The 1980s were difficult for Britain’s tractor and farm machinery manufacturers as some ceased trading or were taken over, but that was when James Stewart and his wife Mandy started their trailer business.

The business began in 1988 with James Stewart working on his own, repairing and modifying industrial trailers in a workshop on his father’s Aberdeenshire farm. Now, 25 years later, Stewart Trailers has 40 employees and builds agricultural trailers and livestock floats in a purpose-built factory that has been extended repeatedly due to increasing demand.

“I was always interested in anything mechanical, and in the 1980s developments linked to the oil industry in Scotland created a lot of work for articulated trailers and offered an opportunity to start my own business. We soon changed to designing and building farm trailers, but the commercial trailer work was a useful experience. Our aim is to build the best trailers and some of the ideas we use are new technology from the commercial vehicle industry,” said James.

One of the biggest developments in farm trailer design since Mandy and James Stewart started their business is the increased demand for faster speeds, and a 15t capacity fast-tow tipping model was the first new trailer the company built. It was ordered by one of the first JCB Fastrac owners at a time when fast-tow farm trailers were still a novelty and James was able to use his industrial trailers experience to produce a specification with commercial axles and suspension plus air brakes. When the next high speed trailer was ordered James included commercial vehicle type ABS brakes to the specification.

The Stewarts’ biggest selling trailers are tippers with the 16 and 18t models currently the most popular sizes. The range also includes silage trailers, flat beds, dumpers and low loaders as well as livestock floats for mounting on farm trailers or commercial vehicle chassis. While standard specifications are available, many of the new trailers are supplied to meet individual customer requirements and a recent example was the order from a customer in Estonia who wanted his country’s flag plus the Scottish Saltire flag displayed on the trailer’s sides.

The Stewarts’ biggest and most unusual order so far was supplying 48 containers to a ferry company carrying large numbers of cattle and sheep from farms on Orkney and Shetland to the mainland. Each container is on a wheeled chassis and is 40ft long with a lower deck for up to 20 cattle plus 100 to 120 sheep on the upper deck, and to win the £2.2 million order, James’s design had to meet high animal welfare standards. Each container is connected to a water supply during the journey, electric lights powered by a solar panel on each container allow animals to be inspected and there are built-in effluent tanks.

Another unusual sideline is making replacement parts for the Hara cabs originally fitted on County four-wheel drive tractors in the 1960s to 1980s. James collects classic County tractors and the parts business started when he was unable to replace doors and other items for the cab on one of his restoration projects. His spares are now used by County enthusiasts and by owners of working tractors.

Company Factfile

Company: Stewart Trailers

HQ:Broadward, Daviot, Inverurie, Aberdeenshire AB51 OJL

Owned by: James and Mandy Stewart

Employees: 40

Principal Products: agricultural trailers and livestock floats