An Irish plant and machinery rental company has just taken delivery of another fleet of new Massey Ferguson tractors and already placed them with a regular customer.

Based in County Kilkenny at Mullinavat, Holden Plant Rentals (HPR) has grown into the largest fleet management and vehicle rental company in Ireland.

HPR specialises in supplying government bodies, local authorities and other customers with all their fleet supply and management requirements.

The company dates back to 1955 when it was founded by Patrick Holden, originally repairing and selling cars. Later, in 1968 the business was appointed as an agency for Zetor tractors in the Kilkenny and Waterford areas which turned the focus more to the agricultural sector.

By 1989 the business expanded into municipal equipment rental mostly to the local councils. This area rapidly expanded as demand grew for a business that could both supply and maintain specialist complex equipment.

Today, HPR is run by Paul Holden and his son, also called Paul, who are managing a fleet of over 4,000 vehicles helped by their team of 70 staff.

One of their main customers is The Curragh Racecourse based in County Kildare which uses a number of tractors to keep the premises and track in tip top condition.

On top of that, The Curragh has its training facilities extending to 80 miles of gallops spread out over 1,500 acres of land where the tractors also come in very useful.

HPR supplies The Curragh with all its tractor requirements and as part of that contract has just supplied eight new 105hp MF 5711M tractors and one larger 140hp MF 6715S model.

There are a number of reasons why Paul Holden uses the Massey Ferguson tractors in his business with their high residual value being a major purchasing factor.

Paul said: “We select Massey Ferguson tractors for their quality, superior aftersales support, brand image, product range and most importantly, their residual value.

“We have been supplying tractors to The Curragh on a rental basis since 2017 and have just delivered a new fleet of tractors to them.”

Paul protects his investment by also purchasing a Massey Ferguson service plan for the tractors which is managed by the dealer. He runs a policy of changing the tractors to newer machines every three to four years, or when they accumulate a maximum 4,000 hours, whichever comes first.

Paul said: “These new Massey Ferguson tractors will perform a range of tasks at The Curragh including racecourse grass management and gallops maintenance.

“Massey Ferguson supplies a factory trainer to train the operators at The Curragh how to use the new models and also provide refresher courses as and when required.”

HPR supply vehicles to a wide range of customers and have become the number one go to company in Ireland.

Paul added: “As well as The Curragh, we hire Massey Ferguson tractors to the other Horse Racing Ireland locations throughout Ireland including Leopardstown, Punchestown, Fairyhouse, Gowran Park, Cork, Tipperary and many smaller locations.

“Other than the horse racing sector, we supply Dublin Airport with their winter maintenance tractor fleet, which totals 44 tractors, and we also supply Shannon Airport and Kerry Airport with Massey Ferguson machines too.

“Other customers we supply Massey Ferguson products to are Teagasc training colleges and farms, ETB training colleges, the OPW, Dublin City Council, Fingal Council, South Dublin Council, Galway County Council, Meath County Council, Connolly Hospital Dublin, St James’s Hospital Dublin and many other state agencies,” he said.

Paul sources all his Massey Ferguson tractors from the local dealership Suir Garages in Waterford run by brothers Edward and Shane Lynch.

Located just two miles from Waterford City on the Dunmore East Road, Suir Garages is a long established family run business which has been selling new and second-hand farm machinery since its inception in 1978.

Suir Garages provides sales and service of a wide range of farm machinery throughout Waterford County and the south east region.

Edward said he has known Paul most of his lifetime and has built up a good relationship with HPR over many years.

Edward said: “I’ve been dealing with Paul at HPR for the past 20 years and we have built up a good relationship in that time. The latest order from Paul included nine new Massey Ferguson tractors that are being used at The Curragh Racecourse.

“We are absolutely delighted to be associated with HPR supplying them with all the Massey Ferguson tractors they need,” he said.

Dara McDonald, the assistant manager at The Curragh, said: “We are very happy with the Massey Ferguson range of tractors supplied by Paul at HPR.

“These tractors prove to be very reliable indeed and user friendly, which is exactly what we need. There are up to 20 staff that use them here for a variety of jobs so we need them to be easily operated.

“The service and backup that we receive from Paul at HPR and Massey Ferguson is second to none,” he added.