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Week 14 Winners

Marion Perret
Trans-Speed International
Jefferson, La.

Bobcat Unleashed Me
“I started my automotive repair business in 1989 with around $500 in the bank. I inherited a 1969 Yale G82C forklift. That little lift helped me in so many ways to build my business. It made me understand the importance of having a multi-use machine around. As useful as it was, I realized I needed a more versatile machine with more than just one dimension of capability. I would periodically rent a Bobcat® machine to take care of bigger jobs around the shop and at home. I was impressed with the versatility and maneuverability that it offered.

“In January 2002 around midnight, I got a phone call telling me that my fire alarm had been set off and the fire department was headed to the building. When I got there, my worst fears were realized: My building was on fire. Firefighters dragged out as many bits and pieces of my business as they safely could. Sadly, the next morning, the building was gone and with it many years of hard work. That old Yale lift that had been my buddy for a decade was also gone. The pieces of my business lay in ruins and I was in shock at the magnitude of the destruction that a fire brings.

“Within two weeks, we located a place that we could move the remains of the business to. I knew immediately that I needed a machine, and a Bobcat loader was my choice. I called Mr. Duhon at Duhon Machinery and told him what we had been through and what we needed. He sold me a machine on my signature, and I paid him monthly over six months. It was a 753 skid-steer loader with a general-purpose bucket, a whisker broom, and a set of pallet forks. In all the gloom of the disaster, this one machine made so many things possible: moving debris and equipment, loading/unloading trailers, and more. We were able to buy property with more land this time, and the Bobcat machine and I have rebuilt this business from the ashes. This Bobcat skid-steer loader takes on every job I put before it, from putting out the garbage and moving the Dumpster around, to pulling engines and moving trailers — and even cars. I use it with the whisker broom to sweep the asphalt driveways, and recently, with some rented attachments, we broke up some cement and dug some holes for a new fence line.

“In advance of Hurricane Katrina, I used my 753 loader to dig out drainage ditches and move everything inside the buildings. It survived the storm and, afterwards, was a vital tool around the neighborhood clearing the streets and properties of storm debris. I plan on doing more landscaping, and it will get the call of duty as my helper.

“Many who stop by comment and think it odd that an automotive repair shop would need a skid-steer loader. I simply tell them that I could not operate this shop without my Bobcat machine.”


Michael Kukol
Horizon Landscape Company
Wyckoff, N.J.

Bobcat Unleashed Me
“My first machine was a Toyota SDK8 that I purchased back in 1990 for my landscaping business. That was the start of an era of skid-steer loaders in my life. I was always amazed at how much faster they could work and run circles around a traditional bucket loader. In the late 1990s, I became involved in the New Jersey Landscape Contractors Association and was on the board along with the vice president of North Jersey Bobcat, Pat Barckett. Through his befriending me, and the relationship that developed, I tried my first Bobcat® machine in 2000. The machine was an 873.

“In 2004, I purchased another skid-steer loader, an S250, along with a 341 excavator. Two years later, we purchased a Bobcat S185 skid-steer loader.

“ … This March, we traveled (with my son Shawn, age 12) by car from New Jersey to Florida to go to Disney World. Shawn was not excited about Disney at all! Oh the dread of spending his entire spring break with Mickey Mouse when he could be at our shop cleaning and petting Bobcat machines. This was turning into a miserable vacation until he came up with the idea of stopping at a Bobcat dealership along the way. Shawn researched Bobcat dealerships in every state along our route. He developed the itinerary and mapped it all out. He was happy, and finally our vacation was going to be doable! We hop scotched from Bobcat dealer to Bobcat dealer all along the east coast. It became our family’s ‘quest.’ Along the way, we collected something from dealers indicating that we had been to their store. We collected stickers that dealers put on their machines, key chains, Bobcat hats, shirts, and one dealer even gave my son a die-cast tractor trailer with mini Bobcat machines loaded on it. In Florida, we stumbled upon Rudy Scheiderer, the parts manager with Bobcat of Orlando. We spent time visiting him and his collection of Bobcat die-cast models and hearing great stories of how he came upon different pieces in his collection, including a Bobcat pinball machine … That is a tribute to the Bobcat organization — every dealership that we walked into made us feel like family. We have taken pictures at each storefront and plan to put our unique collection together to have on display. We are now expanding our vacation plans to see what new state we can drive through and visit a Bobcat dealer there! Not to stop with just visiting dealers, last week we purchased a model 600 skid-steer loader to continue our collection of Bobcat items. Although we do not expect to put it to work, we do look forward to having a lot of fun with it. We are planning to have it on display when the 50th Anniversary Road Tour comes to our dealer, North Jersey Bobcat, in June.”


Jim Rogers
Amarillo, Texas

Bobcat Unleashed Me
“For several years, I envied my neighbor’s Bobcat® machine behind his garage. It always appealed to the inner ‘machine man’ in me, but at the time, I could not justify the expense for a new toy. This routine continued for years until I had hired some fence builders to replace a large section of fence on my property. I did not tackle the project myself because of the enormity and time constraints of the job. They brought a compact track loader to the job site, which immediately caught my attention.

“I watched as they removed an old railroad-tie fence and wire with the loader. This was no ‘toy!’ It greatly simplified the job and it was obvious that I could have done the project myself with similar equipment. Having augered holes with a three-point hitch tractor attachment, I was amazed how easily and precisely holes were drilled with a skid-steer loader auger attachment.

“An area of pasture that had been littered with construction metal and concrete had not been usable since I had purchased the land years earlier. Here was my opportunity to tackle a cleanup job long overdue! With a rented loader and breaker attachment, I was able break up the concrete and load the material. A job I had wanted to do for 20 years was done in hours!

“The financial investment started to make sense as I considered the money that I would have saved by doing the project myself. I was so encouraged, that I immediately started shopping for similar equipment. Two weeks later, I purchased a skid-steer loader and several attachments, and I have not slowed down since! I finished the clean up in that pasture and moved to the next job! I now have a mower, an auger, a bucket, and a grapple for work around the ranch, as well as for improvement in my wildlife habitat. My wife and daughter became equally excited, and after some initial practice in a large open horse arena, are both now aspiring skid-steer loader operators!”


Todd Schafer
S & R Fencing, LLC
Wray, Colo.

Bobcat Unleashed Me
“In March 2007, I was short of help in my fencing business. We were using a Bobcat® T190 compact track loader.

“I found myself getting in and out 200 times a day to set posts. That gets hard on a guy after a while, if you know what I mean. I came up with the idea that my loader needed a radio remote control so I could run the loader from the outside while I was setting the posts. I talked to John Forward at Bobcat of the Rockies in Greeley, Colo., in May 2007 to see if he could help with my problem. He said he would get back to me on that. When John called me back, he told me to wait until fall. He said Bobcat was coming out with a radio remote control option. In January 2008, I looked on the Web site to see if they had anything on a radio remote control, and they did! I gave John a call, we got together on a price, and I bought one. It was the best purchase I ever made. One man can easily do the work of two men with this remote system. The radio remote control will pay for itself in six months in saved labor cost … I am not near as tired at the end of the day as I used to be.”


Tony Gauer
TSB CCC
Ipswich, S.D.

Bobcat Unleashed Me
“Our family uses our Bobcat® skid-steer loader for all kinds of jobs on the farm. We use the fork attachment to stack round bales of hay and to feed the cattle. One winter, when we were selling hay, we had to dig the bales out of the snow. The Bobcat loader was much faster than a tractor loading them on the truck because of the cramped quarters we had to work with. I could turn on a dime in the skid-steer loader and the tractor needed much more room to maneuver … I don’t know how anyone can work on a fence without a Bobcat machine. We use ours to dig posts and unload fencing materials. On the construction side, we have done everything from drilling holes with 6-, 9-, 12-, 15-, 24-, and 36-inch augers. We dig trenches with a backhoe attachment, and we use the fork attachment to unload construction materials.

“In 2001, we built our house, and I don’t know how we would have done it with out our loader … After we moved into our new house, we tore down the old house and loaded it onto a truck with nothing but our Bobcat machine.”