The Big A (1970s)

Today, more than ever before, the successful farmer depends on fertilizers, chemical insecticides, and herbicides to ensure that his harvest will be a profitable one. But fertilizers and chemicals lose their effectiveness if they are not applied to the field at exactly the right time. This potential problem is further complicated as farmers face soaring fuel costs, dwindling fuel supplies, and time. Obviously, the modern farmer can no longer depend on old-fashioned, time-consuming, and expensive methods of doing the job himself. He needs a specialist, a man or company with a proven ability to apply fertilizers and chemicals to the field quickly and efficiently. So a number of companies are realizing dynamic growth and healthy profits by providing custom application services to farmers in their communities. Of course, success in this specialized business depends on specialized equipment on high flotation applicators to get the job done right and on time. and experienced custom applicators have learned that for the fast and efficient application farmers need and demand, the best way is with the Big A. Year after year, the Big A high flotation applicator outsells all of its competitors throughout the United States. A major reason behind this success is the quality built into every machine by Rickle Manufacturing of Salina, Kansas. For example, to ensure strong and uniform construction, Rickle uses its own equipment and processes to form all steel used in the frame. Flat and precise welding further ensures that every big A conforms to exacting design specifications. In fact, strict attention to detail marks every step of the big A assembly process. And after final assembly, every machine is put through a series of thorough inspections and rigorous tests before it's delivered. But the main reason that the big A outsells all others is how it performs after delivery. And the men most qualified to judge performance are the men who buy and use the Big A for a wide variety of application jobs under all kinds of conditions. >> We started our custom application in 1959 because that's what the farmers were demanding. By 1971, our business had reached the level that we needed a big machine that would go in all kinds of weather on all kinds of fields. The reason we got interested in the Big A, I was up toward the Niles community doing business. I had two spray trucks were parked on the lot because it was too muddy and we couldn't get off a county road to spray one acre. And this machine was out there in the field top dressing wheat. Now, that convinced me that an A was the thing we should have. So, we purchased one. And that machine from the middle of May to the end of August had returned its price and sold a lot of fertilizer and a lot of chemical in 3 and 1/2 months actually had paid for itself and then some. This machine does its own advertising program. As you fertilize one farm, neighboring farmers notice it. It's a big machine. It's a wellbuilt machine. And when they see the kind of a job it does, no compaction in the soil, no big deep ruts cutting from tires, it sells itself. I think the big A is the toughest machine of its type that you can buy. I think custom applicator needs a machine that when he goes out in the morning, he's sure he's going to run all day. And I think that's what the big A do. We had a truck with a tank on the back of it. We also had a um pull type that we pulled with a tractor. Uh we could get approximately our real good day maybe 80 or 90 acres. Then we purchased our first day and uh we can get in 18 hours run we can get 700 acres a day. You just cover a lot more acres with a lot less fuel. By that I mean you're taking three times the swaff going down through the farmer's field as you are with a truck type applicator. >> The last season we used competitor's machine before we went to big A. We had to have four machines just to keep two of them running all the time and it took four to do the same amount we do with two big A's and we were only doing about half the amount of acres in as we do now. We can run over 500 acre a day with machine easy right now. During the month of September on wheat ground, we usually run over 25,000 to 30,000 acres. Then in the winter time, we'll run over another 20,000. During years time, we'll run over about 55,000 to 60,000 acres with both machines. Our operators have found that they're they're a lot smoother riding on the rough ground we have. They can put in a longer day and not be near as tired as we're on the old machines. We probably sold another 2500 to 3,000 tons of fertilizer a year because we can cover the ground when it needs to be covered. We uh bought uh big A's at our co-op because uh we wanted to service for our customers. Our number one objective is good service to all our customers. All we had before was a little pull type sprayer that we pulled behind a tractor and we just couldn't get over the acres. We just like the uh the way the big A's operate. We have uh two liquid tanks and one of them we can change over to a dry unit and it just takes me a short while and it works out real good. It's real easy to load liquid. You just uh have to have a nurse tank. And on our big A's, we have a chemical inductor that we have set right on the side of it that uh instead of having to crawl up on top of it, you just walk the side of it and one man can fill it real easy. We've had very little trouble with it. In fact, we bought another one last year and uh the service that we get is just perfect. We just don't have no complaints at all over the services. We got the big A just a few months ago and uh it's increased our fertilizer business by quite a bit and our herbicide about 10 times. People, the farmers in our particular area just didn't see anything like this. This nice big flotation tires on the big A. And every time we go to a a farmer and do work, the neighbor he'd come by and see that. And we had guys in our office come in after they saw the big A work that I'd never seen before. uh area farmers that saw and saw what kind of job it done liked it. So I'd recommend the Big A to anybody, a small business like ours or a large scale business uh a business that has large fields, circles for instance, or a business like ours that has a lot of small 25 and 30 acre fields because uh the farmers just they like the the big machine, the good job the big A does. It don't leave tracks. Uh, and it makes them money and it makes you money cuz it sells you more fertilizer and just does a better job for everybody. >> Yeah, this is real uh a real dependable machine. U, I kind of like to think of this as some of our people that we have working for us. Well, you kind of develop a respect for them because they can get the job done. And this is a thing that we know our big A's will do for us when we get ready to go. We know we're ready and and we can get a lot done. We have respect for them is the way we kind of term it down there. We don't have that much maintenance and upkeep on them like we did with a lot of our uh pull type equipment that we used before we got into the flotation rigs. This is a machine that our customers are asking for rather than uh some smaller machine and more trips across the field and so forth. Uh the swath width that we take why you don't have to make too many trips over the field. We had our wet seasons and uh of course everything is under a big push and we have to get it done in a hurry and they don't like a lot of compaction in their fields and uh we can go out and float over fields where we don't have any problems like that. We're looking into the future here in our business while we're anticipating expansion and uh it'll sure be with the big A's when we need more equipment. So the men who demand performance in high flotation applicators know they can count on the big A. Of course, whenever a man buys a machine, he also wants to know he can count on the people who sell it. The service been great to us. We This machine is good enough so we haven't required a lot of service, but when we do need it, it's there and ready to go. The uh serviceman gets there immediately. We've been real happy with the service we've had. We have added a big A for the last three years, one a year, and we wouldn't be apt to go back into the same thing if we hadn't got service on the first one. One of the things that impressed me, the machine arrived at 5:30 in the evening, and we unloaded it, and by 7:30 the next morning, the serviceman was there and in the preliminary check out the orientation of the operator, which was fantastic, I thought. Uh, and it wasn't just a cursory type check. It was very thorough. uh things were checked over that I thought would have been just kind of taken for granted and we were really impressed with this and we've found this to be true in all our relationships and uh we've never had anything less than overnight service. >> This is the main reason why we bought the machine. Our banker said he did really didn't care two or $3,000 one way or the other just as long as we had service to back up the machine. Because if you don't have service, the machine isn't worth anything. If you have to be broke down 2, 3 weeks at a time, your season's over and doesn't do anybody any good. >> So, the men who demand performance agree that the one custom applicator that gives them the performance they need is the big A. They agree that the big A is the best way to >> to get over the fields in different weather, different ground conditions, move in and out of uh tight spots. >> Sell 2500, 3,000 more tons of fertilizer a year. >> Get more acres, plus uh we do a lot more even job. Get you a lot of sales and custom work and and a good name and fertilizer business. It's obvious that custom application has become a proven means of building profit potential. It's just as obvious that the Big A has proven its performance capabilities to buyers all over the country. So, when your interest is custom application, the odds are the Big A will prove the best way for you. [Music] [Applause]