Latest News Company already has reputation for excellence First published in South East Farmer Magazine April 2010, words and pictures by Malcolm Triggs. The old adage that "people buy people" is especially true of the farming community, where relationships, loyalty and trust are at least as important as cost when it comes to making buying decisions.
Such longevity, though, is not essential. Sometimes the ‘new boy’ makes such an impression that the company joins the ranks of the trusted and the well established almost immediately. East Grinstead-based Yeowart Agricultural Ltd is just such a dealer, having risen rapidly to the top of the tree by virtue of its quality service and first-class people. In less than two years Yeowart has become a well-known dealer with the kind of reputation for excellence in sales, parts supply and service that usually takes many years to develop. It’s fair to say that the company had a head start, inheriting some top name dealerships and a loyal customer base from the original E O Culverwell Ltd set up, and the dealership of Rod Gaskin Ltd, but it has been quick to build on that firm foundation. Many of the names, too – like that of sales manager Dave Gasson – were already well known among the farming communities of East and West Sussex, and it helps when you are selling possibly the best known brand of tractor in the world. It was Massey Ferguson’s new range that took pride of place at Yeowart Agricultural’s open day, held at Plumpton College to promote the dealership’s wide range of groundscare, estate, equestrian, sport and amenity machinery and equipment. Alongside all those bright red tractors and other bits of Massey kit, Yeowart was also keen to show off its other big names, including the likes of Merlo, Teagle, Kawasaki, Fleming, McConnel, Reco, Amazone, Twose, Warwick, Iseki, Martin Lishman, Great Dane and Lloyds. "It was a really successful day with a pleasing number of customers taking the opportunity to see the new products we hope will make life easier for them in 2010," said Massey Ferguson dealer principal and company director David Yeowart. David, whose wife Kay and son Lewis are fellow directors, used to own Crawley based Yeowart Steel, a company started by his parents Brian and Vera Yeowart. They sold the steel stockholding and
processing business to Parker Steel in Canterbury,
Kent, but retained the warehouses
and switched their business interests into
property development and letting out
industrial and office space in Sussex and
Hampshire. That hole was filled in the short term by agricultural engineers Rod Gaskin Ltd., based in Alton, Hampshire, who then sold the East Grinstead operation to the Yeowart family, which took over in May 2008. Dave Gasson, who joined Culverwell in
1964 and has been selling tractors in the
area since 1969, is just one of the people
who make up the continual thread that has
run through the Culverwell/Gaskin/Yeowart
sequence. Another is Lewis Yeowart, who studied land-based technology and agricultural machinery. He trained for a year with Culverwell and worked for Rod Gaskin before joining the family business when it took on the site in 2008.
Yeowart is now the Massey main dealer for East and West Sussex and part of Surrey, providing the triple triangle marque to farmers, landowners and others who need the kind of quality that goes with the famous name. While David Yeowart has come from outside the industry, he has a strong business background and admits to being "a bit of a farming enthusiast" at his home with farmland attached in North Chailey. Yeowart has doubled the workforce at East Grinstead since taking over, with the result that there are now 12 people on site, including six service technicians, Lewis included. Dave Gasson, one of Massey Ferguson’s top UK salesmen, is well supported by service manager Graham Bellingham, who has 25 years’ experience with the business, and parts manager Trevor Temple. Steve Everton further strengthened the sales team when he joined in 2009. He is well known in West Sussex, where he has been selling tractors and machinery for many years. Yeowart beat the recession by
increasing turnover in 2009,
helped by the strength of the
company’s big-name product
range, headed up by Massey Ferguson. "Although the exchange
rate has increased the cost of the "Service is the most important part of what we do," he added. "Farmers want a good deal but they also want to know that they will be looked after quickly and efficiently if something needs fixing." David, who has two Massey Fergusons at home and whose father bought his first grey Ferguson tractor in the 1960s, is particularly excited by the company’s current range, which he described as its "best ever". He sees cab suspension on the 5400 range as being a particularly useful innovation, providing extra comfort for relatively little extra cost. "It’s a great option for less than £1,000 and we think it will put the 5400 range even further ahead of its rivals," he commented. It was the chance to take on the Massey franchise that helped persuade the company to take on the dealership. "We have had Massey Ferguson in our blood for many years and I wouldn’t have jumped at this opportunity quite so quickly if it had not been for this franchise and the fact that Culverwells and then Rod Gaskin had been so highly regarded," he said. Local farmers knew the Yeowart name from the steel business and were persuaded that the family was serious about the dealership when they saw the investment in new jobs. Last year’s open day at the South of England Showground at Ardingly, when Yeowart Agricultural filled an astonishing 18,000 square feet of covered space with product, was further evidence that the new dealer meant business. More investment is on the cards, with plans to extend the East Grinstead workshops and improve the yard area to allow the company to provide a better and consistent service. Massey area sales manager David Broad said that while Yeowart was relatively new to the manufacturer’s dealer network, the company had a huge amount of experience within its ranks and had lots of faces that were well known to both customers and to Massey Ferguson. He said the company’s catchment
area meant it had a good
market for the whole of the
range, from compact tractors
through to 200bhp-plus agricultural
machines. In 2009 Yeowart
sold around one tractor
every week – a record number
– and had a 30 per cent market
share across the whole area,
which David described as "an The open day saw considerable
interest in the new MF1500
series of compact tractors which
run from 20 to 46bhp.
"We have introduced four new
models that build on the success
of the existing range but have new features that make
them even better suited to the
job they are designed to do and
more comfortable to drive and
operate," said David.
Those new models are the
1520A, which is the agricultural
variant, the 1525H, which is the
hydrostatic machine with a CVT
(continually variable transmission)
gearbox and the 1529 and "These are all multi-application tractors that are good for small holding's, golf courses schools and equestrian centres," said David. "With the entry model available for about £12,000, it provides red tractor quality at an affordable price." David Yeowart added: "The open day was a great success and we were delighted with the hospitality shown by Plumpton College and by the support we received from all our suppliers." Selling tractors for 40 years
If you’ve ever bought a tractor from Yeowart Agricultural or, before that, from E O Culverwell, it’s a fair bet that Dave Gasson sold it to you. Dave, now sales manager for the East Grinstead-based Massey Ferguson dealer, has been selling tractors for 40 years, and despite celebrating his 65th birthday recently has no plans to stop now. "This isn’t a job – like farming it’s a way of life," said Dave, who is also a familiar face and regular prize winner – at ploughing matches across Surrey and Sussex. Dave began work in 1964 as a fitter at EO Culverwell in West Sussex before graduating to sales in 1969, selling machinery at Haywards Heath until 2004, and at one point selling 89 tractors in a year. Dave became a valued part of the Yeowart Agricultural team in 2008, when he was again one of the year’s top salesmen in the UK. He puts much of his success down to the support of Yeowart service manager Graham Bellingham and the rest of the company’s strong back-up team. Dave also enjoys water colour painting, watching brass bands
and gardening, but with retirement not currently an option they
all continue to take second place behind selling tractors. Not only big machines First published in South East Farmer Magazine April 2010, words and pictures by Malcolm Triggs. The parts department at Yeowart prides itself on going beyond simply supplying an extensive range of products from a choice of manufacturers. The team places great importance on after-sales backup, making sure that customers have the support they need to get the best out of the equipment they have purchased.
Alongside the big name suppliers such as Massey Ferguson, McConnel and Krone, Yeowart stocks auxiliary products including Alto pressure washers, Draper tools, Gallagher electric fencing, Sparex accessories and SIP compressors and welders. Batteries, antifreeze, oil, filters, grease and baler twine are also on offer, along with a good selection of gifts from toy pedal tractors to models, caps, clothing and books. Wide choice of quality equipment for all tasks First published in South East Farmer Magazine April 2010, words and pictures by Malcolm Triggs. While Massey Ferguson is one of the world’s most famous brands, Yeowart Agricultural also offers work compact tractors from Iseki which are seen as complementary to the red machines.
"Iseki has a first class product range and
we are especially pleased to be selling the
SX Garden range of affordable diesel ride-on mowers that is available with direct,
power-operated rear collectors," explained "There is also a comprehensive range of out-front rotary mowers for the professional user. Another favourite is the TXG23 sub-compact tractor that is available with a multitude of options." The additional range of Iseki tractors reflects the Yeowart philosophy of providing a wide customer choice as well as responding to the dealership’s catchment area. The area around the distributor’s East Grinstead base includes plenty of well-heeled but non-farming landowners, equestrian enthusiasts and others who simply need something to keep several acres of smallholding or a large garden under control. "We have a wide range of customers, and while farmers are our mainstay we also look after a lot of country landowners as well as golf courses, councils, country houses and grounds-care professionals," said David. The tractor, of course, is only part of the story. Unless its only task is to transport the farmer from farmyard to field, it needs to be fitted with the right piece of equipment for the task in hand. That could be one of the Utility or Technic loaders manufactured specifically for the Massey range by Chillton. The Technic is the more advanced loader designed for larger farmers and agribusinesses, while the Utility is built to the same high standards but is simpler to operate. Chillton also offers a range of attachments
such as buckets and forks for both
the ranges, as well as a compact range for
smaller tractors that could prove useful to
Yeowart Agricultural’s growing numbers
of smallholders, equestrian enthusiasts
and wealthier domestic customers who are
keen to get their hands on Massey’s new They are rugged, relatively cheap and very adaptable, with the KVF 360 on display at the open day fitted with a frontmounted Martin Lishman mini-sprayer. The KVF 360, a solidly-built four by four with sealed rear brake and swingarm rear suspension providing 180mm of rear wheel travel, can carry a combined load of 110 kg, on front and rear racks, transforming it from a means of simply getting from A to B quickly to a mobile work platform. Visitors to the open day were also able to see equipment by Fleming Agri-Products, now the largest manufacturer and supplier of land rollers in the UK and Ireland. Fleming began making tractor-drawn land rollers more than 50 years ago and there are now thousands of the company’s units in regular use. The company is continuing to develop its range of ground care products to maintain farming pasture and counteract a climate that showed just how wet it could get this winter. The new End-Tow Roller, a user-friendly 12ft x 36” x ½” model, has easy, swing round drawbars and drop in pin security for easy changeover between transport and working positions. The new product will allow easy transport along narrow country roads and entrances and gives the advantage of greater cost efficiency per acre rolled. Its heavy-duty structural frame with twin hydraulic cylinders allows the drums to be raised to allow good ground clearance and the roller can be transported when fully ballasted with water. The Fleming Land roller range is suitable for all rolling jobs including parkland, sports fields, grassland, cereals and much more. The range runs from 4ft to 20ft and can be supplied with an optional scraper blade. Krone is another popular manufacturer in the Yeowart stable and another reason why David Yeowart feels privileged to be working with some of the top names in the industry. "We are very lucky to be able to supply our customers with equipment f rom nothing but premium ranges, and Krone is certainly up there with the best," he commented. German-built Krone equipment covers a massive range, from disc mowers to rotary rakes, tedders, round and square balers, combi and forage wagons and even a selfpropelled forage harvester. David has just returned from a visit to the Krone factory in Spelle, where he saw the facility that has been producing some of the best hay and forage equipment there is for more than 100 years. The company prides itself on working alongside its customers, making sure that new equipment reflects what farmers want and backing up state-of-the-art computerised design technology with rigorous and extensive field trials.
As its sales literature points out, Krone’s quality and customer-orientated corporate philosophy means that it is "the right combination of ingenuity, proximity to customers and competence that is responsible for the company’s long-lasting success." Another top brand on offer at Yeowart is
McConnel, described by David
as the company behind what is "Not only are they each the
best in their range, but the back
up and the support from the
companies is also excellent.
"It’s very much the case in
this industry that if you do well McConnel, set up in the early thirties by Freddie W McConnel to produce apple-grading machines and trailers, played a major part in the war effort after being asked by the government in 1939 to manufacture trailers for moving tanks and heavy machinery. Now better known as the manufacturer of the world’s first tractor-mounted hedgecutter, McConnel was at the open day to display its Power Arm 53, which has a reach of 5.3 metres. Also on display was the McConnel Pasturator, a lowmaintenance model designed to relieve soil compaction and improve drainage. Twose, founded in 1830 as Twose Of Tiverton, was originally a blacksmith producing a small number of horse drawn agricultural product s f rom premises in Halberton. One hundred and eighty years later the company has moved three miles up the road to Tiverton but has developed into a world-leading agricultural company selling a wide range of agricultural equipment, from hedgecutters and rakes to rollers and flex wing mowers. Twose is a range that David Yeowart offers
with the same level of confidence he has
in the company’s other top-notch dealerships.
"Twose is another strong brand that
covers an impressive range of equipment," The mower is just one of many well designed pieces of equipment produced by Major, which offers a full range of grounds maintenance products including the TDR range of roller mowers and the Major 490 Eagle Wing Topper. The County Mayo-based company also of fers a range of forest ry equipment, including log splitters, saws and wood chippers, as well as agricultural, environmental and groundscare products. David Yeowart’s pride in stocking product from the best-known names extends to its links with Merlo, which claims to be the world leader in handler design.
Merlo currently offers more than 70 telehandler models, which makes the familyowned company the third largest telehandler manufacturer in Europe. On display at the open day – and pressed into service to display the Yeowart advertising board high in the air – was a P28.8 Plus Panoramic. The P28.8 is a compact 2m wide with a maximum lift height of 8.2metres and a load capacity of 1200 kg at maximum lift height, making for a highly compact, lightweight and manoeuvrable handler. Also avai lable f rom Yeowar t is the Amazone range of centrifugal mounted, self-propelled and trailed bulk material spreaders. The range offers an impressive choice of working widths and tank sizes from 900 to 6,600 litres. Amazone also offers compact disc harrows, cultivators, cultivator-disc-harrow combinations, rotary cultivators, rotary har rows and land rollers as wel l as mechanical seed drills for solo operation or in combination with a rotary cultivator or rotary harrow. Pneumatic seed drills can be combined with active or passive soil tillage technology and pneumatic precision air seeders equipped with between four and 12 seeder units can handle working widths from three to nine metres. Another Yeowart supplier is Warwick Brothers, a company with half a century’s experience in manufacturing agricultural, car and Landrover trailers for both the UK and overseas markets. Now headed by Chris Jones, Managing Director of the Ceejay Systems Group of Companies, Warwick Trailers combines the latest computer aided design technology with sound engineering experience. The 60-strong team at Warwick produces a high quality range that includes compact, dropside and three-way hydraulic tip variants as well as trailers designed specifically for root crops, bales and pallets. The Massey Ferguson Grounds Care Roadshow The Massey Ferguson Grounds Care Roadshow, hosted by Yeowart Agricultural Ltd at Plumpton College, East Sussex, attracted many visitors, staff and students at the event on 17th March 2010. The event was held in the college’s brand-new machinery and engineering workshops. This event was only one of four, at various sites within the UK and involved the first public demonstration of MF 1500 Series compact tractors and implement ranges across the complete spectrum. The open day featured Groundscare, Estate, Equestrian, Sports and Amenity equipment. They included ride-on mowers, ATVs, hedgecutters, harrows, rollers and flail cutters. In addition to MF 1500 Series of compact tractors, there were also models from the MF 3600 and MF 5400 tractor ranges. Mike Gurney, Head of Engineering and Machinery, Plumpton College said, "David and Lewis Yeowart were generous hosts for the day and keen to help all visitors to the event, giving them valuable information and advice. This partnership is one area which is beneficial to us all and one which we hope will continue. We are excited by the new Engineering and Machinery facilities now on-site, they are attracting a wide range of students and this roadshow event helped to boost their working knowledge skills."
Photo: l to r: Yeowart Agricultural Ltd Groundscare, Estate , Equestrian, Sports & Amenity Open Day Great opportunity to meet our major suppliers view and try a comprehensive range of MF tractors, compact tractors, ride on mowers, ATV's. Machinery will include hedgecutters, flail mowers, toppers, rollers, harrows & haymaking equipment etc. Refreshments. View the wonderful new buildings.
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The fact that those qualities tend to be
developed over a number of years is why so
many of the more successful names in the
world of agriculture have been around for
decades and refer proudly to their long tradition
of serving the local community.
He comes from a mechanical
engineering background,
served a full apprenticeship and
describes running an agricultural
dealership as "not totally
alien to what I am used to. I’m
just selling a finished product
rather than stock material or
semi-finished parts." Running a business is pretty
much the same for people in
most walks of life; it takes hard
work and dedication along with
the right staff."
There is wide-ranging interest, too, in
Kawasaki all-terrain vehicles, but while
they have a ‘fun’ image they are undoubtedly
a vital tool in the armoury of many
professional farmers who need to be able
to travel quickly and easily across difficult
ground.
