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Bobcat announces winners in tractor pull story contest

October 07, 2009 |

Indiana apple-orchard owner John Shepherd claimed the grand prize in Bobcat’s “Great Bobcat Tractor Pull” contest, which asked entrants to tell a story describing how they would use a Bobcat compact tractor. Shepherd, a resident of Porter, Indiana, received a Bobcat CT235 compact tractor and implements package.

Shepherd’s submission told the story of a modern “Green Acres” farm. He described his wife as a “city girl” and himself as “kind of country.” The couple settled on a 25-acre orchard on the southeastern shore of Lake Michigan, about an hour’s train ride to Chicago.

Shepherd’s orchard is most known for its apples, but also grows cherries, plums, peaches, pears and blackberries. He uses his own beehives on the orchard as well, helping with both the growth of the orchard and providing honey for friends and family.

Bobcat chose Shepherd because his story detailed specifically how he would use the tractor to move bee hives, put up fencing and plant trees in the orchard. Shepherd explained how the tractor would make work much easier on his “55-year-old bones” and allow the orchard to produce the best fruit possible.

“The results: a well cared-for orchard, happy bees, and sticky smiles on city kids’ faces as they bite into an apple that Tom Jefferson once grew,” Shepherd says.