Expansion plans will focus on company’s core values
ABBEY routinely sinks close to €500,000 annually into research and development, but Clodagh Cavanagh doesn’t see the company drifting away from the core lines that they already specialise in.
“We like to think we cater for the total cow — from our feeders and toppers through to our slurry spreaders. Any innovations that will be coming on stream in the coming years will be closely related to those lines, especially in the slurry handling and tub feeders, which are our two big-ticket items,” she says.
The biggest trend that Cavanagh sees is towards larger and larger capacity models.
“Obviously, farmers need more and more precision in terms of how they feed their cows or how they are utilising their slurry, and there is plenty to be working at improving there.
“But the main driver is size. While we might have had a yard full of new 1,600-gallon tankers in years gone by, now the standard size is closer to 3,000 gallons, and we have more and more enquiries for machines up to 6,000 gallons, especially from the anaerobic digester sector,” she says.
With the increase in scale, the price tags also get pretty hefty, with a 6,000 tri-axle tanker costing close to €55,000. The same trend is evident with the feeder wagons, with tri-auger 33.5 cubic metre tubs capable of holding enough feed for 200 cows hitting the €77,000 price mark.