email: editorial@nationalfarmer.net NATIONAL FARMER 15

COMPANY PROFILE

Doubleday & Cousins a winning combination

As the Doubleday Group celebrates 30 years as a JohnDeere main dealer we take a look at the history of thecompany and share the future plans of the ever expanding

family run business. For the Doubleday Group it was the decision of the company

founder, John Doubleday, to buy the local blacksmithʼs businessin Holbeach St Johns, Lincolnshire that set the ball rolling. MrDoubleday, who farmed about 5 miles south of the town ofHolbeach, took over the blacksmithʼs when the blacksmith retiredin 1970. John Doubleday then began designing and building hisown cultivator – the Doubleday special – based on the experienceof what he needed for his own farm.

New buildingAs the cultivator business grew, the Holbeach St Johns basedblacksmiths premises became too small to cope so in 1973 a newbuilding was erected just outside the village where the head officeis still based today. In 1974 John became a sub-dealer for Fordtractors, the family farm had traditionally used Fordʼs and it didnʼttake much to get him selling new tractors. However, theexperience of retailing Fordʼs did not work as smoothly as Johnwould have liked with issues of delivery delays of tractors, costingthe business deals. By the early 1980ʼs Johnʼs gripes hadreached Ford but so too had they been picked up by John Deere.In May 1982 the Doubleday family were approached by JohnDeereʼs area manager, in just a matter of weeks terms had beenagreed and on 16 June 1982 John signed the papers to becomea main John Deere dealer.

An opportunity for Doubledayʼs to grow again came in 1988when the firm took over neighbouring John Deere dealer BourneTractors. Situated about 20 miles south-west of Holbeach, thenew business was a perfect fit with the Doubleday operation andwas poised for growth. The business was initially based in thevillage of Dyke however they rapidly outgrew the original premisesand in 2007 they re-located to new modern facilities just outsideof Bourne.

The next major development for the Doubleday Group came in1999 when the firm expanded eastwards into Norfolk by takingover Evergreen Tractors at Wiggenhall St Germans, near Kings

Lynn. Roy Pickett, Parts & Service manager of DoubledayKings Lynn says ʻthe business has grown rapidly since thetakeover by the Doubleday Group, investments have beenmade in all aspects of the business, most recently with therefurbishment of the showroom from a dated agriculturalstores to now a much more pleasant and welcoming shop,improving the overall customer experience and providing amuch wider variety of productsʼ.

FranchisesThe Doubleday Group has built a strong offering of machineryfranchises that it sells alongside John Deere. Being based in astrong arable area, the firm offers cultivation equipment fromVaderstad, Gregoire Besson, and Maschio as well as localfirm Cousins of Emneth. Trailers are also supplied fromanother local company, Boston-based Larrington Trailers,while thereʼs also general farm machinery supplied from KRM,Spearhead, Shelbourne Reynolds, SCH Supplies and LynxEngineering. Lynx supplies the Zuidberg range of front

Doubleday Groupcelebrate 30 years as amain John Deere Dealer

NATIONAL FARMER email: editorial@nationalfarmer.net16

linkage and pto systems. ʻWe have a very strong associationwith the Doubleday Group,ʼ said the companyʼs South EasternArea Manager, Jim Drury. ʻFarmers are keen to maximiseproductivity from tractors, increasing output and saving fuel,and the front linkage allows more operations to be carried outin a single pass, and also makes the most of the poweravailable. The area served by the Doubleday Group includesmany vegetable and potato growers, for whom our systemsoffer significant benefits and we can supply linkages to fit thefull-range of tractor sizes, including new as well as oldermodels. We supply them to fit the John Deere rubber-trackedcrawlers too.ʼ Jim said the company will have been supplyingfront linkages for 21 years this year, and that some 20-25percent of buyers now specify front pto too.

SuccessThe Doubleday Group has enjoyed considerable success withVaderstad and in 2010 the firm was rewarded with a largerterritory for the brand. It now covers the whole of Lincolnshirefor the Swedish company and has even established adedicated Vaderstad parts outlet near Alford to meet theneeds of the customers in the north-east of the county.Vaderstad Territory Sales Manager Nick Tinker commentedʻthe Doubleday Group look after a prime area for implementsand the other franchises held by the group compliment ourproducts. We offer implements from 3.0m-8.0m workingwidths so we can offer something to suit most farmers in thearea, whether they are operating on plough-based, min-till ordirect-drilling cultivation regimes, and for the sugar beet

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Spreading

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Spread precisely with a KRM Weigh Cell Spreader to continuously monitor fertiliser flow and automatically

calibrate on-the-move. And now Spread Smarter with Auto-Switch to take the guesswork out of shutter opening or closing. Simple to set, Auto Switch will automatically

start/stop spreading and proportionally adjust in 8 sections to save time and waste at headlands particularly in irregular shaped fields. Auto Switch can also provide Variable Rate.

producers tooʼ. In 2012 John Deere offered the Doubleday group the

opportunity to expand its area north and is therefore going tobe opening a new purpose built depot later this year atSwineshead near Boston. The 20,000ft² new build willcomprise of a modern parts department and retail area alongwith a 15 bay fully equipped service workshop with state ofthe art facilities. The building contract has been successfullywon by the Lindum Group, a Lincolnshire based company andworks are planned to begin later this month with a completiondate of October 2013.

Further expansionFurthermore in January 2013 the Doubleday Group were onceagain approached by John Deere to further expand its area intonorth Lincolnshire and a parts and service outlet is to be openedin the north east of the county to support this expansion.

COMPANY PROFILE

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LET’S MEET

IN THE FIELD

DOUBLEDAY BOURNELodge Farm, Spalding Road, Bourne,Lincolnshire PE10 0AU01778 424500

DOUBLEDAY HOLBEACHOld Fendyke, Holbeach St Johns,Spalding, Lincolnshire PE12 8SQ01406 540261

DOUBLEDAY KINGS LYNNLynn Road, St Germans, Kings Lynn,Norfolk PE34 3EU01553 617666

Specialist Constructors to theAgricultural & Commercial Sectors

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A recent development for the group has been to offercustomers their very own RTK network which now covers theentire Doubleday, John Deere sales and servicing area. LukeSpencer, AMS Specialist for the Doubleday Group says ʻwerecognise the growing needs and demands of our customersand are pleased to now be able to offer our customers thevery best solution in high precision guidance technology.During the last ten years, precision farming solutions havebecome an integral part of farming practice with accuracybecoming ever more important, our RTK network will enabletrack repeatability in readiness for controlled traffic farmingʼ.

RenownedThe Doubleday Group are also well renowned for their largestocks of good quality second hand machinery which theyretail to customers throughout the United Kingdom and theworld. ʻThe second hand machinery is an integral part of ourbusiness model, we have over the many years establishedsome very good customers throughout the world and byestablishing these markets we are able to offer attractiveprices for customers trade-in equipment ʻ says GrahamCollishaw, Director.

A major factor in the Doubleday groupʼs success has beenthe firmʼs long established team and strong family ethos. TheHolbeach St Johnʼs depot was, after all, built on the doorstepof the farm where John Doubleday was born, and both thebusiness and the farm has remained in the familyʼs hands.The management of the Doubleday group is now in the handsof Graham Collishaw (Johnʼs son-in-law); Grahamʼs son; Ian

Doubleday-Collishaw and daughter Zoe Doubleday-Collishaw. Ian manages the sales team and is activelyinvolved in sales himself whilst Zoe manages the after-salesand marketing of the business. Grahamʼs other son Charles,manages the familyʼs 800 acre farm. We are very much afamily run business and we couldnʼt run as successfullywithout our loyal and professional workforceʼ says ZoeDoubleday-Collishaw. ʻThere are many staff who were herewhen we took on the John Deere franchise and it is with nodoubt that it is the teams experience, knowledge andcontinued commitment that have contributed to thecompanyʼs successʼ.

In September 2012 the Doubleday Group were verypleased and proud to be awarded the ʻAEA 2012 Farm

COMPANY PROFILE

Rapid Rapid A Spirit

www.vaderstad.com

SowingSuccess…

Machinery Dealer of the yearʼ at the Service Pro Dealerawards held in Windsor. Both Graham Collishaw and ZoeDoubleday-Collishaw attended the awards ceremony,speaking after the ceremony Zoe said ʻwe have a fantastic,dedicated team and its great their hard work has beenrecognised by this awardʼ.

The Doubleday Group attend a great number ofagricultural events and shows throughout the year includingLAMMA and the Lincolnshire show as well as supportingmany of the smaller shows so be sure to visit them at yourlocal event during the year.

A full list of all shows and events can be found on theDoubleday website www.doubledaygroup.co.uk.

The mobile hidetrailer can besupplied in manyvaried builds, for example, shooting,bird watching etc.

Wind down jack legs makes the unitvery stable when in use. Low groundpressure wheels for towing on roughground with an ATV.