Paddon Story
“Geraldine Machinery Sales” was set up by Bruce Paddon in 1975, specialising in the retail and servicing of farm machinery. This business flourished growing into a company with not only a very loyal local client base but many customers spread all over the South Island.In 1985, a partnership was formed with Bruce’s son, Chris Paddon, at this point the servicing of machinery was expanded on and the name changed to “Paddons”. Engineering repairs and manufacturing one off machinery items for farming customers was part of this new partnership which expanded into importing machinery to supply customer demand.

Vee rake Manufacturing
As baled silage started to grow in popularity, and the availability of smaller vee rakes capable of handling green silage crops were not available, we began developing such a machine. After 2 years of development, with a lot of help and input from local contractors, farmers and engineers, we began production in 1993. Our first machine (Easyrow) was an 8 reel unit, capable of raking in 5m of crop in some of the heaviest crops we could find in Southland. Due to increasing mower widths and higher capacity balers, a 10 reel version of the Easyrow was introduced to our range in 1997. A larger model in a 10, 12, 14 and 16 reel configuration has also been produced for many years as well, enabling us to offer a vee rake for every application and crop.

Sitrex Tedders, rakes & Mowers
After searching all over the world for a range of heavy duty, easy to use hay and silage harvesting machines, our New Zealand range was increased to offer a range of “Sitrex” tedders, swather rakes and disc mowers in 2000.

A range of Sitrex finishing mowers and fertilizer spreaders have been offered by our company since 1993 with many hundreds being sold all over New Zealand.

Sitrex story - italy
Sitrex has been managed and owned by the same family since its formation in 1970 by Giovanni Signorelli, president. Vice-president and co-owner is his brother, Otello Signorelli.The company’s first products were spreaders and rakes, for which the Signorelli brothers saw a growing acceptance in the marketplace. As other opportunities arose to fill the need for agricultural machinery, the Sitrex line of products expanded into a complete hay equipment line - from cutting to harvesting.
Today, the company’s modern manufacturing plant in Trestina, Italy, employs over 100 people and runs two 8 hour shifts a day all year round. The flexible production system utilizes welding and assembling robots and both liquid and powder painting.
Sitrex products were sold only in Italy and parts of Europe until 1980. Then the company began exporting to the US and finding other worldwide markets. Today, 98% of the company’s total production is exported to more than 60 countries. The largest importers are the US, Canada and Europe.

Willett Story
In 2005 Paddon Direct Ltd purchased Willett Implements which has been based in Invercargill for 80 years. The firm was started by John William Willett in 1926. The company’s ploughs, ridgers, disc harrows, drills, chain harrows and Cambridge rollers have been produced in their hundreds over the years and sold mainly into the Southland market. The company is the only New Zealand firm continuing to manufacture ridgers.

Vogal Story
Vogal has manufactured farm machinery in NZ since the 1950’s and was started and owned by one of the NZ renowned Gallagher brothers, Vivian Gallagher until it was sold in 1995. Vogal ATV fertiliser spreaders are the number “1” selling brand in NZ and the UK.
Paddons purchased the manufacturing rights and plant from Vogal NZ Ltd in 2007. The manufacturing plant was relocated to Paddons large manufacturing facility in Winchester as well as some of the Vogal NZ staff. Many 100’s of these machines are exported annually, with the biggest export market being England. Paddons also manufacture Vogal mowers and cultivators.

Partners
Paddon have recently introduced several new partners around New Zealand to help manage with the ever increasing demand for Paddon machinery. With closely associated partners we plan to further grow on our customer relations, making sure that pre-sale and post-sales service is second to none.