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Week 7 Winners

Tony Savino
Savino Construction
Capron, Ill.

Bobcat Unleashed Me
“I work in construction, and my Bobcat® machine has been extremely helpful in a variety of ways, countless ways. Two summers ago, I constructed a log home which required moving some heavy lumber loads. We used the machine to lift lumber to the second floor. We've also moved landscaping boulders and did some grading to the property. I've used my machine not only for work, but for personal use as well. I replaced the foundation of my house and used it to dig out the old crawl space and basement underneath my house. I've used it for everything from making large snow piles for my kids to sled down to the typical snow-plowing jobs. The bucket allows me to move dirt or snow to make room for more dirt or snow. It's been used as a clean-up machine, dumping trash or debris into the bucket to be either burned or hauled away. It has ripped out tree stumps, shrubs and bushes. It's also been used to re-grade my driveway and do countless other odd jobs at home and work. This machine has sped up processes that would take more manpower and time that I simply don't have. My employees appreciate having the machine on site to help get things done a little easier and faster, which also keeps me from having to pay someone else to do it all. My Bobcat machine has also been used to move a soda cooler onto my deck for my wife, a real beast to move, that cooler that is! Good grief, what else have I used my Bobcat machine for? I live on a gravel road and hate the potholes that pop up, so I've fixed a few of those. I've pulled numerous people — including neighbors — out of ditches with my machine. After a tornado in our area this year, I pulled out a mangled telephone pole to reuse on one of my job sites. The list goes on. As far as I'm concerned, my machine could move mountains, literally. All it takes is one scoop at a time!”


Randy Sandstrom
Dahn Construction Company
Rosemount, Minn.

Bobcat Unleashed Me
“Being in the construction industry for 20 years, I have seen a lot of changes in skid-steer loaders and compact equipment. My experience started with under-powered rubber-tire machines that helped cut down some hand labor but still lacked efficiency and versatility.

“We first used our skid-steer loaders for finish grading and building sand cushions. Without the loaders, we would have had to throw the sand into the building with a track loader or excavator and then use shovels and wheelbarrows to finish placing the sand. The finish work was all hand work. The skid-steer loaders helped with sand placement but were unable to fine-grade the sand cushion because the tires would continually rip open the top surface.

“Next, we used steel tracks on our Bobcat® loader, which helped with traction, but it was still too rough on sand cushions. An additional downside to the steel tracks was the damage they could cause to sidewalks, stoops, bituminous paving and finished green spaces. The steel tracks could also damage the shallow plumbing and conduits typically buried beneath the building floor slabs.

“Then, in 2000, we purchased a Bobcat compact track loader. That is when Bobcat unleashed me! With the dedicated rubber-track undercarriage, we were able to travel across finished surfaces without damaging them, drive right into the buildings and not only place sand cushions, but fine-grade them too! With the dedicated tracks, we could turn inside buildings and not be too afraid of tearing up the plumbing or electrical conduits. Once the new compact track loader was in service, we saw our finish and sand cushion costs drop by almost half.

“But it didn’t stop there. The Bobcat compact track loader had enough power and traction to climb slopes, so we started using it to help with building drain tile installation, footing backfill and pipe bedding. The high-powered engine, track system and Bobcat quality never let us down — whether it was 93 degrees above zero, or 20 below! I would not be afraid to say the Bobcat compact track loaders are the best on the market today. We have tried other machines, but we always buy Bobcat because it just plain outperforms the others.”


Josh Ginther
Ginther Farms
Abingdon, Ill.

Bobcat Unleashed Me
“In the summer of 1997, my dad purchased a Bobcat® 773 skid-steer loader with a general-purpose bucket attachment, dirt bucket attachment and a bale handler attachment. At the time, he was a heavy equipment operator out of Local 649 in Peoria, Ill., in addition to operating a grain and cattle farm near our home in Abingdon, Ill. He already had a machine shed and barn lot full of tractors, equipment and other tools. For this reason, a lot of my family — myself included — questioned the need for another piece of equipment cluttering up the place and collecting dust. A decade later, I can tell you that our Bobcat 773 hasn't sat still long enough for the dust to even settle! Every task around the farm gets done so much faster now. Before we purchased the Bobcat machine, hauling round bales to the cattle included unhooking and re-hooking machinery to the tractor, opening and closing gates, lifting and lowering the bale ring from the ground, and mounting and dismounting the tractor numerous times.

“Now that we have the machine, hauling round bales to the cattle simply includes firing up the 773, picking up a bale and dropping it over the fence into a bale ring. No more prying the bale ring from the frozen earth, and no more climbing on and off the tractor. Before Bobcat, snow removal meant plugging the tractor in overnight, mounting the blade on the back of the tractor, adjusting the blade, and after that, you still found yourself shoveling snow where the tractor wouldn't fit, and raking gravel out of the lawn the following spring. Now, snow removal consists of firing up the loader, putting on the bucket and moving snow. No more adjustments, no more hand work and no more praying the tractor will start in the winter.

“Having a Bobcat skid-steer loader helps you work smarter … I can't even begin to count how many neighbors’ driveways we have cleared off in the last eleven winters. As you can see, Bobcat has helped the Ginther family work better, smarter and faster on and off the farm. As a matter of fact, I think the only problem my dad has had with his Bobcat 773 skid-steer loader is keeping the keys away from my brother and me.”


John Carl
Oscoda, Minn.

Bobcat Unleashed Me
“Bobcat® machines cannot be beat, it is that simple. Having worked with equipment since 1980 — and just about trying it all — the best cannot be beat. Bobcat is the true ‘beast when unleashed.’ I moved back home to Michigan in 2005 to be near family. Unemployment was at its highest point. Buying another brand of equipment was not something I was ready to gamble on. Having owned a Bobcat 773 skid-steer loader with filled tires and a grapple bucket, I had seen first hand what the definition of ‘tough’ is.

“When I came back home to start this business, I knew my first choice for a partner: Its name starts with a ‘B’ and ends with a ‘T,’ and there are no others better. I started looking for attachments that my competition could not compete with. First ‘at bat:’ a used stump grinder attachment, and as long as that Bobcat logo was on it, it was good enough for me. It works like a giant beaver with attitude … My own ‘little money.’ Don't tell my competition. Next ‘at bat’ came the Bobcat hydraulic breaker attachment. Ladies and gentlemen, let me tell you that this thing loves to make me money, period. The breaker paid for itself in one day. I bid a job to turn a large pile of concrete (80 yards) sitting behind a golf course maintenance shed into rip-rap for their ponds — getting rid of the mess and filling a need at the same time. The breaker ate it up like nothing, and some of it was over 8 inches thick, but not a problem. I started at 10 a.m. on a Saturday and was done before 3 p.m. the same day, and we had a nice lunch in between. Thank you, Bobcat and your engineers, for building products that are truly the beasts unleashed.

“I also jumped into a building tear-down project that to this day still amazes even me. The project involved a 3,000-square-foot concrete block building with lots of interior walls. This building was the ‘big ugly.’ Painted almost neon blue, the eyesore simply had to go. I had just sold my Bobcat 773 skid-steer loader after putting a thousand hours on it, and I needed to get something different. Wow, why not buy Bobcat? You can never convince me not to … “


Mark McComas
Magnum Marine, Inc.
Stevensville, Md.

Bobcat Unleashed Me
“Two years ago, I purchased a Bobcat® 430 compact excavator. Being involved in strictly marine construction, I felt it would see very limited use, like when I had to backfill a bulkhead or move a little dirt. I had purchased the one-year-old machine at the local Bobcat dealership. Toby, in sales, found out that we were moving 25-foot-long poles with 10- or 12-inch butts by hand. The installation of a hydraulic thumb clamp on our excavator made that intensive manual labor a thing of the past. Now, the machine picks up the poles, neatly and accurately drops them into the water and does it ten times faster. Our use of the hydraulic grapple even led to a 530-foot-long rip-rap stone job that would have been impossible to obtain otherwise … Thank you, Bobcat!”