One-time gift turns into full-time work saver

Toolcat utility work machine and attachments are a welcome blessing for business owner

Diane Karabin

The 50-acre farm and country store business that Diane Karabin owns in Southington, Conn., has a little bit of everything. It has farm animals, honey, maple syrup, meat, poultry, holiday decorations, soap and candles. In some cases, quite a lot: 2,000 fruit trees with 17 different varieties of apples, 10 acres of Christmas trees, 2,000 hanging baskets, thousands of mums, poinsettias, begonias and pumpkins.

In her role as owner and do-everything worker, Karabin is kept busy seven days a week most of the year. So it came as a very welcome surprise when her husband, Michael, gave her a special birthday present last year � a Toolcat� 5600.

"As soon as it arrived," she said, speaking of the one-of-a-kind utility work machine delivered from Bobcat of Connecticut, "my life became a lot easier."

"For the variety of projects around here, this is the ideal equipment. Because it is so easy to operate, I actually like using it more than I thought I would."

� Diane Karabin

With her husband involved in another family-owned business not connected to the farm, Karabin relied on part-time help, including her sister and local high school students, to operate the farm, located in the Ragged Mountain area near Hartford. Still, she did most of the daily chores herself � feeding the livestock, cleaning the barn, planting the bedding plants, unloading arriving trucks and constantly moving materials, produce and merchandise around the store and farm.

"I was getting tired doing all these jobs," she recalls, "and my husband, when he gave me the utility work machine, said he wanted to make sure I didn't break down."

No chance of that happening now as she tackles much of the work using the Toolcat 5600 every day.

"For the variety of projects around here, this is the ideal equipment," Karabin says. "Because it is so easy to operate, I actually like using it more than I thought I would."

Time and back saver

The Toolcat 5600 saves an enormous amount of back-breaking work unloading trucks that deliver supplies to the farm, including pallets of cardboard boxes for apples, greenhouse items such as flower pots and the containers of feed supplement for the animals. "We used to do all that by hand," she says.

Cleaning manure with shovels is also a thing of the past. The 5600 and bucket has made this task go quicker and with much less effort. In the winter the SP12 spreader attachment is used to spread sand and salt on the long, inclined driveway and the customer parking lots.

"Since the Toolcat 5600 arrived, I don?t have to hire as many people to help me, and I get more work done faster and easier," she says. "It was a great gift; one that keeps on giving day after day."

Go to the Toolcat utility work machine page to learn more. Read about the more than 40 attachments approved for use with the 5600 and 5610 models.

Bobcat Company reserves the right to make changes in engineering, design, and specifications; add improvements; or discontinue manufacturing at any time without notice or obligation.

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