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These trucks are a familiar sight on the roads around Roscrea
transportation of animal byproducts, such as bone and offal, from meat factories to rendering plants which in turn produce animal tallow and bone meal. These plants include Dublin Products in Dunlavin, Co. Wicklow, Western Proteins in Ballyhaunis, Co. Mayo and Foyle Proteins in Derry. Due to strict Department of Agriculture regulations, separate trailers must be used for the transportation of animal hide. “It’s the busiest end of the business,” John says. “We have five articulated trucks at it full-time. We collect the animal by-products from the meat factories and transport them to the rendering facilities. We work for the rendering plants as opposed to the meat factories.” Beechfield Products is an approved collector of fallen,
sick or dead animals, providing a professional service to farmers with a daily collection guaranteed. While acknowledging that business was good during last spring’s fodder crisis, John insists he took no satisfaction from the extra work and the hardship farmers endured. “It was heart-breaking to see what some farmers were going through,” he remembers. “They endured genuine pain and suffering. I really felt for them and wouldn’t wish it upon anyone what they went through. We didn’t put any pressure on them for payment because some of them genuinely hadn’t got the money. Thankfully, most of them have come through it with the good summer being a godsend for them. Hopefully, there will have enough fodder to carry them through next
winter and spring.” The company’s fleet consists of modern, well maintained trucks and trailers, while low loaders and tippers are also available to handle almost any load. Most of the trucks are DAF which is no surprise given that main DAF dealer Guilfoyle Trucks are located just a short distance away. “We’ve generally invested in DAF down the years because they are a reliable truck and Guilfoyle Trucks are on our doorstep. But we bought a second-hand Volvo recently which has been a welcome addition to the fleet in that it is able to get in and out of tighter spaces than the DAFs because it isn’t as bulky. We have plans to upgrade the rest of our fleet in the near future. Recently we have approached Guilfoyles about a new Daf tractor unit, which we want to
buy before Euro 6 models come on line at end of year. Due to an unhappy experience when buying first of Euro 4 in 2007 we have vowed never to buy early models that haven’t been well tried. Better to get end of well tried line than first of new model. Unfortunately a new Euro 5 Daf was no longer available so we have purchased a new Volvo from McCarty Commercials in Kilkenny instead. This new Volvo has entered service on 01/10/2013 and so far appears to be doing well. It will be watched carefully regarding MPG etc in comparison to our Dafs. The biggest attraction was Volvos service & maintenance package which is fixed totally so we will only be responsible for fuel & tyres,” he continues. “As I already mentioned, we have five artics dedicated to
Beechfield’s impresesive fleet of trucks
IRISH TRUCKER & LIGHT COMMERCIALS
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