Bull-Rider-Turned-Rancher Chooses Cat® Equipment for Efficiency and Dependable Service

North Dakota rancher Chad Berger loves rodeos. He began bull riding in the early 1960s, and now—in addition to raising beef cattle—he also works as a stock contractor, supplying bucking bulls for rodeo competitions across the country. To manage his large feeding operation, Berger counts on Cat® equipment and Butler Machinery Company, the local Cat dealer.

“Our Butler rep came out to the ranch with a small wheel loader and showed us all the things it could do,” he says. “We were so impressed by what we saw that we traded in the same day. It’s the best machine we’ve ever had. I’m sure we’ll have one around here forever.”

Berger uses the wheel loader for feeding cattle, scraping out pens, piling materials and pushing snow. It’s quick and powerful with a climate-controlled cab his operators like, especially during North Dakota’s brutal winters.

A Cat compact track loader is also at work on the ranch. It handles well in tight quarters and has earned a reputation as a multitasker. “With the tracks, it’s actually doing two jobs at once,” Berger explains. “We use the bucket to clean the pen, while the tracks level the ground. That way we aren’t knee-deep in mud while sorting cattle. There’s no other machine this size that can get into the nooks and crannies.”

Attachments make the track loader even more versatile. “We can do 10 different things in a day with this machine,” says Berger.

No matter what kind of work his crew is doing, Berger’s Cat equipment gets the job done efficiently. That’s important for a couple of reasons. “From a business standpoint, the more work we finish relates to the amount of money we can save. And from a more personal perspective, the machines save us time that we can spend with our families.”

You can bet a lot of that family time is spent traveling to rodeos with his bucking bulls. “When I leave town for rodeo events, I feel 100 percent confident that the chores will get done even if there’s a problem,” says Berger. “If anything should happen, Butler would be there. They even come out on Sundays. I would tell any farmer to go with Cat because the service is bar-none the best in the area.”