WE headed to Fife for the first time in our Contractor’s Yard series to feature twin brothers, Mike and Rich Young, of A and E Young, which is based at Lochton Farm, near Crail.
The brothers, who established the business in 2006, after both working away from the 280-acre family unit, have become well-known contractors in the area and specialise heavily in vegetable and cereal work.
Their tractor fleet includes Fendt and John Deere, which they believe are two superior brands that suit the type of work they do, and they rely heavily upon Grimme machines as they pulverise around 1000 hectares of potatoes each year.
The team, which includes two full-time employees, Dave McNicoll and Stewart White, have built up a loyal customer base over the years, with customers situated all over Fife and in Perthshire and surrounding areas.
Questions were answered by Mike, who keeps on top of all office work.
How long have you been contracting for?
I was assistant manager at Stewarts of Tayside for three years and brother Rich, did work there with our own tractor and in the Perthshire and Angus areas.
In 2006, we decided to start up our own contracting business and bought a brand new Grimme pulverising machine – the only contractors to provide that machine in the area at that time. Luckily, with no competitors in the area, we managed to build up a lot of work with it and this resulted in us buying a second machine two years later.
What keeps you busiest throughout the year?
We can do everything from stubble to stubble, but our main line of work is with veg and cereals, particularly potatoes.
Pulverising potatoes is one of our biggest jobs in the year, covering around 1000 hectares of ground with the two Grimme machines. The fact that the herbicide diquat may be banned in the UK, will mean that tattie growers won’t be able to use it next season so this may push demand further which will work in our favour.
We do a good bit of straw laying on carrots, too, with roughly 5000 Hesston bales each year and plough around 1000ha, and sow about 100ha of cereals.
Since 2010’s bad winter, we have been gritting and snow clearing and now cover no fewer than 70 car parks across the whole of Fife and areas in Dundee, Perth and Dunfermline, using three HillTip gritters and seven snow ploughs. It really complements the contracting and keeps us all busy in what would usually be a quiet period.
In the spring, we’re destoning for at least two months and then sowing turnips, and a variety of vegetables. We also offer a service with crop solution machines, including crop net laying and rolling machines.
At home, on the 280-acre farm, we work a stubble to stubble contract and rent the buildings for storage and drying grain. We also grow shopping turnips across 12 ha and produce around 1000 tonnes for Kettle Produce.
Most of the maintenance on machines is done in house and our employee, Stewart, is a time-served mechanic.
We tend to stay clear of the likes of dung spreading and silage as the East Coast doesn’t have a lot of cattle so that’s why we specialise in vegetable and cereal work.
How brand loyal are you?
John Deere tractors have been in the business since the very start – Netherton Tractors is one of the best dealerships out there but then again, we’ve never been let down by any of the dealers we use. The back-up from John Deere is brilliant.
We also have two Fendt tractors, including a 724 model which is needed for its weight and power, but then its £20,000 dearer than everything else. We find Fendt is a superior brand for doing potato pulverising and ploughing and the brands we have chosen suit the needs of the Kverneland ploughs.
Dealerships used?
Hamilton Bros, Netherton Tractors, Grimme and Fife Tractors
How long are machines kept for and do you buy new or second-hand?
Our tractors usually do between 1800 and 2000 hours per year, so we try and change one tractor every year. That’s not to be flashy though, it’s to be reliable.
Other machinery is kept depending on reliability, how much work they’re doing and running costs.
We buy new when we can afford to, but it’s usually 50:50. Most of the new machines are ex-demonstrators.
Best tractor you’ve ever had?
We had a New Holland T6080 and that tractor probably returned us the best profit. It was a 2008 plate and we had it for nine years. If you take out depreciation and repair bills, it didn’t cause us that much hassle. It was trouble free.
The John Deere 2650 is a favourite – it goes on the veg planter and fills the grain drier. It’s a 1991 plate and has been with us since new having done 7000 hours. It just gets used for light duties though, but Rich won’t part with it!
Newest and oldest piece of kit?
The oldest machine is our TX32 New Holland combine (1991) which we’ve had for 10 years now and we hope to have it for another 10 years.
Newest is one of our Fendt tractors, bought in August, this year. We also bought a new plough at the same time.
New gadgets?
The John Deere GreenStar GPS system was fitted two years ago and the Trimble GPS system on the Fendts.
Not only does it make a nice job but it improves driver fatigue. It’s not cheap, but it keeps the customers and operator happy.
Favourite and least favourite jobs?
The worst job has to be changing wheels as we seem to be doing it all the time.
Nobody seems to complain when they’re ploughing, so it must be a favourite.
Best and worst bits of contracting?
Aside from the rising costs of machinery and weather, you have 60 different customers – so that’s 60 different bosses and every farm has different expectations.
It’s a problem-solving game from morning to night but I like the challenges and excitement of the job.
Weather wise, this year’s dry, hot summer didn’t have too big an impact on us and we benefited from saving on the likes of drying costs. Straw quality was average in this area, if not better.
We’re also lucky that we can capitalise on wet and cold weather, and keep busy throughout the winter.
What advice would you give to a new contractor?
Remember there is no 9 to 5 Monday to Friday in this industry!
INVENTORY
Tractors – John Deere 6210R, 6150R, 2650 (1991); Fendt 724 x2.
Cultivation – Kverneland five-furrow and six-furrow plough (ES100 models); 3m Lemken Solitair 8 drill
Potato and veg machinery – Grimme KS600 six-trio potato pulveriser x2; seven bale Larrington straw layer; Pearson destoner
Other equipment – NH TX32 combine; 24m trailed sprayer; 16-tonne Stewart trailers; 10-box Gardiner trailer x2; three gritting trucks
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