BTTUK – ONE YEAR ON!
Starting a new venture at anytime can be challenging, add that to being in the middle of a global pandemic and some people would say that we needed our heads looking at!
However, we had a number of key, unique and innovative elements in our business plan that helped us to swing the decision into the starting up of BTT UK Limited a subsidiary of Bourgault Tillage Tools in Canada. Bourgault Tillage Tools (BTT) had been active in the UK for many years through an importer, but it had by no means reached full potential and something had to be done to realise this. Bourgault Tillage Tools based in Saskatchewan, Canada identified UK Agriculture as a changing market with changes in climate and farming practices like the move towards very low disturbance and soil moisture conservation.
Issues that have been around for many years in Canada and Australia Stuart Aldworth (Technical Manager) explains that BTT have been developing and manufacturing a vast range of quality, proven and innovative wearing part products for many years supplying a global market and therefore have a proven track record in solutions to deal with these changes. This along with a significant investment commitment by BTT Canada to UK agriculture in a significant stock holding in our base near Peterborough, all combined with an unrivalled breadth of product and system knowledge from the UK based team have certainly given BTT UK Ltd the best possible foundations to work from.
One year on and BTT UK has had a steady and solid start. The increased stock holding over the year has led to all customers receiving exactly what they required quickly and efficiently. 93% of all parcels sent out are arriving with customers the next day and 100% of pallet orders have been received within 3 days, many within 2 days. For the very occasional emergency order taken on the phone at 2pm on a show stand in Norfolk we managed to get to the warehouse in Peterborough and then onto farm in Winchester by 8pm that night enabling drilling to continue through the night. Ian Clayton-Bailey (Managing Director) explains that the can-do / will-do philosophy of BTT UK is one of the key elements to success. Service is everything in agriculture, farmers do not stop at 4.30pm on a Friday to till 8.30am on a Monday so why should we. Companies that are not prepared to offer this level of service to our industry are on borrowed time.
What our customers are saying about us
I have been successfully using Bourgault VOS openers on my 6m Horsch Sprinter for 5 years. The technical support and backup has always been good for that period but now BTT have started trading in its own right in the UK it has gone to a new level, a very positive move as it has brought a dedicated manufacturing company its support and product stocking along with the continuation of key people direct to farmer users in the UK.
Tim Hayward – South Fawley Farm
“I’ve used BTTUK since they set up. The level of stock, speed of dispatch and competitive price is second to none. All backed up by the knowledgeable & enthusiastic team of Stuart & Ian, it’s always a pleasure to deal & meet with them”
Farmer – Geoff Simms, St Albans
VOS (Versatile Opener System) – THE NEXT 12 MONTHS
The success of the Bourgault VOS (Versatile Opener System) mainly associated with the Horsch Sprinters and CO’s has led to many conversations over the past year about can the VOS seeding coulters be used on other drills? The simple answer is yes, with an adapter or in some cases a complete new leg. Also, more farmers seem to be now doing what Clive Bailye did some years ago with his ‘Pimp MY Drill’ project and developing their own seeding drill to meet their own requirement. BTT can help this process by supplying the complete leg and seeding coulter system to be bolted onto an existing frame and hopper unit.
Clive Bailye TWB Farms
“ We were looking for a cost effective backup drill to our main drill, which allowed us to establish our crops quickly and cheaply, our Horsch CO6 has been heavily modified since we bought it in 2016. Having tried various different coulters in that time, we switched to the Bourgault Paired row opener 688-HLD-2080 holders with 610-TIP-0802 tips in 2019. We have been extremely happy with how they have out-performed all of the previous openers on their wear rate alone. Ian and Stuart are incredibly knowledgeable and offer unbiased advice on the best options for your machinery, looking forward to our next workshop project already!”
SPEED-LOC – Jack be nimble jack be quick!
Weather patterns and conditions seem to be changing more rapidly as time goes on. The Bourgault Speed-Loc System is a proven system of quality quick change cultivation and seeding wearing parts. This means that users can react quickly and easily to any conditions that are thrown at them in short notice ensuring that the tractors keep rolling as long as possible. A-shares / sweeps, knifes, spikes and spoons are all available in the UK at Peterborough.
As with the Versatile Opener System (VOS) we are seeing not only interest from the OEM market but also from some farmers that want to make more use of existing solid equipment. One example of this is a farmer that had a SIMBA Culti-press and wanted to make use of the existing solid, well built frame. By changing the legs to create a lower leg angle and the addition of a Speed-Loc adapter and a 16 inch A-Share the unit now offers a high speed cultivator that works the top 30mm of soil, levelling and controlling new weed growth
For further information please contact Ian or Stuart at BTT UK
Ltd 01733 971971 help@bttuk.com www.bttuk.com