key battle of the Spanish-American War in Cuba. “From the

beginning, we’ve had excellent participation from dealers

in the state, plus dealerships in northwestern Minnesota,

who align nicely with our group with shared goals and

similar customer bases,” Jim says. “Dealers have come

and gone, but the organization has remained strong.

Right now I believe the Roughriders have 100 percent

participation from dealers in our area.”

Solid supportAlso from the beginning, the Roughriders enlisted

and received support from Case IH. Roger explains:

“Case IH leaders participated in most of our summer

meetings. We discussed many issues over the years,

from dealership management to inventory, service

and employees. Sharing ideas really helped all of us.

And Case IH leaders like Jim Irwin provided valuable

information—and learned what issues were affecting

dealers, too.”

“There must be a better way.”In 1977, there were 82 International Harvester dealers

in North Dakota. One was the state’s oldest implement

dealer—of any line: the former Arthur Mercantile on

the eastern side of the state, at the time owned and

operated by Jim Williams. He recalls: “At the 1977 annual

Implement Dealers Convention, during our line meetings,

our discussion turned to use of co-op advertising dollars

from the company. Some dealers were using the funds;

some weren’t. Some were running whole goods ads. We

all knew we were leaving co-op funds on the table. And

we knew there must be a better way.”

Across the state in Stanley, located 55 miles south

of the Canadian border, Stanley Equipment’s owner

and operator Roger Gjellstad agreed. “We figured we

ought to pool our resources and advertise together,” he

says. “Keep in mind this was before emails, faxes, even

overnight express mail. We communicated through mail,

phone calls and our two meetings each year. The Board

sometimes met more frequently.”

Roughriders uniteBy 1978, the dealers had a plan. And a name: Case IH

Roughrider Dealer Network, recognizing the First U.S.

Volunteer Cavalry comprised of many North Dakota

soldiers and led by Theodore Roosevelt, which bravely won a

Competition pays. So does cooperation. And coordination. Charging ahead with a powerful combination of all three, Case IH dealers in North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota have fueled individual dealership sales and service growth plus increased overall market presence for more than 30 years.

HISTORY OF THE

Case IH Roughrider Dealer Network

“Dealers have come and gone, but the organization has remained strong. Right now I believe the Roughriders have 100 percent

participation from dealers in our area.”JIM WILLIAMS

“When asked to do a job, say, ‘Certainly I can!’ Then get busy and find out how to do it.” --THEODORE ROOSEVELT, leader of the Roughriders during the Spanish-American War

The company listensThis unique dealer–company dialogue worked both

ways. Jim Williams recalls a summer Roughrider

dealer meeting in Devils Lake that Jim Irwin attended.

“It was the early 1990s and Jim announced Case IH’s

plans to cease production of the 8500 air drill. At the

time, that was our only seeding implement—obviously

prior to adding the Concord drills to our lines. Our

group was politely livid in explaining the challenges

that would result if the 8500 was withdrawn. To his

credit, Jim went back and changed those plans.”

Roger adds: “Case IH was also key in developing and

administering the process to regularly gather dues

from each of our Roughrider member dealerships. We

started that in 1978, and it remains an efficient, fair

way to keep our group’s finances in order.”

Roger and Jim have both served on the group’s

Board of Directors numerous times. “We’ve had

many dealers step up to Board positions to provide

good leadership and direction, especially in changing

agriculture,” Roger says.

Coordination is key“Early on, we also needed someone to coordinate

our plan,” Jim recalls. “At first we hired an advertising

agency from Minneapolis, but they weren’t a good fit.

Then we met the team at Simmons Advertising in Grand

Forks. They have facilitated our efforts ever since, and

they’ve been a good partner.” Simmons merged with

other agencies to become AdFarm, and the agency

works with the dealers and Case IH to handle dealer

billing, co-op advertising funds and overall budget

management. AdFarm also negotiates and purchases

media and produces the print advertisements and radio

commercials for the Roughriders.

One of Roger’s favorite adsA cornerstone of the Roughrider advertising program

has been its testimonial ads, featuring farmers in

North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota who own

and operate Case IH equipment. “Those ads are very

popular among farmers,” Roger says. “Other farmers

know those words are authentic. One of my favorites

was produced in the 1990s. We’d sold a good customer

a 9380 four-wheel-drive tractor and a new 48-foot

Concord air till drill. At the time, both were made in North

Dakota. The ad called it the “North Dakota Farming

System.” That ad helped all of us sell more tractors

and more drills.”

“AdFarm has facilitated our efforts ever since and they’ve been a good partner.”

ROGER GJELLSTAD

Farmer-to-farmer at CaseIHRoughriders.comThe testimonial stories continue to appear in print

and now in video at CaseIHRoughriders.com. Dealers

provide suggestions of which farmers to feature, the

Board approves the plan and AdFarm conducts the

interviews, takes photographs and writes and designs

the ads. “The ads give us more bang for our buck,”

Jim says. “Ads are planned and coordinated to fit our

seasons, agricultural practices and shifting customer

priorities. We’re always looking for a farmer with a

good story about our products.”

Jim concludes: “It’s not rocket science, but someone has

to keep the ball rolling. Active dealers, Case IH support

and AdFarm coordination have kept the Roughriders

strong. In some ways it’s amazing the group has

survived 30+ years. Yet with a dwindling customer

base and other challenges, it’s more important than

ever that we continue our cooperation.”

Moving partsSince the late 1990s, the Roughriders have also

produced parts catalogs, allowing individual dealers

to customize their parts offerings and boost sales in

the twice-per-year publications. Dealers beyond the

Roughrider group have also participated.

DEALER CUSTOMIZATION

“It’s not rocket science, but someonehas to keep the ball rolling.”

JIM WILLIAMS

“The stories give us more bang for our buck and fit our seasons, agricultural

practices and shifting customer priorities. We’re always looking for a farmer with a

good story about our products.”JIM WILLIAMS

Brothers Kevin and Kraig Ordahl farm with their dad Wayne and Kevin’s son Jeff in northeastern Montana. They grow durum wheat, peas and lentils. In 2008, the Ordahls traded their John Deere 9750 and 9650 STS combines for two new Case IH 7120 combines with 40-foot flex draper headers.

Why the change?“One of our neighbors switched to new Case IH combines a year prior,” Kevin says. “I rode with him and liked the combine. The cab is bigger with better sight lines and the 40-foot flex draper head is a big advantage.”

With their former John Deere combines, the Ordahls needed both 36-foot rigid heads for durum and 30-foot auger-style flex heads for peas and lentils. Now, the Ordahls went from four combine heads to the two, Case IH 40-foot flex draper heads.

“The Case IH flex draper head is better,” Kevin says. “It allows us to do a better job on close-to-the-ground

lentils than our John Deere flex head.”

Faster harvestThe increased productivity of their new 7120 combines was an important benefit to the Ordahls. The Ordahls averaged 50 acres per hour combining between 5.5 and 6 mph with their two 7120 combines. “On good days with little moving, we’d do 500 to 600 acres of 40 bushel per acre durum. I know we finished harvest several days sooner with these combines than we would have with our John Deere combines,” Kraig says. “The Case IH combines were easy to set, cleaned the grain better and required less daily maintenance. The concaves were easy to change. The reversible rotor and feeder housing made cleaning slugs much faster. The simplicity of one very good head instead of two allowed us to combine more bushels of cleaner grain every day. All of these things add up more than you’d think during the whole harvest.”

See your Case IH dealer today about a new Case IH combine for your farm.

“We switched because these are better combines.”Kevin, Kraig and Jeff Ordahl – OutlOOK, Mt

Jeff Ordahl (left), Kevin (center) and Kraig (right) along with their Dad Wayne (not pictured), are pleased with the productivity and convenience of their new Case IH 7120 combines.

visit the Case ih website: http:// www.caseih.com © 2010 Case ih dealers / all rights reserved Case ih is a registered trademark of Cnh america llC.any trademarks referred to herein, in association with goods and/or services of companies other than Cnh america llC, are the property of those respective companies.

Your North Dak ota / NorthWesterN MiNNesota Case ih Dealers

How it all begins North Dakota Farmer Marlyn Seidler is an innovative grower, and the print advertisement featuring his son Ben and him is helpful in understanding the work of the Roughrider dealer group.

Marlyn, a long-time customer of Northern Plains Equipment Company, Mandan, ND, is featured in a testimonial advertisement promoting his Case IH Steiger 530 Quadtrac tractor and Case IH Concord drill. The advertisement runs in leading North Dakota agricultural publications AgWeek and the Farm and Ranch Guide.

Northern Plains dealer principal Marc Taylor explains: “Marlyn is a great—and demanding—customer. Part of his success is driven by his one-pass approach, which is pos-sible with the Case IH four-wheel-drive tractors and Case IH Concord drills. I knew we could set up an interview with Marlyn and his son Ben for the ad.”

One hour onlyKerwin Wetzstein is Marc’s salesman. He set up the inter-view and joined AdFarm’s Fred Lukens for a mid-July visit to Seidler’s farm. Kerwin emphasized: “We have one hour. No more. Marlyn is a stock car driver, and the races are on tonight in Dickinson.”

Fred agreed. Ninety minutes into the interview, Marlyn and Ben continued talking while Kerwin listened and Fred took notes. The resulting ad first ran in September 2007.

Neighborly praiseMarc continues: “Marlyn has been our customer for many years. He and Ben are well-known, innovative growers around here who definitely don’t follow other farmers’ practices. Their neighbors run equipment from other implement dealers. They saw Marlyn, his son Ben and the headline, ‘This tractor is an animal.’ Some got a little irked. To Marlyn, that was high praise.”

Dreaded 4 p.m. phone callsMarc continues: “As the ad explains, Marlyn and Ben use Case IH Concord drills for one-pass seeding, pulled with 9280, 9390, STX450 and STX500 tractors—all with triples. By the fall of 2006, they were looking to upgrade to another wheeled tractor with triples. What’s not in the ad is this: At that time, nobody at our dealership wanted to answer the phone around 4 p.m., because it was likely Marlyn or Ben on the line—not happy and in the middle of a tractor problem. “Since they upgraded to the Quadtrac, we’ve had just one service call to their farm.”

Farmers love to tell their storyMarc says: “As with other customers that our dealer group has featured in ads, Marlyn and Ben enjoyed sharing their story and telling us about their equipment. None of our dealer members could pull together an ad like this on their own. Together, we can agree on what to promote andwhen to promote it. This kind of long-term, brand-buildingadvertising maximizes our investment, captures momentum and helps increase sales for all of us. And it helped make one of our toughest customers pretty satisfied.”

Visit the Case IH web site: http:// www.caseih.com © 2008 Case IH Dealers / All rights reserved Case IH is a registered trademark of CNH America LLC. Any trademarks referred to herein, in association with goods and/or services of companies other than CNH America LLC, are the property of those respective companies.

Case IH steIger 530 QuadtraC traCtor

“this tractor is an animal.”hile considering upgrading his four-wheel drive tractor in the fall of 2006, Marlyn Seidler was prepared to buy another wheeled tractor

with triples. “We’d been happy pulling our 6012 Case IH Concord drill with a Case IH STX500 tractor with triples. I figured we’d do it again,” he recalls. Son Ben had other ideas: “With this much horsepower and the weight of the loaded 60-foot Case IH Concord seeding system, it seemed a good time to try the Quadtrac.” Marlyn agreed.

The Seidlers have used one pass seeding with Case IH Concord drills for nearly 20 years. They’ve pulled their drills with a 9280, 9390, STX450 and STX500 tractors, all with triples. Their farm, in the rolling hills just east of the Missouri River, includes wheat, sunflowers and pinto beans, which they seed with the STX530 Quadtrac and 6012 Case IH Concord drill. Their current 6012 drill is equipped with deep penetrating Dutch triple shoot openers deep band-ing anhydrous fertilizer. In addition to their Case IH 430 bushel air system, they also pull anhydrous tanks up to 3,000 gallons.

slippage reduced “Most of the time our slippage with triples was in the 10-12% range,” Ben says. “With the Quadtrac, our slippage is now 5 to 7% or less. The Quadtrac is a very good system pull-ing a big load. We’re not ripping up the seedbed with slippage.”

The Seidlers pull their 60-foot drill, air system and anhydrous tanks at 6.5 miles per hour at 1800 to 1850 rpm with their STX530 Quadtrac.

Pulled better than the 500 right off the truck Marlyn runs the drill most of the time and admits to early skepticism

about the Quadtrac system. He says, “As soon as we hooked up this tractor, I got over it. It pulled better than our STX500 with triples right off the truck. It’s an animal.”

With auto steer, the Seidlers’ average seeding 30 to 35 acres per hour and have done as many as 700 acres in a 24-hour day. “Most days we’ll seed between 300 and 400 acres,” Ben says. Marlyn concludes: “We’re very pleased with this tractor.”

See your Case IH dealer today about a new Steiger Quadtrac tractor for your farm.

Marlyn (left) and Ben Seidler have learned that investing in improved farming technology can generate quick returns.

Your NortH dak ota / NortHwesterN MINNesota Case IH dealers

MArLyN AND BeN SeIDLer – UNDerwooD, ND

w

THE STORY BEHIND A ROUGHRIDER AD

YOUR NORTH DAK OTA / NORTHWESTERN MINNESOTA CASE IH DEALERS