Alan Gethings of the JF Centre is rather unique in Ireland, in that he continues to supply trailed forage harvesters when the rest of the farming world appears to have opted for self-propelled machines operated by contractors.
This belief in what is often regarded as heritage machinery is vindicated by the continued firm demand for the harvesters, 22 machines having been sold this year, nearly all of them used or refurbished.
As the name of Gethings’ company suggests, all of the harvesters are made by JF/Kongskilde, a make which gained a strong reputation in the heyday of this type of machine, and it is one that it still enjoys among farmers today.
Refurbishment and rebuilds
Over the last couple of years, the company has moved on from simply supplying parts and servicing to owners – it now actively buys and refurbishes harvesters before resale to an eager market.
They are sourced from home and abroad, having come from places as far apart as France and Norway – anywhere from within Europe that has them available, in fact, although they are all sold into the Irish market.
Questions over harvest timing
Gethings is not alone in struggling to make sense of the current situation in Ireland where Teagasc is pushing everyone to make silage during the same week in May, rather than exploring ways in which to spread the harvesting window.
This focus purely on the calendar pushes contractors to purchase ever bigger self-propelled machines to try and get the work done in a diminishing-time frame, leading to strained finances and silage being made in less than optimal conditions.
Bringing the operation back inhouse is a growing trend claims Gethings, the grass can be cut at an optimal time and wilted before being ensiled at a rate that ensures proper compaction in the pit.
Producing a higher quality of silage is where the trailed harvester scores, he believes. Tractor size is rarely a problem on farms nowadays, and with machines being sold, before they are even rebuilt, there may be some substance to his claims.
New Holland sells Kongskilde
However, there is something of a cloud hanging over the business with Kongskilde, who bought JF, now being owned by Italian feeder wagon specialist Seko, having been sold off by CNH in September.
It is unclear at present what the new owners intend to do with the brand and the product range, yet there has been no suggestion that the production of harvesters and parts will be adversely affected by the move.
Whatever the outcome, the JF Centre is not standing still awaiting an answer, for it has also taken on the importation of Pronar farm equipment from Poland, a company that is growing in familiarity here in Ireland.
JF Centre takes on the Polish
Pronar is a big company with significant resources that will be by no means stretched by entering and supporting the Irish market.
The JF centre has enjoyed a good deal of success in selling the equipment, with nearly all of the stock purchased over the last two years now sold and new supplies being ordered and awaited.
There is a tendency for the eastern European manufacturers to not establish sales organisations within countries, instead, they will export directly to individual dealerships within a market, the EU, after all, has no trade barriers between members.
This reduces the overheads, allowing products to be sold at a competitive rate although the manufacturers have to be alert to to the interests of several customers within a country rather than a rely on a single central sales organisation for feedback.
Spares hub
The JF Centre is one of several ‘importers’ of Pronar into the country, yet it is the one chosen to host a parts hub for the UK and Ireland, with €90,000 worth of spares arriving next month as stock to cover these two markets.
The stock itself will remain the property of Pronar with the JF Centre managing its storage and distribution – an exercise it is well-versed in thanks to the JF/Kongskilde business.
Having an immediate source of spares is one of the essentials to selling a product notes Gethings, another is to be able to show the equipment to customers in the yard, rather than rely on brochures or photos.
He is very much of the opinion that before a farmer turns up to look at a machine, he is well on his way to buying it and the viewing is usually to confirm a decision that has, to a great extent, already been made.
Having the stock in situ becomes essential in these circumstances to enable the various features to be demonstrated and the overall build quality assessed, and it is in this area that Gethings has seen huge advances being made.
Polish engineering has moved beyond the stage of throwing lots of metal at a job in the hope that it doesn’t break, it has become more sophisticated he feels, and points out that Pronar offers a three-year warranty with its machines, underscoring its faith in its reliability.
Future plans
Despite this year’s National Ploughing Championships being a great success for the JF Centre, it has been decided by both companies to give the FTMTA show a miss this time round.
Gethings unashamedly believes in keeping things simple and the equipment he sells appeals to the smaller or less intensive farmer, and it was this market segment which was actively buying at Ploughing 2024.
Those companies with larger and more sophisticated products did not fare quite so well, and the Punchestown event might be better suited to that type of equipment.
Shows and events can be unpredictable though. There was much interest shown at Ploughing 2024 in the small Pronar mixer wagons, but nothing came of it and none were sold.
Yet the exposure at both Ploughing 2024 and Tullamore has done much to bring the brand to the attention of farming customers, and it is this awareness that Gethings is confident will be the base for a rapid expansion of turnover in the Polish equipment.