Unleashing Potential with Bobcat Equipment

The Second in a Five-Part Series

Can you imagine what the world would be like today without compact equipment? Think of the additional labor, tools and time required to complete what have become routine projects without a skid-steer loader, compact excavator and attachments. Compact equipment has certainly changed how the world works.

The first loader branded as “Bobcat” — named after the animal because of its agility, toughness and quickness — made its debut in 1962, but the first compact loader was several years earlier. While the skid-steer loader has been the company’s “bread and butter” machine, it’s much more than that today. The breadth of the Bobcat® product line has grown dramatically to include compact track loaders, all-wheel steer loaders, mini track loaders, compact excavators, utility work machines, utility vehicles, telescopic tool carriers and more than 80 types of attachments.

In 2008, Bobcat Company celebrates 50 years of manufacturing compact equipment. During that time many men and women have ventured out on their own to start a new business with a Bobcat compact loader or excavator. In the past 31 years, you’ve read about thousands of customers like these in WorkSaver magazine, and learned how Bobcat customers became their own boss and started their own company. Continue reading to discover more customers who were unleashed thanks to Bobcat.

Agriculture Still Calls for Bobcat Loaders
Farmers still use compact loaders today much like they did when the first front-end loader was invented. Today, farmers still need compact equipment to move manure, lift and carry hay bales, move snow and unload trucks. Rohe Dairy in Freeport, Minn., has been using Bobcat compact equipment since the operation purchased its first loader more than 30 years ago — an M610 from Arnold’s Equipment, Sauk Rapids, Minn.

The Rohe family was introduced to Bobcat equipment during a demonstration by a salesman from Arnold’s. Previously, it took two men a full day to clean the barns. Harvey Rohe says he was sold on the concept after the M610 cleaned the barns in a fraction of that time, and he purchased the machine, which still runs today.

Today, Harvey Rohe and his three sons — Jim, Marv and Mike — rely on three Bobcat loaders for their day-to-day chores. The latest addition is a K-Series S130 skid-steer loader. “The new S130 loader is the right size to clean the barns and alleys where other equipment simply won’t fit,” Rohe says.

“If you can’t do it with the Bobcat loader, then you don’t do it.”

Jim Rohe operates the Bobcat skid-steer loaders daily. He says the machines are a must-have for their operation. “If you take away the Bobcat loader, you can take the farm too,” he says. “I don’t know how people can farm without them. That’s how dependable they are. If you can’t do it with the Bobcat loader, then you don’t do it.”

Growing Up with Bobcat
Like the Rohe family, South Carolina concrete contractor Jeff Branham has used Bobcat equipment for most of his life. Before starting his own company 10 years ago, Branham earned his stripes in his father’s construction company.

“Bobcat has been a big part of building my business and being successful,” he says. “I remember working with my dad in the summertime. He had one of the first Bobcat loaders with an air-cooled engine … I grew up with the machine.”

When Branham decided to go on his own, he selected compact equipment from Bobcat of Columbia because he saw the equipment’s advantages over larger machines.

“I think Bobcat machines work better than larger equipment for me because my jobs tend to be on the smaller scale,” Branham says. “We work around a lot of pipes, and the size makes it much easier to maneuver around them without breaking anything. They maneuver so well. You can make better time, even carrying smaller amounts because you can move faster.

“The productivity that we get from our Bobcat loaders can’t be matched by anyone else,” he adds.

Productivity Pays for Bobcat Loader
Norm Hummel isn’t new to the landscaping industry. In fact, he has more than 15 years of experience, working in the lawn maintenance and landscape construction markets in Washington state. The only difference is that now Hummel operates his own landscaping business — successfully — thanks to his first Bobcat skid-steer loader.

Hummel’s S220 skid-steer loader was his first purchase, replacing many landscaping tasks previously completed with manual labor. It didn’t take long for him to see the value of the Bobcat loader he purchased from Bobcat West. “I don’t have to worry about employees calling in sick,” Hummel says. “I use the pallet fork to lift and carry landscaping bricks for retaining walls, an auger to dig fence posts and a bucket to move dirt. It’s been a great machine.”

“I couldn’t survive without my Bobcat loader.”

Hummel says the loader helps him complete many landscaping tasks in half the time they used to take and it replaces the work of four employees. He says this is important because of the labor shortage in the construction industry today. “The strong Seattle residential market has made it challenging to find good employees,” he says.

How many customers today would say they couldn’t survive without their Bobcat equipment? You could probably find thousands of customers who would agree with the comments made by Marv Rohe, Branham and Hummel, who took a leap of faith and have unleashed their potential with Bobcat equipment.

We will continue to highlight more successful customers and their Bobcat equipment in upcoming issues, celebrating 50 years since the first Melroe front-end loader was introduced and launched what we now know as “compact equipment.” Read more about the first 50 years at www.bobcat.com/unleashed.