Born on the Farm

05/14/2008

Bobcat Equipment Continues to Have Prominent Role in Agriculture

Eddie Velo was a Minnesota turkey grower searching for an easier way to clean his barns. In the summer of 1956 he presented his problem to a pair of local blacksmiths, the Keller brothers. Using junkyard and jailhouse parts, they built him a three-wheeled loader. In 1957, Velo became the first owner of a machine that would evolve into the Bobcat® skid-steer loader.

Arthur Wolfe and tens of thousands of other owners followed — farmers looking for a better way of doing chores. Like Wolfe, many built their livestock operations around the work- and time-saving capabilities of a Bobcat loader. Through five decades, they relied on this productive machine to keep up with the challenges of agriculture. And like Wolfe, many are still starting up their Bobcat loaders every morning.

For almost 40 years, Arthur Wolfe has used Bobcat compact loaders to simplify everyday chores at his farm.

Wolfe began operating the family farm near Dickinson, N.D., in 1970. Two years earlier he and his father John had decided to expand their hog business.

“To raise hogs year round, we needed a heated farrowing barn,” Wolfe says. “About that time I noticed something new at the local lumber yard — a red and yellow loader. It had been purchased to backfill basements, but was not strong enough to do the dirt work. The machine was just sitting idle.”

Wolfe thought that the little loader could be used to clean the barn he was planning.

“Some of the extension people didn’t think much of my idea, but I designed the pens to accommodate this new machine,” Wolfe recalls. “It seemed like the least expensive and most practical route to take, so I purchased the loader and became the first person in the area to own one.”

First he tore it apart and rebuilt it. He went to the Melroe plant in Gwinner, N.D., and came home with parts and a manual. Then Wolfe finished building the hog barn around his M400 loader.

“It was really an efficient way to clean the barn,” he says. “The loader was a great labor-saver.”

That red and yellow machine started Wolfe on the road to being a life-long Bobcat equipment owner. The traditional white and red color scheme — and the familiar “Bobcat” name — came with the model M440, the next model after his M400.

In 1973 he purchased an M600. “A big improvement,” he says. Two years later he bought a 610 to get the Bob-Tach™ attachment system. “A wonderful invention,” he adds. He traded the 610 for a 642 in 1984.

Since 1984 Wolfe has owned a pair of 642Bs, a 742B and two 753s. At age 71, he recently purchased a new S130 from Prairie Implement, Killdeer, N.D.

As Wolfe looks back on more than 40 years of owning Bobcat equipment, he says he is proud of this quality product manufactured in his home state. “These machines have been very dependable and have served me well.”

NO REST FOR DURABLE LOADERS

Before Bill Grammer returned home to operate the family farm, he worked for a grain and bulk terminal company in Cincinnati. Along the way he observed how the firm used Bobcat skid-steer loaders to unload barges.

Bill Grammer’s S250 skid-steer loader is instrumental in his dairy farm’s ongoing success.

His family was milking only 13 cows when Grammer came back to the farm located near Sebring, Ohio. He purchased the business in 1992 and began adding cows. And he bought his first Bobcat loader, a 751, in 1996.

“I remembered how well the machines held up working on the barges,” Grammer says. “They ran them very hard day after day. When it was time to buy, I went right to a local Bobcat dealer,” he says.

Today the Grammers (wife Debbie, sons Billy and Ben) and their 12 employees milk 600 registered Jersey cows with a rolling herd average of 19,600 pounds. In recent years their operation has boasted one of the top-producing Jersey herds in Ohio, including the best in 2005 and 2006. They milk their cows three times a day.

“When it was time to buy, I went right to a local Bobcat dealer.”

The 751 loader, with 10,000 hours of use, is still cleaning the barns. An S175 also cleans, while a S250 spends most of the day hauling feed. The loaders were purchased from Bobcat of Youngstown.

While Grammer usually trades every two or three years, his loaders accumulate high hours of usage.

“We’ve put 9,000 hours on a couple of machines,” he says. “We just traded a two-year-old S250 with 6,000 hours. That indicates how much we rely on these machines.”

A lot of people are surprised that Grammer gets so many hours out of his loaders.

“I’m not surprised,” he responds. “Bobcat loaders hold up very well. They are tough and durable. Plus, we maintain them regularly. We have a part-time mechanic who comes here three days a week to check the machines.”

Grammer appreciates the fact that he can always count on his Bobcat loaders.

“Years ago, when dairy farm income was not very good and we were a growing business, we held on to our equipment and tried to squeeze every dollar out of it,” he says. “Now the dairy business is a little more profitable, so we can trade every couple of years. Regardless of the times, our Bobcat loaders have been there delivering top performance.”

TOOLCAT 5600 FITS RIGHT IN ON HORSE FARM

Larry Mann says goodbye to the stress of the day when he leaves his law office in Lexington, Va., and drives 10 miles home to the horse farm he shares with his artist/photographer wife Sally. “It’s a wonderful change of pace for both of us,” he says.

Their Three Graces Farm is located in an area where the horse population is increasing daily. The nearby Virginia Horse Center has given a significant boost to the local equine industry.

Tasks at Three Graces Farm get done easier and faster thanks to the Toolcat 5600.

“We board about 20 horses for others,” Mann says. “We maintain the pasture land that they graze while the owners come to take care of their horses. We also have five of our own Arabians — Russian and Polish lines — that we breed for endurance rides of 30 to 100 miles a day.”

To help keep up with the chores around the 425-acre farm, Mann purchased a Toolcat™ 5600 utility work machine from Bobcat of Augusta, Fishersville, Va., two years ago. “It’s a very cost-effective product if you understand everything it can do,” he says. “And it can do a lot. My wife was a little put off by the tractor we previously used for many jobs. She likes the 5600 much better.”

Mann keeps a chain saw, fencing tools, spare fuel and other supplies in the 5600’s cargo box so he can be ready to go out and work at any time.

“I used to wait for good weather before I did some of the chores,” he says. “Riding in an open tractor in cold sleet was no fun at all. Now with the enclosed heated and air conditioned cab, I spend much more time working in the winter. It’s very comfortable.”

He uses the mower attachment to cut grass in the paddocks and in other areas around the farm. “Because it is so easy I cut and trim in places I never did before, and because the mower attachment floats, we get a good, clean cut. The mower is a very good attachment.”

The 5600 makes easy work of handling bales of hay and because of its size is able to maneuver through gates and around the barn. “The width of the machine is a huge plus,” Mann says.

Mann doesn’t hesitate to recommend the Bobcat utility work machine to anyone with horses. “When you own a Toolcat 5600 there is almost no limit on what it can do. It was a superb purchase.”

To learn more about the products that continue to demonstrate Bobcat’s deep agricultural roots visit the agriculture market page.