Dealer Spotlight—Midwest: Spreader Specialties
/One of BBI’s strongest partners in the Midwestern United States, Spreader Specialties occupies a key niche in the agricultural equipment market. From its headquarters in Austin, Minnesota, Spreader Specialties, as the name implies, focuses solely on selling spreaders for a variety of agriculture, golf course, and construction applications.
As further testament to the Spreader Specialties commitment to matching farmers and managers with the highest-performing equipment customized to their needs, the company maintains an exclusive relationship with BBI Spreaders, bringing the best to the fields of the Northern Plains area comprising Minnesota, the Dakotas, and northern Iowa.
Mike Olson, owner of both Spreader Specialties and the neighboring River Oaks Golf Course in Austin, is a fixture in the Minnesota farming and golf course maintenance communities, and his inventory reflects multiple BBI offerings for granular fertilizer, lime, shavings, compost, gravel, and organics applications. Olson leads multiple product demonstrations for BBI spreaders throughout the year at sites in and around Austin, partners with BBI at multiple trade shows, including September’s annual Big Iron Farm Show in West Fargo, North Dakota and South Dakota’s Ideag DakotaFest.
Golf course managers from around Spreader Specialties’ multi-state service areas also visit the River Oaks Golf Course to see BBI spreaders, optimized for turf maintenance, in action.
Mike and his staff sell BBI spreaders and also deliver life-of-the-spreader customer service and parts to the growing list of farmers and golf course managers who trust Spreader Specialties for their field and turf maintenance needs. Spreader Specialties offers the MagnaSpread, from BBI’s line of spreaders optimized for granular fertilizer and lime applications. The MagnaSpread series, available in both truck-mount and pull-type single-axle and tandem-axle versions, features the ISOBUS-compatible BBI Binary Manifold as standard equipment. The Binary Manifold connects with a variety of precision farming technology software systems from every manufacturer currently leveraging the ISOBUS platform.
In addition to MagnaSpread, Spreader Specialties stocks Endurance and Liberty. Endurance is BBI’s line of spreaders customized to spread a variety of materials including, litter, lime, shavings, compost, wood chips, manure, and mulch. The Endurance series is available in truck-mount and pull-type hydraulic models, as well as a pull-type mechanical model. BBI’s Liberty is a ground-wheel-drive, mechanical spreader series for medium-capacity fertilizer and lime applications
For golf course and other sod-and-turf farming applications, Spreader Specialties features BBI’s Cricket Ag and Turf and Grasshopper, two lightweight, pull-type spreaders for fertilizer and lime.
Denny McCauley, BBI’s regional sales manager for the Midwestern and western United States, sees Spreader Specialties as critical to BBI’s success in bringing great spreader solutions to the region’s farms and golf courses. “Mike has built a very robust business, doing things the right way. He’s honest, tireless, and committed to doing right by customers. Selling a spreader to a farmer is just the beginning. Mike is there for them for the long haul, providing key parts support and customer service for the many years that customers use a BBI spreader after purchase. He’s exemplary of what every ag equipment dealer should strive for in every area of this business.”
A strong start is vital for the successful growth of any crop, including winter wheat. While many wheat growers focus on preparing the seedbed and ensuring optimal seed placement, there is one important element that may be overlooked in some winter wheat programs: starter phosphorus.