“It’s awfully nice sitting up there in the M8200’s cab
with the air conditioner rolling—especially when it gets up to 90 or 95 degrees.”
In Mansfield, Tennessee, the dog days of summer can
be pretty tough to handle. Unless, of course, you’re Ed Watson, internationally
acclaimed, professional dog trainer, and you’re sitting pretty in the cool
cab of an M-Series Kubota tractor.
For a little more than 12 years, Ed has trained dogs for hunting and competition
on his 400 acres of land. And, as we found out, his training doesn’t only
teach the dogs to fetch and sit, Ed has a couple of dogs that are actually multiple
International Grand Champions—a feat rarely accomplished.
Needless to say, Ed has to keep his grounds in excellent condition. So how does
he do it? “ I have three Kubota machines,” says Ed, “an M8200
cab tractor, a B7800 tractor and an RTV. I use the 8200 to pull a 15-foot rotary
cutter and maintain the grounds. I use the 7800 to mow about five acres of lawn—some
in a T-pattern that I use for the dogs—it has to be kept very short. And I
just got an RTV—that’s a good all-around vehicle. I use it for just
about everything.”
When asked how his Kubotas stack up to the competition, Ed admitted that he previously
owned a competitive brand tractor that didn’t quite live up to his expectations.
“It used to choke down pulling the rotary cutter, so I looked at the Kubota.
My dealer assured me that it would handle the 15-foot cutter. And when I finally
put it to the test…it never even slowed down.”
Ed spoke extensively about his Kubota’s power, relating a story where he took
on a couple of friends driving competitive tractors head-to-head. “They were
rotary cutting the same field that I was,” Ed recounts. “And they just
couldn’t keep up. It was funny because they got out of their tractors and
said that I was cutting faster because I wasn’t cutting as deep as they were.
But when we checked, it turned out that I was actually cutting deeper. They couldn’t
understand it.” It’s a great story. But it didn’t surprise us,
and it didn’t seem to surprise Ed either.
We wrapped up Ed’s interview by asking him about the reliability of his Kubotas.
“I’d have to say they rate really high,” proclaims Ed. “The
8200 is the one I’ve had the longest and it just keeps chugging away—not
a single problem. I rarely have to do anything but change an air filter on these
machines. You just can’t beat em’!”
