| 51 Wheeler Contracting has steadily grown its customer base. Scott and Emily understand the needs of the farming community. With a passion for machinery and the rural sector, Scott wheeler reckons he and his wife Emily are well suited to the agricultural transport business they set up in 2019 with one truck, great people skills and a lot of energy to grow the business. Based in Rongotea, just 15 minutes out of Palmerston North, Wheeler Contracting has steadily grown its customer base to encompass the lower North Island. Dealing directly with Scott and Emily, rather than a despatcher, means clients build relationships with the people who own and operate the business and that translates to satisfied clients, repeat business and referrals. From the early days of carting silage, with feed in the winter as well as lime for farm raceways, Wheeler Contracting has established a fleet of five modern flat deck tipper trucks, two excavators and a telehandler with grab bucket and forks, to provide a diverse range of agricultural transport services, along with excavation work and animal bedding for composting wintering barns. “We still have a strong focus on rural sector transport including general freight, spreading, bulk cartage and gravel, but the wintering barns have become an area of specialisation for us,” says Scott. “We started off carting sawdust for calf sheds, and then the local mill in Foxton reached out to us and asked us if we would like to start moving their product as well. We now have a contract to buy their sawdust and woodchip products, and look after a lot of wintering barns throughout the lower North Island, including cleaning out and refilling the barns. That work is a full year rotation, with a client base big enough that we now have two trucks on the road every day, going from one farm to the next. We would do ninety percent of the wintering barns in the Manawatu/ Whanganui area, and I think that going forward, with regulations, wintering barns will be the future for dairy farming. We have access to large range of products, like high quality and clean sawdust, woodchip, postpeelings, pallet chip and round wood chip that most other transport companies haven’t got access to.” Scott and Emily have built valued relationships with other agricultural contractors who they work in with, including transporting grain from combine harvester to silo complex for Foxton’s Fleming Bros. “We also cart silage for Forage Services and Guthrie AgWork. The bulk of our work is for dairy farmers, but we also do a few feedlots with cattle, and we still cart feed into sheep and beef farms.” During peak season, Wheeler Contracting has a team of six on board - mostly drivers with a couple who also operate the excavators. During the quieter winter months, the team drops down to three including Scott and Emily, both Well suited to the ag transport business Richard Loader RURAL SERVICES » Wheeler Contracting Ltd LTD Forage Services is proud to be associated with Wheeler Contracting Ltd who drive trucks. From farming backgrounds, Scott and Emily understand the needs of the farming community, and understand the importance of building trusted relationships based on reliability and quality service, which accounts for their growth over the last five years.“We also have a fair bit to do with the local community and have been part of the local rugby club for several years now.”
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