More than 30 years ago Jaap Meilof developed his arable farming company an agricultural contracting firm. In the beginning he was mainly occupied with combine harvesting soil sterilisation for the potato production. During the late eighties he started distributing manure. He was already occupied in spreading liquid manure and chicken manure. In 1988 he bought his first articulated lorry. In due course the fleet has increased to 7 owned units with 4 being hired in during busy periods. The storage capacity at Meilof’s is 20.000 m3. All spreading is done by self-propelled machines. At the moment there are four with the majority being supplied by Ag-Chem Europe.
“Standstill is decline”. With this thought Jaap Meilof has kept developing the business ,so as to become the modern, innovative company it is now. The number of clients is still growing and new services are still being sought. In 2001 the company was awarded a large fat sludge contract. Then in 2002 he took over a manure distribution contractor.This was followed by the purchase of a drop hose system with a Terra Gator 2104 (15 m3 tank capacity).In 2003 he purchased a Terra Gator 8133 (15 m3 tank capacity).Making a total of 4 self-propelled machines.
Jaap Meilof was one of the first Terra Gator users in Europe. He began with a Terra Gator 2004 . Now 20 years later he is still using Terra Gators. During last season he became one of first buyers of a Terra Gator 8133 from the first series. Now they make use of 3-wheeled as well as 4-wheeled machines. Every Terra Gator has been bought for its own specific purpose . But when working with these machines in the field you will soon find out for yourself that you are dealing with all round machines. All Terra Gators are therefore equipped with grassland injectors together with the Meilof arable land injector with working widths of 7.50 m.
Jaap Meilof is looking forward to the future knowing that his business is well placed to satisfy the needs of the rapidly evolving modern farming industry, where due to the increasing sizes contractors will play a very important role. The agricultural knowledge, the high quality demands, a complete service pack, a motivated staff and the future successors stand for a bright and prosperous future for the contractor- and manure distribution firm of Meilof – Smilde.
Jaap Meilof, Meilof BV, Smilde, The Netherlands
