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Starting in 2017, Rose Farm Supply has published our annual calendar using customer submitted photographs. Take a look at the 2020 calendar as we celebrate our 35 years in business. You can submit your photos at anytime for future calendars here .
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The Bull Tractor Company of Minneapolis, MN, sold more farm tractors than any other brand but had trouble finding a reliable source of engines. The Toro Motor Company was founded on July 10, 1914 to answer the call and build tractor engines for The Bull Tractor Company. After several years of this joint-venture, Toro was approached by the Minikahda Club in Minnesota to create a motorized fairway mower. They created a tractor that had five reel mowers attached to the front. This innovation started the motorized golf course equipment line that is a centerpiece of the company today.
For the next 25 years, Toro continues to develop its commercial turf maintenance and irrigation product offerings. In a move former Toro President David Lilly would later describe as “one of the best business decisions we ever made”, Toro acquired Whirlwind of Milwaukee, WI in 1948 who was a manufacturer of rotary lawn mowers. This purchase set up Toro to revolutionize the mower industry for both commercial and consumer products.
Toro’s next goal was to set themselves further apart from the competition and master the craft of the machines they were making. Toro opened an expansive R&D facility in Bloomington, MN in 1952 to test new product concepts and conduct agronomic research. This facility was led by widely-known agronomist James R. Watson, PhD. Watson, along with a team of 25 scientists, conducted cutting-edge studies that significantly advanced turf care knowledge. This also revolutionized the industry. This investment in research and development in the turf care industry was the first of its kind in the world. This same work continues today in Toro’s new Dr. Jim Watson Center for Advanced Turf Management (CAAT) in Minnesota that fuels the latest innovations in Toro’s products.
In 1974, Toro president David Lilly was determined to make the company a full-line lawn and garden manufacturer. From this came the “Guaranteed to Start” program on consumer walk-power mowers that covers any mower malfunction under warranty if the mower doesn’t start in two pulls. This highly successful program still carries on today.
But the company didn’t make it to where it is today with only walk-power mowers. Over the years they’ve acquired other brands to have the most complete line on the market. In 1989, Toro made its first acquisition of Lawn Boy and Wheel Horse. Several years later, Toro formed a new Landscape Contractor Business which would provide a comprehensive line of landscape contractor products. Shortly following in 1997, Toro acquired Exmark® Manufacturing, the popular commercial zero-turn mower producer.
The company has most recently made acquisitions of Boss® Snow Removal Products (2014) and The Charles Machine Works Company (2019) who is the owner of the Ditch Witch® brand. As the future looks towards battery powered outdoor products, Toro continues to invest in the R&D to make that vision a reality. Toro continues its mission to have the best technology and widest product offering in the industry, making it the most reliable choice for professionals and consumers alike.
Today, The Toro Company is the largest American manufacturer of turf maintenance equipment for commercial and residential gardens, public parks, golf courses and sports fields. The company also specializes in snow removal equipment and irrigation systems. Toro takes great pride in helping consumers enrich the beauty, productivity and sustainability of the land. Through a strong network of dealers and retailers in more than 125 countries, Toro offers a wide range of products to help homeowners, professional contractors, golf courses, groundskeepers, rental companies, governments and educational institutions – in addition to many leading sports venues and historic sites around the world. The rich history of Toro translates into industry leading products that set themselves apart from the competition.
Not only is Toro the trusted turf management and equipment provider of thousands of golf courses around the world, but also of all of these prestigious events that are on television for millions of people to see. From the Super Bowl, to Walt Disney World Resorts, to the Olympics, Toro is a name that is trusted on the biggest stages to be the best in the industry.
You can view the full video on the history of Toro below:
When you buy a lawn mower, you’re buying a machine that you expect to be mowing your yard for the next seven to ten years. We understand the value of properly maintaining your machine so that it will continue to be reliable for you year after year. When the fall rolls around, follow these tips on winterizing your mower to ensure your mower will be ready to go when you are in the Spring.
Gas can begin to degrade in as little as 30 days which when left in your mower can cause gumming that will clog up your carburetor and can also cause misfires in the engine. The result of this ends in costly repairs to clean the carburetor or possibly even a carburetor replacement ($300), none of which is covered by any manufacturer’s warranty policy. A carburetor is the valve that provides fuel to the engine, so when the valve is junked up and doesn’t operate properly, your engine will not perform as it should. The good news is that there are a couple of ways to prevent this from happening and keep your mower’s fuel system fresh.
1. All-Season Canned Fuel (RECOMMENDED): Simply empty all of the gas out of your tanks by running the mower out of gas. After it runs out, use All-Season Canned Fuel for 4-Cycle Engines to cycle through the engine. This engineered gasoline has a shelf life of three years and doesn’t contain any ethanol, which is one of the top reasons for fuel corrosion. With this high octane fuel sitting in your fuel system, you will have no issues hitting the ground running in the spring.
2. Fuel Treatment: Add fuel treatment, also know as fuel stabilizer, to the existing gas in the mower. It will help to protect your engine from gum, rust and corrosion that standard gasoline can cause. Stabilizer can preserve fuel for up to six months, but it can be affected by the climate and environment it sits in. So be cautious when solely depending on fuel stabilizers to treat your fuel over winter.
Some might say that lawn mower batteries are garbage in general and that you should expect to get a new one every year. That might be true for some of the batteries on the market, but there are several things that you can do to stretch the life of your battery.
The first thing is the most obvious and is the most effective, but most people just don’t make it a priority and that being going and starting your mower a couple times a month and letting it run for a while. This will cycle gas and oil through your engine, will pump hydraulic oil through the wheel motors and will allow the battery to charge. Overall this is the absolute best practice, but if we’re being honest, going outside to the shed or barn to start your mower in the snow doesn’t seem to fall at the top of the priority list. So here are a few alternatives:
1. Trickle Charger (RECOMMENDED): Keeping your battery active and charged is the most important thing in maintaining battery life. If you don’t want to unhook your battery from the mower, simply get a trickle charge and hook it up to your battery. All you will need is an outlet next to your mower. You can get any type of trickle charger, but here’s a link to one on Amazon.
2. Storing At Room Temperature: Batteries have a low freezing tolerance meaning when the acid inside of the battery freezes, it can cause major damage to the cells inside. When this happens, you will get cells that go bad or your cold cranking amps (CCA) will permanently decrease which causes the battery to not perform dependably. So if you will unhook your battery from the mower and store in a garage or a place that will not freeze, you will extend the life of your battery.
Note: Do not store on directly on concrete floors as the concrete will pull the moisture out of your battery causing permanent damage.
Cleaning your mower will allow it to run more efficiently and cut better while also preserving the paint and mechanical parts. When grass, dirt, leaves, etc. sit on your mower for months as they decompose, it can cause the paint and metal to crack or rust. By cleaning your mower of this on a regular basis and especially before winter, you will preserve the machine as a whole. But when I say clean, I mean a little more than just giving it a good scrub for looks and that being found under the deck.
When you cut grass, some of it collects under your deck against the side walls and will stick. The amount that collects is much more when you are mowing wet grass. Many manufacturers have deck washout ports as standard features on their mowers so that you can keep this collection from becoming a problem. In general, they work great as long as you use them every time that you mow wet grass, but once that wet grass collects, it dries like concrete. This can cause your deck to not get the proper flow of air to cut correctly, which will leave your yard looking uneven and uncut in some areas. It’s a good idea to check under your deck before storing it for winter for any grass buildups. You can remove the grass or dirt with something as simple as a paint scraper. This will make sure your mower has the best cut possible next spring.
When it comes to storing your mower, under cover is the best to protect your machine from the sun, rain, wind and snow. Repainting your mower can be costly and time consuming while a new seat is an automatic $500. If under a roof isn’t a possibility for you, consider an outdoor mower cover. For $50-$60 you can keep your mower from fading, cracking or rusting.
If you take a couple hours to winterize your mower, you’ll be extending your mower’s life by years. Not only will the machine last longer, it will operate at peak performance and you’ll be a lot less frustrated along the way. Do yourself a favor and save yourself some money by taking a few hours to follow the steps above and winterize your lawn mower. Happy mowing!
