Gallagher To Celebrate The Spark Of Innovation At Fieldays 2018
Monday, 21 May, 2018
It’s a year for celebration with two Waikato agricultural icons celebrating key milestones this year.
Hamilton-based company Gallagher celebrates its 80th anniversary in 2018.
Gallagher was founded in 1938 by the late Bill Gallagher Senior, who was inspired to solve a problem – he electrified his Essex car to prevent his horse Joe from rubbing against it. This, in turn, led to the creation of a family business designing and supplying electric fence solutions.
Eighty years later, and that 10-person business has grown into a multinational company with 1100 employees worldwide. It has diversified from electric fencing into animal management, security and fuel systems, and is focused on provided technology-led solutions to customer problems.
In a moment of serendipity, New Zealand Agricultural Fieldays celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, with record crowds expected at the 2018 event, which begins on 13th June at Mystery Creek.
“Gallagher was one of the original exhibitors at the very first Fieldays in Te Rapa, Hamilton in 1969,” says Gallagher national sales manager Darrell Jones. “We will be there again this year, and we are excited to celebrate the strong, long-term relationship between Gallagher and Fieldays.”
Gallagher’s 80th-anniversary theme is ‘celebrating the spark,’ and this year the company is shining a light on the importance it places on innovative thinking and tech-led solutions that ‘spark possibilities’ and solve farmers’ problems.
“Sir William has made a commitment to reinvesting in the company to spark new ideas, and ten percent of total revenue is channeled back into research and development at Gallagher each year,” says Jones. “As a company, we place importance on being at the forefront of technology, solving problems that have an impact on people’s lives and bringing out new products that are smart, practical and make things easier for our customers.”
“This year we are extremely excited to be launching three new products at Fieldays,” says Jones.
The new TWR-5 Weigh Scale & Reader combines two pieces of hardware – an EID reader and the award-winning Gallagher TW Weigh Scales – into an all-in-one solution. “This is a game changer for farmers, enabling the task of tag reading and weighing to be performed by one person,” says Jones. “On top of that, it has all the smarts our existing TW Scales have, with a daylight readable touch screen and the ability to add up to nine traits.”
The S200 and S400 Integrated Solar Energizers provide reliable power off-the-grid, giving farmers a portable solution for animal control and break feeding of supplement crops. “They’re tough, robust units and were well received at the three regional field days, so we are looking forward to officially launching them at Mystery Creek,” says Jones.
The Gallagher Dashboard Fence App gives farmers the ability to monitor electric fence systems performance remotely. “It puts a smart solution in farmers’ pockets, and they can receive regular updates on their electric fencing – including any faults or problems, on their mobile device. It offers peace of mind and saves time.”
“We’d like to invite farmers to come and have a look at these innovative products at Fieldays, talk to us and try them out first hand,” says Jones.
He says Fieldays gives Gallagher staff the ability to talk to people and get valuable feedback on products and new developments. The event also allows them to showcase their entire range of products in one place while providing valuable training for reseller staff from around New Zealand.
“At Fieldays you get to talk to all sorts of people and get every kind of question,” says Jones. “An important part of the innovation process is understanding people’s pain points on the farm, as that starts the innovation process.”
The theme of Fieldays is ‘the future of farming,’ which Jones says is something that resonates with him. “At Gallagher we are constantly thinking ahead and talking to customers about how we can solve their problems on-farm, now and into the future.”