracting out here is harvesting surplus paddocks. Dairy farmers can’t afford to lose a week waiting on a contractor to cut paddocks that are in a 21-day rotation.
“A big problem in this region is grass going too dry after it’s been cut, especially with the strong winds in Canterbury. Wind is a bigger issue in this region than rain. The northwest winds that we get here can dry 5mm to 7mm of moisture out of the soils each day.”
Contracting in New Zealand is run the same as any other business. All bills are issued on the first day of each month, with payment due on the 20th.
Bills
This works both ways and includes the contractor’s bill to the farmer and the diesel, plastic/net and parts bills to the contractor, etc. Interestingly, 99% of bills are sent out by email and the same proportion of bills are then paid via bank transfer. Cheques are used very rarely and cash payments are non-existent.
Other opportunities
While looking to the machinery market for a folding fork for pushing up the silage, Pa wasn’t quite satisfied that he could find one that he was happy with.
While he was home in Ireland on holidays, he called to his local contractor and spotted that he was running an MDE folding fork. After speaking to some contractors who were using them and seeing the heavy-duty build, Pa knew this was the fork for him.
Upon further investigation, he learnt that MDE hadn’t any presence in New Zealand up to that point. Shortly after this, a trip to MDE in Co Armagh was on the cards.
The design and spec was slightly tweaked for the New Zealand market and Pa decided to purchase three folding forks, one for himself and two more to try to retail.
The day I visited Pa, he had just delivered one fork to a contractor in Southland was ready to deliver the second one to a neighbouring contractor. He is now hoping to capitalise on this opportunity and sell more MDE attachments in New Zealand.
Plan going forward
Pa is going to try and grow the business further next year and noted that he is currently in talks with some farmers and some government-owned large-scale farms.
However, he doesn’t want the business to get to the stage where he can’t run it himself and needs operations managers. This would be the case with many large contracting outfits in New Zealand.
All in all, he said that he was always a home bird and could never see himself moving away from home.
Growing up near the cliffs of Moher, setting up his own contracting business was always something he had in the back of his head, but he never really thought it would materialise.
He said that things are really working out and it’s exciting times ahead for him and his partner Catherine with their new business venture.
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