“I don’t think our Kubota can be beat as far as value—what you get for your money.”

John VanHook and his father Larry run Pulaski County’s Farm Bureau Insurance agency. To look at John, he may appear to be your typical insurance agent—clean cut, bright, well mannered—a man that just exudes risk analysis. But behind that timid façade is hard working, dyed-in-the-wool, Kubota-driving farmer.

Needless to say, John and his father are busy folk. Besides their successful insurance business, Larry owns a cow/calf operation on about 400 acres of combined farmland in Somerset, Kentucky. On any given day, John might be digging holes and planting fences, hauling hay bales, feeding the cows, spreading gravel, and of course, selling much needed insurance protection to his fellow farmers and Somersetians. And for all of these tasks (except the last one, naturally) he uses a rugged M Series Kubota tractor.

John currently uses a Kubota M8200 with a front loader. In the past, he’s also owned an M9000 4WD with front loader. John offers high praise for both machines. Commenting on his current tractor, John says, “I was really impressed with the loader, and how it operated on that tractor. We use our M8200 every day. It’s simply a good quality tractor and it’s cheap to own and operate. It’s probably the most maintenance-free tractor we’ve ever owned.” No small statement from John.

Kubota tractors are known for their versatility, and John’s M8200 is no different. It seems that John gets everything he can out of it, using it with the loader, to rotary cut, for feeding and much more. He also spoke to us about how putting up fences is a snap with his M Series tractor, “We’ll load a post in the loader or bucket, and a post hole digger on back, and get fences put up in no time.”

Reliability seems to be one of John’s hot buttons too. He talked about how his Kubota is “not always in the shop” and how “you don’t have to fool with it on cold days. Just hop on and start it up.” He recounted one especially cold and snowy day a few years ago when they didn’t know if they would be able to reach their cattle due to the weather. “Our 4WD Kubota cab tractor made it easy for us to travel to one of our farms that was miles away—and we were able to feed the cattle,” explained John. “It was dry and safe in that cab, and it made it easy to do our work.” Isn’t that what reliability is all about?