The three McGuinness Brothers - Jack,Pat and Tony in 2013 run a modern farm from their base in Richardstown, close to Ardee in Co. Louth. The farm has been in the family since the forties when their father Paddy purchased it from the McKeever family. Their first tractor was an early Allis Chalmers purchased in 1951 while a DGD International, purchased by Paddy joined the fleet in 1953
In 2013 the brothers concentrate on a full tillage programme and are still committed Case customers, all somewhat bigger than the 30hp DGD. “When you handle such a large acreage you need the right equipment” says Pat. “We run two Case Combines and hire in additional local owners at peak times to get the job done”.
“In 2013 we will concentrate on cereal type crops, reducing the potato programme to just over 100 acres for the first time”.
Getting several thousand acres of Cereals into the ground is a key job and so the brothers took a decision in Feb 2012 to purchase a Kverneland Accord DF2 Combination. This six meter machine combines a front tank with press, feeding a six meter drill on a six meter Kverneland folding power harrow at the rear. The complete unit was delivered in October 2012, by the local Dealer Mid Louth Garage, in Ardee.
The McGuinness Bros decided on Suffolk coulters with ceramic tips rather than discs as they see the Suffolk type as a better way to distribute the seed grain in the row. “And it’s almost impossible to wear out the ceramic tips” says Pat “we’ve never broken one”. Discs are more expensive and are somewhat heavier to carry as well, so we made the conscious decision to go with Suffolk Coulters. “We set the machine up with 40 rows rather than 48, giving us six inch spacing. We find this spacing better in our land and in fact have just sown an experimental five acre plot at 10” spacing as a test on output for next season”. “We were achieving four ton plus here on the home farm in the fifties and sixties with just an old box drill using 7” spacing" says Jack, "so its worth having a look at different possibilities".
