At the end of May, the main prize for the raffle from the 2008 catalogue of the Bavarian Central Agricultural Festival – a Fendt 309 Vario – was handed over to the Ametsbichler family from Traxl in Ebersbergcounty.

The traditional ZLF catalogue raffle is an initiative of the dlv publishers, Munich, and is offered in cooperation with BayWa and Fendt. The main prize always comes from Fendt and is hotly contested: more than 8,000 farmers took part in the raffle. This year, the main prize went to Franz Ametsbichler and his family from Traxl. His wife, Katharina, was the one who set the wheel in motion. She mailed the card her husband had filled out, thinking that there might just be enough luck there for a nice food processor. But that Fortuna would bring them the main prize, a Fendt 309 Vario, was beyond all her wildest expectations. The tractor fits very well to their farm, which includes 35 cows and 30 hectares of their own land.

Andreas Loewel, Sales Manager for Germany, Michael Horn, Fendt factory representative and Sepp Nuscheler, Fendt Press Relations Officer, handed over the Fendt 309 Vario, together with the BayWa Division Manager for Upper Bavaria, Peter Vogelsang, and Thomas Mirwald from the management of the publishers Deutschen Landwirtschaftsverlages (dlv). Loewel congratulated the Ametsbichler family in the name of all Fendt employees and wished them continued success with their business.

Picture: The main prize is handed over amidst beaming faces: the Ametsbichler family, including son Franz and father Franz, son Markus and mother Katharina; Andreas Loewel, Fendt Sales Manager; Michael Horn, Fendt factory representative; Oliver Hofmeister, BayWa; the Reverend Steinhöring and Thomas Mirwald from dlv (from left).