The cooperative acquired, among other equipment, three harvesters, eight harvesters, eight tractors and 10 trailers. The purchase allows the cooperative to increase its services to its members by increasing the number of machines available and involves the hiring of 8 people. The operation also creates two new points with their respective basic machinery equipment in the towns of Sarria and Guntín and will increase services for Silleda.
More than 1.5 million investment
The agricultural and livestock cooperative Aira, headquartered in Taboada (Lugo), has just closed the purchase of a batch of machinery with which it seeks to renew and expand its fleet. The operation will also increase services to members with the creation of two new points with basic fixed machinery equipment in Sarria and Guntín.
The purchase of the machinery, which began at the end of last year, represents an investment of more than 1.5 million euros. The cooperative acquired a batch of equipment including eight harvesters, including a self-propelled harvester and two butterfly harvesters, a Claas 970 10-row combine harvester, two Claas 960 8-row harvesters, eight tractors and 10 trailers. The set also includes other machinery such as plows and seed drills, which contribute to improving the performance of the fleet.
The purchase aims to reinforce the machinery we currently have [both in Chantada and Pol] and will also allow us to improve the services we offer to our members by establishing two new points with fixed machinery in Sarria and Guntín and to increase the services we offer to the Deza region, as we will have more machinery in the Aira delegation in Silleda.
“The purchase aims to strengthen the machinery we have today [both in Chantada and Pol] and will also allow us to improve the services we offer to the member by being able to establish two new points with fixed machinery in Sarria and Guntín and increase the services for the Deza region, by having more machinery in the Aira delegation in Silleda”.explains José Enrique Otero Díaz, Director of Supplies and Services at the cooperative. Both the Sarria and Guntín parks will have a permanent team of a combine harvester, three tractors and three trailers for this grass silage campaign.
The creation of these auxiliary parks with their own fixed machinery in both Guntín and Sarria seeks to improve the services offered to members in these areas in order to meet the existing demand and complement the services that were already being provided in these municipalities with the collaboration of different companies, with which we will continue to work.
Overhaul and overhaul
All the machinery was purchased from Ramudo de Bretoña SL, a company from Lugo. “We are finishing the revision and tuning of the machinery for the grass silage campaign,” says José Ángel Cobas Barreiro, in charge of the machinery park at the cooperative.José Ángel Cobas Barreiro, head of the machinery park at the cooperative, explains.
We are finishing the revision and tuning of the machinery for the grass silage campaign
Thus, most of the machines are already in the cooperative’s own facilities ready for the mowing and grass silage work, which is starting gradually these days in the different Aira delegations.
Growing for the partner
The operation allows Aira to continue to consolidate its position as one of the main cooperatives in Galicia, both in terms of turnover and services to its members. The purchase of machinery means that the cooperative now has a wide range of equipment designed for fundamental tasks for livestock farmers, such as silage for both grass and corn, staple foods in the rations of dairy cattle, and increasingly for beef cattle as well.
The increase in the machinery park also means an increase in the cooperative’s staff. Thus, the hiring of 8 professionals specialized in the driving of this type of machinery is planned, which will be added to the thirty employees of the cooperative’s machinery pool, a figure that increases during the campaigns with the increase in the workload. For the moment, 5 workers have already been hired.
The campaigns are becoming more and more concentrated, we want all farmers to make silage at the best time of the crops, as this translates into better productions (quantitative and especially qualitative) and cost reductions.
With this acquisition, Aira now has a fleet of machinery that includes 11 harvesters , making it the largest in Galicia in terms of volume of machinery.
We try to minimize the time between harvesting winter forages and growing corn so that members can opt for longer corn cycles that also give them better results, Therefore, it is essential to have machinery available to deal with this volume of work
Making silage of both grass and corn at the right maturity translates into cost savings and optimization of land use, especially in those plots where crop rotation is carried out, with winter forages prior to planting corn.
