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vor 5 Jahren

XtraBlatt Issue 01-2018

  • Text
  • Machinery
  • Krone
  • Forage
  • Silage
  • Maize
  • Menschen
  • Farmers
  • Contractor
  • Agricultural
  • Dairy

MENSCHEN INTERNATIONAL

MENSCHEN INTERNATIONAL François Hallereau started his contractor firm when he was just 18. Nowadays, he employs six staff members. ourselves. Two of our staff are responsible for balers and two for the silage harvesters and combines.” In France there are no specialised training courses for agricultural machinery maintenance mechanics (unlike the case in Germany). This means that Hallereau’s operators are largely self-taught concerning maintenance and servicing. Some have attended agricultural college, some studied engineering. “Systems such as ISOBUS and GPS caused us headaches to begin with. But in the meantime, we wouldn’t want to be without them.” Something that this contractor never misses is gathering his operators together every morning at 7.30 for a so-called “lour fixe”, a meeting to plan the day ahead. He’s even designated a special room for this crucial early morning get-together. For year-round employment, the Hallereau company also offers services for communities. 90% DAIRY CATTLE CUSTOMERS François Hallereau makes a large part of his annual turnover producing straw litter for livestock farms. “From around 100 customers, 90 are dairy farms. This is a very stable number because in our experience dairymen are more faithful customers than arable farmers. New customers tend to be the exception nowadays, ‘phoning us when their first choice contractor cannot help. In our locality usually the children take over the dairy farm from their parents and this is why infrastructure has remained stable here.” In the immediate vicinity, his business has only two large competitors. 16 The greatest challenges come, he reckons, from the “Cuma” – private purchasing associations operating along the lines of machinery rings. “The customers have become more proactive and the size of operations in hectares, as well as levels of mechanisation, tend to increase.” On average, Hallereau’s customers farm 50 ha, the larger ones around 200 ha. “The problem is that the farmers only want to pick the contractor services that are most advantageous for their businesses. This is why I only offer my service as a package deal.” Transport of bales is usually organised by the dairy farmers themselves. YEAR-ROUND EMPLOYMENT In summer and autumn this contractor has up to 19 student helpers. After all, he not only handles the baling work in La Rochelle but also grass and maize silage harvesting over a radius of 15 km around his home base. In a year, he harvests around 600 ha grass and the same area of forage maize. The firm organisation is completely via telephone and SMS with especially the latter becoming important. “Most of my customers don’t have E-Mail. That’s why we don’t use software. Here, everything runs on paper and I regularly send out an SMS newsletter with service details.

The contractor’s fleet has eight large square balers including three HDP 120/90 from Krone. Up to eight days before harvest the contractor knows which service he has to carry out with each customer. He himself is on one of the machines for up to 50% of his working day, the rest of the time in the office where he’s supported by his wife Brigitte halfdays. Her speciality is preparing the invoices. In 80% of jobs, work is billed on an hourly basis although the trend is moving towards per hectare billing. “This is fairer for the customer if, for instance, a stop is made for repairs”, points out François Hallereau who’s sons Richard and Simon have worked in the firm since 2014. Their father used this extra manpower to expand his services to cover winter and spring community work including mowing of roadsides, ditches and banks. The last year was difficult for the business. While the milk price actually rose from 28 cent/l to 32-33 c/l, the farmers required less straw because heat and drought meant they were able to save on litter through the cows staying out on grass much longer. “But we were able to compensate through additional earnings from the new contracting firm we took over.” While finances are substantially better for dairy farmers compared with 2016, this contractor feels the economic climate is still difficult for them. “The drought meant that forage feeding had to start early. In 2017, the maize yielded only 7 – 10 t/ha dry matter.” Normally, the maize would be irrigated in such a season. But in 2017, water reserves were too low. Looking to the future, Monsieur Hallereau plans to integrate his two sons more into the business. “Both have now seven years in which to buy 48% of shares in the firm. Long term, they’ll be taking over everything.” LU HALLEREAU COMPANY DESCRIPTION Location Founded 1981 Staff Customers Services Key machinery Torfou, France 6 full-time 19 seasonal workers Dairy farms arable farms communities hay and straw baling straw trading grass and maize silage seed drilling fertiliser spreading crop spraying community/municipal work 8 tractors (115 – 260 HP) 3 combines 3 silage harvesters 8 large square balers 1 round baler 2 baler/wrapper combinations 2 mowers 3 swathers 4 seed drills 2 sprayers 2 fertiliser spreaders Contact www.hallereau-travauxagricoles.fr 17