The Origin of Orthman Green

The story of Orthman Manufacturing began near Lexington, Nebraska in the mid-1960s. Henry Orthman's first innovation was a boxed conversion kit that allowed different brands of tractor and implement to link together (originally, the tractor and pulled machine had to be the same brand).

At first, these conversion kits were painted the same color as the drawn machine. A astute marketer, Henry realized that over time, customers would not realize who  Orthman Manufacturing was, or what they did unless he developed the Orthman brand - and color.

It was essential that this color not clash with any of the existing equipment colors. Orthman offered conversion kits for Case orange, International red, John Deere green, Allis-Chalmers orange, Massey Ferguson grey, and Ford blue, not to mention assorted implement colors that were also on the market. Henry started with white, and over the next few years experimented with various shades and hues of green, eventually winding up with the what's now known as "Orthman Green."

And, just to put the myth to rest - it's NOT 50% John Deere green and 50% John Deere yellow!