Owners: Buddy and Shannon King
Location: Pyatt, Ark.
History: “I began in the equipment business in my early 20s in 1990 with John Deere. My father Buell passed away suddenly in 1993, so I had to go back to take care of the farm. However, I found I couldn’t leave the equipment alone. I soon rented some property close to the farm and added a small portable building for a late-model used equipment business. After that, all I needed was a fence and luckily the business kept growing. Eventually, I added parts and needed more space so I purchased a lot across the street with more highway frontage. It had a paved lot with a 2,400-square-foot shop. I remodeled our current 2,000-plus square-foot facility and later added another 10 acres to accommodate and spread both new and used equipment out. I began with quality used equipment of various brands, then became a Mahindra dealer in 2014. We now have full service for Mahindra and for Bad Boy Mowers, which we added last year. We have a total of five employees, plus my wife Shannon and me.”
Products and Services: “The largest portion of our business is our Mahindra tractor line. We carry tractors from 25 to 75 hp, which caters to part-time farmers and others with smaller acreages. The Bad Boy Mowers, which are made in Batesville, Ark., are used for residential and commercial properties. We are also a dealer for Bush-Whacker cutters, which are made by another Arkansas company in Little Rock. We even have Titan implements, which include small cutters, box blades, tillers and skid steer attachments. We take care of what we sell, as well as offering service and repairs on Mahindra, Bad Boy Mowers and Bush-Whackers. We even have a service truck for field problems.”
Philosophy and future: “We are tickled to death to be here and doing what we’re doing. We understand parts, sales and service are crucial to our customers and our survival. We want them to know we want to understand their needs and meet those needs. We intentionally sell quality and back it up. We take pride in being approachable and responding quickly because these are not just our customers they are our family, friends and neighbors. We understand the difficulty of trying to manage a farm, small business, and improving your land because we are trying to do the same thing on a budget ourselves. In terms of the future, we are blessed with good loyal customers and plan to attract more and add whatever we need to continue to fulfill customer and employee’s needs.”
