21-04-2025
Watch: Offaly family win Merlo Multifarmer competition
Merlo is on a mission to bring the benefits of telehandlers to Irish farmers and, to help this campaign along, it has awarded the use of a Multifarmer 34.7 for a year to the winner of a mega competition held in conjunction with Agriland.
The winner of the competition, first announced at Ploughing 2024, has the free use of the telehandler for a year, or 1,000 hours, whichever comes first, and along with the loader itself there will be a bucket, pallet forks, and a muck fork/grab as part of the package.
Michael Guinan from Co. Offaly is the lucky farmer drawn from the hat of 35,000 entries, and he will enjoy the use of the machine on the mixed beef and dairy unit he farms with his wife Concepta, and son Kevin.
The family-run farm has 120 cows on a split holding of 300ac, utilising two Lely robots to cope with the milking, while bull calves are raised to finish at 18-20 months, making 380-400kg plus.
However, this is not a standard black and white herd; the breed is Montbéliarde, which originates in the east of France where the milk is appreciated for its cheese-making qualities.
The Montbéliarde breed is rare in Ireland but it performs well in both both beef and dairy enterprises
Bridging the gap
Daily farming operations on the Guinan farm are faced with a significant challenge in that the Grand Canal neatly divides it into two with an original stone bridge crossing the cut – a bridge which is not designed for modern machinery.
A tight turn onto a narrow bridge imposes severe restrictions on machinery use
This, unfortunately, means that a good deal of roadwork needs to be undertaken throughout the year as wider and less manoeuvrable tractors have to undertake a six-mile round trip to the other side, although stock and smaller machines can cross the bridge.
Currently the tractor fleet comprises two McCormicks, one with a loader, and a John Deere that is also fitted with a loader, although it is the McCormick which does most of the materials handling.
Yes, it's meant to look like this. The chassis can be levelled to the left or right to compensate for uneven ground
The farm has already carried out some research into upgrading the loader tractor, with a used loader of a different brand considered, but now that the opportunity has arisen to try the Multifarmer out for a year, the timing has been ideal for this Offaly farm.
Loader type
Michael's other son, Damion, has experience of telehandlers in the UK and has been urging his father to consider this type of loader.
With the arrival of the Merlo Multifarmer, the practicalities of using this type of machine can be fully put to the test.
One of the first field tasks for the Multifarmer will be preparing the maize ground
Michael himself is already an enthusiast of the Multifarmer concept, which takes the basic design of a normal telehandler and attaches a three-point linkage, hydraulic services, and a power take-off (PTO) to the rear of the frame that extends further backwards than a normal telehandler chassis.
Unique to Merlo
It is this feature that is of particular interest to the family, as the ability to use the Multifarmer for field tasks as well as the usual lifting and loading jobs, gives the farm a powerful addition to the tractor fleet.
The versatility gained by taking a loader and enabling it to work as a standard tractor is greatly appreciated by the Guinan family
One of the first tasks the machine, outside of the yard, is power harrowing the maize ground, which, as Kevin points out, will nicely bed the Deutz engine in and confirm just how well it can cope with field work.
L-r: Cormac Farrelly, managing director, Agriland, winning farmer, Kevin Guinan, and Helen Selkin, Merlo
The loader was supplied by Merlo agents, FJS Plant of Kildare, and officially present by Cormac Farrelly, managing director of Agriland, and Helen Selkin of Merlo UK and Ireland this week.
Farrelly said: 'We were delighted to partner with Merlo to provide a farmer with the opportunity to carry out a multitude of work on farm over the course of a year, that they might not otherwise have been able to complete without equipment such as the Multifarmer.
'I hope it makes the operations on the Guinan farm that bit more feasible over the coming 12 months and no doubt this exceptional piece of kit will be put to immediate use.'
Helen Selkin of Merlo added: 'For Merlo, the Guinan family are actually the ideal winners of this competition.
'The Multifarmer is going to do everything that they need; traditionally they have been using a tractor loader and they're really excited to see what this machine is going to give them.'
