AgriLand was amongst the visitors who travelled to a New Holland event in Kilkenny at ‘The Hub’ (Cillin Hill).

John W Anderson was there (on Thursday, October 4); he caught up with some of the brand’s Irish dealers, as well as New Holland’s own personnel – some of whom are very well known in the machinery trade here.

First up was Pat Smith – the recently-appointed business director for the UK and Irish territories.

He told John: “I brought the whole team across to try and raise our profile in Ireland.” He went on to discuss the new range range of implements, which became available following the acquisition of Kongskilde.

Next up was Brian Magee – the Northern Irish man who is New Holland’s area sales manager for harvesting products in Scotland and Ireland.

Newest harvester dealer

He explained: “With the introduction of our new harvester dealer covering the bottom half of Ireland, M&S Machinery – joining Armstrong Machinery who have been there for many, many years – we’re going to be focusing on the FR range of forage harvesters.

[There’s] a full range – from an entry-level machine at 480hp through to the 920hp machine sold this year.

“On our combine range, we have sold everything [upwards] from our little TC4.90 – which was equivalent to what people would have known as a TX34 which was a large combine back in the day. Today, our flagship CX combine is our norm.”

Billy Shaw talks hire tractors

Next on camera was Billy Shaw – from WR Shaw in Tullamore. He said: “We’re New Holland dealers and have been since 2001.

“The main part of our business, probably, is our hire business.

We’re hiring in 56 tractors to Dublin Airport this year and we’ll probably have 60 tractors going into Bord na Mona during the summer.

“Now is our busy time of the year. The T6.180 is probably one of our most popular models. She’s the only six-cylinder tractor we have in that range now.

“This would be one of our top-selling tractors, along with our T7.210 in the bigger tractor range.”

He continued: “Back from our hire fleet this year, we are selling more of the longer-wheelbase tractors…so we’re [also] selling the T7.230 and T7.245. They have that longer wheelbase, so you have the extra bit of traction…and extra bit of comfort in the cab.

The ex-hire tractor is coming in, maybe, €12,000-15,000 cheaper than the new tractor. It’s a big discount off a new price; it’s the first year’s depreciation gone out of the tractor for the customer.

Next up was Liam Hayde, sales manager for the Republic of Ireland for tractors. He explained the significance of the new ‘S’ family (125-215hp).

He was followed by: Gordon Sullivan, from dealer Mc & S Agrisales (Co. Cork); product demonstrator Timmy Burke; and, last but certainly not least, New Holland’s marketing manager for the UK and Ireland Mark Crosby.

Image source: Justin Roberts

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