Contractor with a passion for organic farming

Among contractors, there are generalists and specialists. Agrarservice May which is located near Würzburg is one of the latter. For combining which often is a loss-making business for other contractors does not figure at all among the services offered. Neither does plant protection. But the portfolio still is very large and even includes somewhat exotic activities like the mechanical covering of beet rows with fleece.

One brand

Agrarservice May only uses Fendt tractors. “One reason is that the drivers like to work with them”, Georg May says. “Moreover, our own technicians are very familiar with this brand. And, last but not least, we are very satisfied with our sales partner, the BayWa subsidiary in Unterpleichfeld, that is also our contact for HORSCH machines.”
The machinery currently consists of 14 tractors with a horsepower ranging from 180 to 360 hp. Some machines exclusively work at construction sites or are used for special tasks, e.g. the large Fendt 900 tractors with the stone crusher, the soil stabilising mixer or the forest mulcher. The newer Fendt 700 are used flexibly and are equipped with GPS and RTK, the two new, fully-equipped 728 tractors are mainly used for seeding with the two Prontos. The older Fendt 700 tractors, five in total, are also used flexibly. Moreover, the machinery also includes a trailer truck, two Unimogs, two excavators (one of them with 3D steering) and several company cars. In total, Agrarservice May owns around 100 vehicles.

At the construction site

At first, the contracting company mainly focussed on agricultural services. When in 2012 a gas pipeline was built in the region, the first requests for other services came in. While, initially, they still could be handled with the existing machinery – tractor and hired skips, specialised machines were soon required. The topics soil stabilisation, stone milling and mulching in the forest are customer-driven and still offer a lot of potential. Other topics are winter services or in summer watering for municipalities or on behalf of gardening and landscaping companies. At the time of the grape gathering, they also transport mash for a large wine-growing estate.
In the meantime, Agrarservice May has eight skips of its own and the trailer truck is mainly used for construction site transports. “In the construction sector, we have developed from a mere haulage company to a full-service provider”, Georg May states. “We participate in tenders and process the orders independently.“

High-tech for seeding

When it comes to seeding and tillage technology, Georg and his successor Cornelius May almost exclusively rely on HORSCH. One reason is that Cornelius knows the regional HORSCH sales manager Roman Scheller from the days of his vocational training. They discuss a lot which has already led to one or two changes at the machines. Moreover, the service factor is important, too. And the BayWa meets all expectations.

I have only had the Taro 6 SL for one year. Due to the Partner seed hopper in the front, I do not need an additional weight or a roller. The combination is very light, the downforce of the seed drill on slopes is very low and I can work with a high operational speed. Our two Maestros are used for sugar beet, soybeans, rapeseed and much more. Compared to other single grain seed drills, they are particularly advantageous for soybeans and sunflowers if the quality of the seed is not top. Small seeds which with other machines can get stuck in the disc are removed in the Maestro. The second Maestro is used without underground fertilisation. Thus, the weight is reduced by approx. 800 kg. The sugar beet growers among our customers appreciate this. But especially maize is almost exclusively sown with a simultaneous fertiliser placement. The row spacing of both machines is 50 cm. Together, their work rate amounts to around 700 ha/year. Seeding is an important service and optimum quality an important factor for customer satisfaction. In addition to the technology, staff is another important factor. We have three employees that are specialised in this sector. Due to GPS and RTK, we sow with an accuracy of 2 cm. SectionControl is a given. Some customers were sceptical at first, but when they saw the populations, they were quickly convinced. Our seeding technology certainly is expensive. But this, in turn, is one reason for farms to outsource this task to us.

Not only for organic farms

To be honest, in the first year I was not so happy with the Transformer hoe. Every row had to be adjusted individually and this simply was too much effort. But this has been changed and now I am very satisfied with this machine. From the GPS-supported adjustable slide frame to the shape of the point – everything works perfectly. This season, it’s the fourth year of the Cura on our farm. At the previous machine, the zones were suspended as a whole, now the tines are suspended individually. This also works on uneven fields. The harrow is heavy, but stable. I do not only use it for weed control but also for seedbed preparation. Organic farms often have their own hoeing tools and harrow, but there are some conventional farms where we use it within the scope of our contracting tasks. They thus save one crop care pass. I already have the third Joker in 15 years. First the working width amounted to 4 m, now to 5 m. This compact disc harrow is ideal for all situations. We rent it quite a lot. We installed a spreader so that catch crops can be sown in one pass. I actually bought the Terrano as I wanted all machines I needed to be from HORSCH. There are some little details I am not yet quite satisfied with. For example the RollFlex packer: it is light, but does not crush optimally and tends to get clogged with soil. Or the levelling discs that have to be adjusted manually. However, at the Agritechnica, I talked to HORSCH about both issues and they signalled a solution. The Finer was a demonstration machine which I immediately kept on the farm.

Last autumn, the knife roller Cultro was only used little, as it first was too wet and there was intensive frost. So the conditions were not good. But otherwise, we like to use it in front attachment in combination with the Joker to efficiently incorporate catch crops.”

Other agricultural services

Other services in arable farming include the spreading of liquid manure with drag shoe liquid manure tanks as well as the spreading of compost. The latter is particularly interesting for organic farms. There is a composting plant nearby which according to Georg May delivers very good quality. By the way, the stone crusher is also used in the field. “Conventional stone crushers fail in this region“, Georg May says. “There simply are too many stones. New stones come up with every pass. Moreover, the stones would then have to be disposed of. Crop care is not an issue for us. When I converted my own farm to an organic farm, the sprayer left the premises. And I am happy that I do no longer have to deal with this topic.”

Perspectives

Georg and Cornelius May have set up their agricultural service business in a solid and sustainable way. The turnover currently amounts to approx. 3 million Euro and is achieved with 17 employees, ten temporary employees and one apprentice who trains as an agricultural service specialist. Cornelius May, Master of Agricultural Services and the trainer of the apprentice, wants to offer one apprentice position every year in the future. So far, he and his previous apprentices have been quite successful. He himself was the best apprentice of the year in Bavaria.
However, the objective of Georg and Cornelius May is not growth at all costs. They rather want to increase efficiency.

The construction of a new hall is planned for the near future. The main focus in this respect will be on the employees, larger welfare facilities, a larger and even better equipped workshop, but also on the protection of the environment. For they are also planning to build a washing hall and a washing station. Moreover, the office also moves to this site to make sure that someone is always available on site. So far, the office has been located in the house of Georg May’s parents in the centre of the village.