Ashburton Courier: December 07, 2023

Open Day Friday, December 15
WHCochrane and CoLtd was formed in Leeston,
by the late Herb Cochrane in June 1951. Herb
was offered the International Harvester Company
franchise for the Ellesmere area.
The company was founded onthe principles of
Quality Machinery, Excellent Service and Great
Deals.
In 1977 Herb Cochrane passed the Cochrane
machinery business on to his sons Warren and
Bruce Cochrane.
Warren’s specialty was the parts and
administration departments while Bruce looked
after the sales side of the business.
The two brothers continued to develop
Cochranes into astrong, family-owned farm
machinery business in the Canterbury area.
During 1985 the International Harvester Company
was taken over by JI Case to form Case IH, the
second largest farm machinery producer in North
America. Shortly after Cochranes became the
Case IH dealer for the Ellesmere and Malvern
areas. In the early 90s Cochranes secured
the Christchurch/North Canterbury region and
eventually opened abranch in Amberley.
Acquisitions and mergers are not uncommon in
the farm machinery industry and so it proved in
1999 when Case IH merged with New Holland
Agriculture to form CNH.
CNH is amassive global company that supplies
all areas of the farm machinery industry.
Meanwhile Cochranes continued to supply Case
IH machinery to their supportive customers while
New Holland machinery was retailed through
another independent dealer.
In 2007 Warren and Bruce Cochrane decided it
was time to pass the stewardship ofthe company
on to the next generation. Warren Cochrane’s
children, James and Sarah, and her husband
Chris West became the directors of the company.
In 2009 the opportunity arose for Cochranes to
take on the Case IH franchise in Mid Canterbury.
Cochranes opened for business in Mid
Canterbury on 1September 2009 from, what was
thought to be, ashort-term yard on West Street,
with asmall team of dedicated people.
The next 14 years has seen aperiod of
exceptional growth for Cochranes.
In 2013 Cochranes took the opportunity to
become the Case IH dealer for the South
Canterbury/Nth Otago area and in2019 employed
asales man and aservice agent to cover the
West Coast.
Back in Ashburton the family-owned business
was growing steadily and proving to be popular
with their loyal and supportive customers. In 2019
proceedings began to purchase ablock of land
on the corner of Racecourse Road and State
Highway 1.
With this acquisition Cochranes had the home
base they had been looking for in Ashburton and
started planning for the new dealership building.
Meanwhile the Ashburton team had grown
significantly and continued tosupport the strong
Mid Canterbury rural area with Case IH Sales and
service.
Building of the new premises began inOctober
2022, which was avery exciting development for
the company. InJanuary 2023 CNH offered the
New Holland Agriculture franchise to Cochranes
for the South Island from North Otago to Nelson,
to run alongside the Case IH brand.
This was abig deal in the farm machinery industry
and awonderful opportunity for Cochranes which
necessitated the recent opening of aCochranes
dealership in Blenheim.
Back in Ashburton Cochranes spectacular new
dealership opened for business on the 9th of
October 2023.
Cochranes is very lucky to have awonderful team
of staff and are thankful for their support.
Cochranes see this new building as astatement
of their commitment to the Mid Canterbury region
and beyond. It is an honour to continue to deal
with our loyal customers and suppliers and we
are incredibly grateful of their continued support.
Seventy two years on, the founding principles of
Quality Machinery, Excellent Service and Great
Deals, still apply at Cochranes today.
Come down to
ourAshburton
OpenDay,we’d
love to seeyou
all there!
Friday 15th
December 2023
2pm –6pm
2Racecourse Road
Ashburton
03 3078027
2636585