The 4th Way

To accommodate operators who have lost full use of an arm, John DeerMitch Zumbach and his father, Doran, owners of Z Valley Grain farm near Coggon, Iowa, love what they do. "During the summer, I'll get up in the morning and look out the window at the green cornfield," says Mitch. "Here's a crop that you planted, you sprayed, and you fertilized. You do all you can do, and Mother Nature takes care of the rest. It's fantastic. Farmers are a different breed. We work, and then we go to places and talk with like-minded people about work. Then we get up and do it all over again.”

"Farming is different than any other occupation," adds Doran. "You live and breathe it."

Now 46 years old, Mitch has been working with Doran since he was 10 years old. "We're a sixth-generation farm," says Doran. "I've been working with my son for over three decades. We have a fabulous relationship, and now my grandson helps out. I don't know what more I can ask for in life, really."

IMAGINING THE POSSIBILITIES

Doran's ancestors immigrated from Switzerland. For generations, the family operated a dairy farm and raised other livestock, including beef cattle and hogs. During the 1990s, as livestock operations were growing much larger and became more expensive to run, the farm exited the livestock business to become a crop operation. Today the farm raises corn and soybeans. Mitch also runs a very successful seed business.

Farming has changed dramatically since Doran started over a half-century ago. "I grew my fifty-first crop this year,: he reflects. "When my father wanted a new machine, maybe he'd raise a few extra pigs or milk a few extra cows. Today, even when I buy a small machine, I must be much more business minded. Can we justify the investment? How can we use the machine? Is it efficient? How will it improve our operation?"

Purchasing a John Deere G-Series Compact Track Loader (CTL) was a no-brainer. "It's so versatile and efficient," says Doran. "We use it most every day." The farm uses it mainly to remove rocks from fields, as well as for mowing waterways and ditches, and moving pallets of seed and fertilizer.

Mitch lost use of his right arm in a childhood accident. "It's always been difficult for me to run a skid steer or CTL," says Mitch.

"We had a competitor machine that we modified so I could use it, but that made it difficult for anyone else to run. My father often wondered if it might be possible with today's technology to design a machine we could all use."

In 2017, Doran was visiting a John Deere dealership in Monticello, Iowa, when he found a machine that made him believe this was possible — a G-Series CTL. "I was not aware that Deere offered foot controls as part of their push-button selectable controls." Thus began the journey that ended with the purchase of the modified 331G CTL that the farm now owns.e engineers modified our exclusive three-way switchable EH controls, designing a new way to run our G-Series Skid Steers and CTLs.