B300 Loader Backhoe: Power and Size Fits in Well with Cemetery Work

Anton Wilbert, president of Grace Memorial Park, says the B300 B-Series loader backhoe is a great machine for cemetery work.

It’s a great machine for people in the cemetery business. No one else on the market has a machine of this weight and configuration that’s suitable for our needs.”

That’s how Anton Wilbert describes his Bobcat® B300 B-Series loader backhoe. Wilbert is president of Grace Memorial Park, Plaquemine, La., a family-owned business that dates back five generations to 1850. In addition to its primary duty digging graves, the machine is used for jobs ranging from moving dirt to digging septic systems and removing trees and brush.

The 46 hp, four-wheel-drive and all-wheel steer B300 digs three or four 4-ft.-deep graves a week using the backhoe’s 16-in. bucket, Wilbert reports. “It doesn’t take long to dig a grave,” he says. “The machine has lots of power.”

The loader’s rated operating capacity of 3,150 lb. enables his crew to transport and set burial vaults in place much easier and faster than using an A-frame and chain unit.

The B300 replaced an aging trencher-backhoe. The Bobcat name influenced Wilbert’s purchasing decision. “Bobcat is a reputable company that’s been in business a long time. Also, our dealer Emery Equipment Sales in Baton Rouge, provides good service,” he says.

Size and maneuverability were other key considerations. “With all wheel steering the machine turns with precision between the grave stones, trees and other tight spaces in the cemetery without tearing up the grass,” he says. “Also, I don’t need a big truck or trailer to haul it around between our firm’s four cemeteries.”

Other features he likes about the B300 for cemetery work are the reliable smooth-running liquid-cooled Kubota diesel engine, the large 25-gal. fuel tank and the “awesome” head lights for working at night.