Current weather conditions may give some farmers the opportunity to make plans about their machinery needs, according to a former chair of the Farm Tractor and Machinery Trade Association (FTMTA).

“The weather has impacted on the ability to get out and do some work,” according to Maurice Kelly, sales manager at Kelly’s Agricultural Machinery.

“It’s not the busiest time of the year but it gives customers time to think and plan machinery purchases for the year ahead.”

January 2026 was a cool and wet month, with most stations recording monthly rainfall totals above their 1991-2020 Long-Term Average (LTA), and weather warnings have been a staple of Irish farming throughout February.

With no end of the poor weather in sight, the long-running Co. Carlow machinery business is planning to have a range of new and used machinery on display from tomorrow (Thursday, February 19) until Saturday (February 21).

Product specialists from Claas, Horsch, JCB, Dalbo and Shelbourne Reynolds will be on site to answer visitors' technical questions on the latest machines.

While Kelly's has been holding events like this for over two decades, the company has been in business for almost 70 years.

According to Kelly there will be pre-owned foragers, combines, sprayers, loaders and telescopics “amongst the large selection of used machines”.

Anchor agencies

Kelly said: “The main focus will be anchor agencies – the big one is Claas, so there’ll be Claas tractors, harvesting, and Greenline.

“We also have Horsch tillage equipment, cultivators, drills on show."

Kelly also mentioned “mounted trail sprayers and self-propelled sprayers" – the star of the show, with about 15 machines sold on the Irish market.

“The sprayer is a VT, which is a new model that came out last year from Horsch, a 2025 debut, and there are over 10 sold on the Irish market of the new model sprayer.”

Kelly added that forage harvesters have been popular lately.

“We have a lot of new forage harvesters sold. We had a busy year with foragers and this year we’ve sold a lot of new machines," he said.

“That includes a ‘25 Jaguar 970; a ‘23 Jaguar 880; a ‘22 Jaguar 860; a ‘21 Jaguar 880; a ‘22 Jaguar 870 and a ‘21 Jaguar 60; amongst others.”

Visitor can also expect “a full line-up of Dalbo rollers, subsoilers and cultivators” and a range of products from JCB.