Case IH dealer RC Dalgliesh celebrates 40 years in business

RC Dalgliesh is a family-owned agricultural engineering company based on the outskirts of Lockerbie, where Robbie and his wife, Clare Dalgliesh, are the current main directors of the company with son, Ramsay (16) intent on coming to work for the company as soon as he is able after education and daughter, Heather (age 14), who if she decided to join her older brother, ‘will end up running the place!’ laughed Robbie.

The company is this year celebrating its 40th anniversary and has come a long way since being set up by Robbie’s father and mother, Bob and Janet.

Bob was a plant contractor, based in the local town of Moffat and moved from rented accommodation there to get his foot on the property ladder, by buying a house within sight of the current yard. He could see the yard from the bedroom window of his new home and dream about starting a business there.

Just 18 months later, he bought the yard and his self-taught skills for fixing bits and pieces on tractors came to the fore and the business was born.

Bob’s reputation for repairing machinery moved with him and customers started to come in for various repairs. Bob, however, wanted to sell machinery and in 1982, Lamborghini became the first tractor franchise for the company.

In their time with Lamborghini, he sold 125 tractors with the first sale to Colin Fergusson, from Dalry, and the last one to Daniel Newbould, in 2007, when Lamborghini was been taken over by Same Deutz Fahr.

Loyalty to suppliers and customers has always been at the heart of the operation and despite a push from Case IH following the foot-and-mouth outbreak of 2001, Bob felt that the right move was to stick with what his customers were happy with and retain the connection with Same Deutz Fahr.

When Bob Dalgliesh passed away in 2006, son Robbie and wife Clare wanted the business’ customers to know that they were in for the long haul, so decided to continue the company as it was and not to change anything at that time.

Then, in 2012, they reconsidered the Case IH invitation and eventually moved across to them in 2013.

“Moving to Case and then introducing Kverneland to the business in 2020 has been the most significant development for us in 40 years,” said Robbie. “We have been able to add value to what we were already doing, allowing us to move forward and introduce further franchises, which benefit our customer experience and ultimately the success of the company.

“The market for tractors has shrunk slightly but we have still managed to sell more tractors because of their quality. The first tractor we sold was priced at £16995 and now you are looking at a ballpark figure of £120,000,” explained Robbie. “You have to be sure of the quality if you are asking customers to make that kind of financial commitment to their business.”

Grass still needs cut, cows fed and hedges cut, so tractors are still needed, although Robbie indicated that the size of tractors and equipment had probably set its size bar as far as it can.

“Tractors are still cheaper than labour,” he said, “but good staff are still worth every penny you pay them. We could not do what we do without the staff we have here.”

Over the next few years, the company added telehandlers, feeding systems, slurry systems, livestock handling equipment, weather protection, ATV equipment, silage equipment and more recently, a smaller kit like chainsaws, grass care and robotic control lawnmowers, giving them yet more strings to their bow.

“The addition of the gardening equipment has allowed us to develop into new markets,” pointed out Clare. “We are delighted with our small engine department, particularly our robot lawnmower. The grass was never this good when Robbie cut it!” Fortunately, Robbie agreed!

While Robbie and Clare, and Bob before them, had always focused on their customer base, they also realised that things were changing in the agricultural engineering world and with less manpower on farms, customers were moving towards the one-stop-shop principle.

Customers wanted a company that they already trusted but could also supply them with a selection of machinery, both large and small and have the all-important maintenance back up, which gave them the confidence to buy knowing that customer support was only a phone call away.

Moving this forward has seen RC Dalgliesh currently setting up a new buy online site, where they are better able to supply direct to customers and to make the best use of the now more than 20 franchises that they have.

“People just don’t have the time to run around looking for machines and parts and if we are going to continue to develop, we need to always make sure that our customer experience is as easy as possible,” pointed out Clare.

Social media has also become very important to the business and a well-maintained Facebook page and website, with news posted on a daily basis has become essential for all businesses. A point which everyone associated with the company is well aware of.

There are currently 20 members of staff, including Robbie’s brother, Alistair, who, as well as his ability on the engineering side, Robbie finds, is a welcome soundboard on occasion.

Agricultural machinery has changed immensely since the business began and ever since Robbie and Clare took over 15 years ago, the developments in every area have been life-changing for some farmers.

The biggest single game-changer, in Robbie’s view, is in animal management. “The introduction of diet feeders and feed wagons, allowed farmers to become more time-efficient and proficient in animal nutrition.

"Bale wrapping machines and self-propelled choppers, have meant that one machine can be used instead of two, freeing up manpower,” he pointed out.

“Farmers are trying to make more use of slurry because of the increased cost of fertiliser and a move towards a ‘greener’ way of farming. Tyre technology has been really important over the years, with fatter and fatter tyres developed to support the weight of the machinery and help prevent soil compaction and damage.

"The use of satellite navigation and GPS positioning and control for prime movers like tractors combines and forage harvesters has been a major game-changer which will develop further in the future.”

Both Robbie and Clare felt that there is a clear and necessary need for everyone to consider their impact on the planet and that agriculture will increasingly be driven by environmentalist concerns.

“Unfortunately, I don’t think farmers will get much of a say in the way farming goes in the coming years,” said Robbie. “While schemes are put in place for the best of reasons, they are not forward enough thinking and often become a sticking plaster on an open wound.

“We were all encouraged to use wood burners and biomass only a few years ago, and now both are becoming less popular with the green lobby. Politicians then jump on the bandwagon and as we only have a government for four years, that’s not enough time to clear up after the last one and look beyond their term in office with long-term goals and planning

“We are constantly being badgered to convert to electric cars but a move to electric agricultural vehicles is just not practical under the current charging infrastructure. For instance, a fleet of electric tractors turn up on-farm for harvest or silage, so we need a fleet of charging points to service them.

“Then, we are dictated to by the weather and can’t afford to be either short of battery power on a 16-hour day, with rain forecast or the time taken to recharge the batteries. We need to move toward energy efficiency.”

He continued: “Case IH is working on hydrogen-powered and electric tractors, but the power source is going to be an issue on the farm and it takes a lot of power to make hydrogen, for instance. Currently, diesel engines are still the most efficient power for larger vehicles.”

By the 2030 deadline, when all new cars sold in Scotland will have to be electric, technology will have moved forward so much that the current electric models will be obsolete. Lithium to make the car batteries need to be mined, which is bad for the environment and we are undoubtedly creating problems, which we haven’t seen yet.

“In my view, the holy grail of energy is nuclear fusion, producing a green energy source, which is constantly renewable. We would be far better off with a well-run nuclear power station on our doorstep than importing power from other green nuclear countries like France.

“We put in solar panels to cut our electric bill by a third, but with electricity increasing in price, they are not doing what they need to do for us at the moment,” he added.

It is clear that there is no one size fits in agriculture. The days of hundreds of small family farms with one tractor and a two-furrow plough are long gone. That’s not to say that family farms are a thing of the past, only that efficiency is going to be the way forward for all business.

“I think that agriculture has a bright future,” ventured Robbie. “We are well equipped to feed the nation, protect the planet and produce fuel, all of which is essential for our future.”

The way that your dad did it is no longer a ‘resting on your laurels situation’ and RC Dalgliesh, reflect that sentiment in tractor bucket loads.

From Bob’s vision of owning his own yard 40 years ago and developing his small engineering business, to Robbie and Clare’s vision for the future of the business which they will, hopefully, hand on to the next generation, this family company has always looked to the future but never at a cost to their customers or their suppliers.

Their family business reflects their personal views not only on their business but on future-proofing that business in a way that is environmentally friendly and morally acceptable to them and their family – and also to their customers, who will remain the focus of all that they do.

List of franchises:

• Albutt
• Marshall
• Case IH
• Cashels
• Galebreaker
• Hacket Harrows
• Herron
• IAE
• Husqvarna
• Kverneland
• Logic
• Longdog
• LWC
• Major
• McHale
• Merlo
• Tramspread
• MX
• NC Engineers
• Quicke
• Ritchie
• Shelbourne Reynolds
• ALO