The Dallas County Secondary Roads Department uses skid loaders on basically every project they work on, and they found themselves in need of a new one.

One of their skid loaders is getting older, so County Engineer Al Miller felt now was a good time to replace it. They researched machinery in the area and narrowed their choices down to Caterpillar or John Deere models. The received bids from Ziegler CAT in Altoona and Van Wall John Deere in Perry. Secondary Road employees test drove each model. In the end, they agreed the CAT 289D track skid loader from Ziegler was the ideal choice, though it was more expensive.

The roads department requested $67,679.85 to purchase the machinery at the most recent Dallas County Supervisors meeting, which the Board approved.