We Know of Bobcat, Who is Doosan?

Bobcat: One Tough Animal™

Bobcat Company has well-known machinery that can be seen used all over the world.  Did you know that headquarters for Bobcat is located in West Fargo, North Dakota?  It seems like an odd place to have a headquarters for a large business, but it is near the town where their company first started.  Staying close to their home roots sure has paid off.  Read on to get an over view of the beginnings of Bobcat Company.

According to Bobcat.com retrieved on the 28th of February under their History tab, in 1929, Edward Gideon (E.G.) Melroe from Gwinner, North Dakota invented the windrow pickup on his small farm.  He and his sons opened up a manufacturing plant in Gwinner, North Dakota and mass produced and invented new farm machinery.

After Melroe passed away in 1955, his son Cliff Melroe and his brothers took over the business.  But, what does this history have to do with Bobcat Company? The invention of the three-wheeled loader in 1957 is what started it all.  Keller Brothers, Louis and Cyril, were asked to create a machine that can maneuver and scrape out manure from the second floor of a turkey barn.  The machine created was light, could work in tight spaces, and be used for multiple purposes.  Once the Kellers were introduced to the Melroes, the inventions and business took off at a sprint (Retrieved from https://www.bobcat.com/company-info/history/corporate).

Bobcat Skid-Steer Loader

People mistakenly call a skid-steer loader "a Bobcat" because the brand name is so largely known.  Once the machine has been called "a Bobcat" it is hard to break the habit to start calling the equipment by the correct names.

Flash forward to 2007, Bobcat Company became a component of Doosan Infracore of South Korea. According to Doosan.com, Doosan owns and operates desalination plants, engine manufacturing, industrial machine tools and forklifts.  The four major components of Doosan include: Bobcat Company, Doosan Heavy Equipment, Doosan Portable Power, and Geith (Retived from http://www.doosan.com/en/main.do).

To break it down, Doosan is the parent company of Bobcat and are considered partners.

Visit About Bobcat Company to read more on the leading company in design, manufacturing, and marketing of compact equipment for construction.  Need more of a time line of the company history?  Check out this link to learn more.

Watch a commercial from YouTube that aired in 1966 to demonstrate Bobcat Skid-Steer maneuverability (Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cF4X08cEaOU). 

The name is well known, the products are everywhere and it has become an icon in the industry.  Take a look at the equipment Bobcat Company has to offer on their website.

Want to learn more about Doosan?  Read up on their impact to the equipment industry here.

BLUE: New Holland Machinery

Big and Blue.  New Holland Company breaks their industry into two sections: Agriculture and Construction.  For this article, New Holland Agriculture will be the center focus.   The company began in 1903 in New Holland, Pennsylvania with the direction of Abe Zimmerman.  He began producing agriculture machines as well as a feed mill to support his community.  At the same time, Henry Ford, the mass producer of automobiles, was also beginning his automobile business and realized the large opportunity to mass produce tractors.  Abe Zimmerman and Henry Ford became instant business partners.



In 1907, Ford designed the first gasoline powered tractor and marketed it as an Automobile Plow.  During the early 1900s there was a race to produce tractors and soon many brand names began to come across the market.  Fiat, more commonly known now for automobiles, put their foot in the door and mass produced tractors along with the New Holland and Ford.

Check out the video above to see a few New Holland products

Today, New Holland is now owned by Titan Machinery who also owns Case, the red tractors.  With New Holland having a agriculture and construction component in their company, they are able to create tools and machines for different needs and consumers.

To read more about the different components and history, read the full bio here.

New Holland In The News: Check out recent achievements made by New Holland for new engineering methods.

Back Story: John Deere Company

This is a name that most people think of when they think of agriculture, along with the saying, "It runs like a Deere."  But, do most people know that the company started with one small plow created by the average blacksmith?


In 1837, John Deere from Grand Detour, Illinois invented a polished-steel plow in his blacksmith shop that helped pioneer farmers cut clean furrows in their tough prairie fields.

Deere, having experience crafting hayforks, horseshoes, and other necessary items for living on the prairie, he was able to continue crafting the “plow that started it all.” 

It all began with a broken steel sawmill blade which sparked into more revolutionary ideas centering around plows.  This forged the way for more products, company logos, and an established foot in the agriculture equipment market. 

By the 1890s the John Deere company had grown their product lines and crafted tools such as: plows, cultivators, harrows, drills, planters, wagons, and buggies.  Today, a 175 years since the beginning, John Deere company has become one of the BIG names in the agriculture industry providing products and sevices in various areas of agriculture.

With modern day technology driving the innovation of their products, John Deere is always evolving to meet their consumers needs.  John Deere now released software updates for their computer programs to allow farmers to have easier accesss to their farm information.  John Deere is always looking to incorporate new technology into their practices. 


Want to read more on the story of how John Deere started?  Check out their history page.  

Like most companies, the company logo changes over time.  Follow the link to look over the previous John Deere logos.

Do You Know Your Ag Trade Shows?

National Farm Machinery Show Website link

Just like in any industry, there will always be trade shows marketing the newest products, best techniques, and showcasing hosting guest speakers to speak on the topic.  A big name trade show happening February 10-13th is the 2016 Farm Machinery Show located in Louisville, Kentucky.

What is the Farm Machinery Show?  This is a chance for competitor machinery companies to showcase their latest products, for consumers to learn more about these products on the market, and attend free seminars led by industry experts.  After 50 years, the Farm Machinery Show is as busy as ever. And, it is free to the public.

Photo of people asking questions and checking out the equiptment 

Over 880 exhibitors will be attending the show this year and covering 1.2 million square feet of floor space, making this event the largest indoor farm show in the United States.  Check out their website to learn more about the history of the trade show. 

Click to watch the 20 second video introducing this years tradeshow

Want to stay updated on the daily events? Follow Farm Equipment, an online agriculture machinery news source, as they post updates and take part in the daily activities. Grab the social media handlers here. For a detailed article about the show, read National Farm Machinery Show Increases Exhibitors on AgWired for more information.

To learn more about who is attending and the order of events, check out the official National Farm Machinery Show website.

Every Adventure Starts With A Thought

It's not every day that a person wakes up and says, "I'm going to write a blog about agriculture companies!"  That just doesn't happen, but for me, it kind of did. I will be conducting this blog for over 10 weeks and each week I will be filling it with information of my choice.  There are so many moving pieces within agriculture such as crop production, animal science, the food industry, machinery...etc.  This made is difficult for me to center on one topic that I would love to learn more about.  While driving I noticed all of the agriculture dealers I was passing and inspiration popped into my head.  As I was passing the dealers I  thought it would be an interesting idea to figure out how these companies started and how their name became so well known.   

Picture linked to online location 

John Deere.  Case IH. Doosan Bobcat Company.  These are BIG name companies, but do we know much about how they came to be?  Most people have heard of John Deere or know that their colors are green on their equipment.  But why are they green?  Who is this "John Deere" guy and how did this company become such a popular name and brand to have on the farm and in the fields?  

Click the picture to check out more agriculture pictures

These are the kinds of questions I will be looking to answer when researching about a few BIG name agriculture companies.  Stay tuned, there may be some juicy stories about how these companies started.  I do know for certain that they all started with a small thought.

Want to get a jump start on researching John Deere Company's beginning?  Check out their website Here.