Farm4Profit Podcast
Revolutionizing Ag Equipment: Behind the Scenes with Strobel, Terraplex, and Brandt
Mon, 28 Oct 2024
We’ll dive into what drives these companies to push the boundaries of agricultural equipment and service, exploring the technology and engineering behind their products, the challenges they solve for farmers, and how they’re adapting to an ever-evolving industry. Strobel Manufacturing will share insights on their advanced seed handling and dirt moving solutions; Terraplex will talk about their high-quality drone tools; and Brandt will bring us up to speed on their latest equipment designed to tackle modern ag needs. Whether you’re looking for new equipment or just curious about the innovation shaping the future of farming, you’ll want to tune in for this conversation with the experts behind these impactful brands.www.strobelmfg.comwww.brandt.cawww.terraplex.comwww.agx.comDon’t forget to like the podcast on all platforms and leave a review where ever you listen!Websitewww.Farm4Profit.comShareable episode linkhttps://intro-to-farm4profit.simplecast.comEmail [email protected] to YouTubehttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSR8c1BrCjNDDI_Acku5XqwFollow us on TikTokhttps://www.tiktok.com/@farm4profitConnect with us on Facebookhttps://www.facebook.com/Farm4ProfitLLC/
With all the time we put into developing our single auger grain cart and our dual auger grain cart, it's kind of a linchpin at harvest. Now, Kyle touched on an auger. It's your bottleneck for most operations, but having a dependable grain cart in the field servicing one or multiple combines just keeps the entire operation moving on time and in sync.
Ladies and gentlemen, farmers, ranchers, and distinguished guests, thank you for listening to the Farm for Profit podcast, where we discuss the latest ideas, methods, trends, and techniques available to help your farm achieve higher levels of farm profitability.
Hey, listeners, welcome back to the Farm for Profit podcast. We've got a great episode here that combines a couple of conversations that we've had this fall. Excited to share with you some technology-forward companies to let you know what they have coming down their pipeline and how you best can prepare for that next growing season. So stay tuned. Check it out.
Dave and Corey get a little off the rails towards the end of this one, so it's worth sticking around. Again, if you have questions for us or topics, farmforprofitllc at gmail.com. We appreciate each and every one of you as listeners. Please head over there to Apple and leave us some reviews. We've had a couple of folks there. Leave us a bad one.
Remember, five stars, you can type whatever you want. There's one stars. That's not what we're looking for. So help us out. If you wouldn't mind, get that rating boosted back up. But thanks again for listening to the podcast. Let's get right to those conversations right now. And what a great time to have a What's Working in Ag segment. We love inviting former guests back onto the podcast as well.
We've got Larry with Strobel coming back to tell us more about what we saw out at Husker Harvest Days. Welcome back.
Thanks, Tanner. Good to be with you again.
We had absolutely great weather out at Husker Harvest Days in Grand Island, but it was breezy. So we're going to get us a little bit more clear audio today and talk about what we got to see. So when we first started our chat, we were standing next to your line of seed tenders. Why don't you tell us a little bit about that lineup as we move into this conversation?
Yeah, thanks. We have 16 models of seed tenders. We've been making them for a lot of years and we believe we have the best seed tender on the market. And part of that, the reason is they're all low profile, which gives us a lower center of gravity, meaning more safety, more convenience for the user. And it all comes back to innovation and solving problems for the farmer.
I mean, when it's planting season, every minute helps. And of course you don't want a box of seed to roll over on the road or when you're going down a row. So we have a lot of satisfied customers with our 16 models and they fall into bulk models, our BT 200, 300, 400, and then our box seed tenders, two box, three box, four box, we even make a six box seed tender.
Yeah, it was nice to stand next to those. And as I sit here in the studio, I'm looking at a poster on the wall. Corey tipped a box of seed over this spring and felt so bad about it that we commemorated it with a picture with the eclipse.
That's a bad day.
Yeah, it was not a good day. So it's good to hear that that's part of the innovation in your seed tenders. As you were walking through me, having me walk around those, there's a lot of additional features. Like you talked about the way those boxes sit on the trailer, the way that they lock into place.
Of course, we compared how high it was compared to my hip for your low profile, but they're in line. They're not side by side. They're in line. So it's a narrow transport too.
Yeah, and one of our, we even share a patent on our one-handle lockdown. So I know you have footage that shows with one handle, all the boxes can be locked in place. Something we have that's unique to a Strobel seed tender as well. A few years ago, we added stops at the back so you can put your box on. They easily stop. And then there's a one-piece rubber gasket that is replaceable.
Those can eventually wear out. And we have actually created a mold and have a one-piece gasket that forms a real great seal on the bottom of those pro boxes.
Yeah, and I also noticed, too, the unload capability, the options to be able to fill a box planter, to be able to fill a bulk mill planter or a drill or an air seeder. Your auger and the equipment that you have attached to those seed tenders make that functional for all types of seeding.
Right. Yeah, we have some options with additional extensions, but yeah, we use poly-cut tubing. We feel that's the best on the seed, just the gentlest to move the seed through the auger and then out into the planter and into the field. So we've had research over the years, and people have opinions in lots of different ways, but we feel the research backs up that
that the polycup tubing is the preferred means of getting that seed to where it needs to be.
And that's something else that we learned. You mentioned over the years. Strobel's a company that's been around for a long time. There's a long family history. There's a lot of research and a lot of listening to farmers that goes into all the products you have.
Yeah, thanks for mentioning that, Tanner. We started in 1946, just a couple hundred feet from where I'm sitting right now. It was a blacksmith shop. right on Highway 30 in Clarks, Nebraska. And Leonard Strobel was the blacksmith in town. And he had a passion for serving people and for solving problems.
And, you know, candidly, he came up with a lot of inventions from cutting cedar trees out in the field to, you know, improving the old kilifer. I mean, the box scraper is one of our best machines today. So we have A full line of what we call yellow equipment for the farm, the construction site, the ranch and the feedlot.
Yeah, that was one thing that I was excited to see out at the trade show. Having heard and seen some of Cale Carlson's videos was to be able to see that equipment in person. And I remember stating that I was impressed with how heavy duty it looked like everything was built. The steel is significant when you look at that dirt moving equipment.
Yeah, we have a saying around here. We call it Strobel strong. And some people might say we're overbuilt, but we use a lot of steel and it hurt when steel went screaming up in Bryce here a couple of years ago, but that's, that's leveled off a little bit and, uh, nothing like a real robust machine that, you know, is just going to hold up. We just don't have, uh, people.
I mean, it's rare to have any sort of breakage. Uh, if so, we, we can help you take care of that. But, uh, It's the kind of machines from our earth movers, the force ejection scrapers, the DS 50s, a new five yard this year. And we've got the big 1600, the 1611, 16-yard force ejection scraper that's just a beast when you look at the steel that's involved with that.
Yeah, I did find that interesting to see that you literally had a scraper of all sizes. Everything that looked like I could just fill in my irrigation pivot track to I could move a ton of earth and get ready for my next building to go in place.
Right. Yeah. We like to say we've got the machine for any and every operation. So from a small hobby farm to, and just an acreage to really a big dirt moving operation, we've got, you know, the machines that can help out. And of course we're our hardest with the farm, but we certainly want to serve the contractor, dirt mover, that construction company as well.
Yeah, I know when you got a box blade on a farm, it's one of those things that you keep finding different and more uses for it. Whether you're a feedlot and you should scrape your lots with it or use it for snow or moving your silage or earlage or just keeping your driveway level and flat.
But I also know that you are having a program right now that allows even maybe more opportunities for growers to put strobel equipment on their farms. What's that program look like?
Yeah, thank you. We developed, I think this is a first in our history. We're calling it the Seed Handling Rebate Program. So there's really kind of two elements. There are machines across the country, and we sell Strobel seed tenders through our dealers. And our network of dealers have inventory on their lots at times. A lot of these are 2024, and they're on occasion are
even 22 or 23 brand new seed tenders. And we really like to, to get them in the hands of farmers as soon as possible. So through the end of the year, we're running a rebate program where the dealers, you know, we'll offer their best price to you, but then the customer will get a 500, $750 or $1,000 rebate direct from Strobel Manufacturing. on their seed tender depending on what model they choose.
Well, that's great. And all they have to do is contact their local dealer. This isn't a special promotion. This is going through the same network that you have built for them to utilize.
Right. Now, some of the local dealers won't have inventory. So I'd recommend, you know, your listeners just call us directly and we'll help make that connection to the dealer that has the right piece of equipment for you. And that number is 308-548-2254. You can always go to strobelmfg.com, strobelmfg.com.
And yeah, call us and we'll try to make it a simple and smooth operation to get what you need to your farm.
Well, that's exactly what we like for all of our listeners, Larry. We appreciate you taking the time. It's great to catch up with you because last time we talked about your cattle shates. And those are still important, but we're adding depth to the perspective and understanding of strobel.
Yeah, thanks. Our history has been with these, what we call yellow machines, starting with the box scraper. And we still make and sell a lot of those. But we've added a wide array of lineup over the years. In the last 10, 12 years, we've sold super shades. And this year, we've added the 30 by 30. So we've got three different sizes of cattle shades, 20 by 20, 30 by 30, and 40 by 40.
But this time of the year, The sun is not quite as intense, although there are places. So we switch our attention a little bit over to the farmers. And we want to get that seed in the ground and have this seed handling rebate program in place and really take care of our ag people that way.
That's great. Remind them again of that phone number and the website before we let you go.
Thank you. Yes, it's 308-548-2254. And the website then, you can just throw in Strobel Manufacturing in your browser or strobelmfg.com.
Awesome. Well, as I said in the beginning, it's always a pleasure to chat with you, Larry. Thanks for joining us.
Thank you, Tanner.
Now we're going to talk with one of our great partners, TerraPlex, and learn more about what innovation has continued to happen, but then also where the direction of the future of agriculture is headed. We put out two types of shows where we meet with farmers, have a conversation, learn about how their operation's growing and multi-generations are working together.
And then we also get to talk to some of the most innovative companies in the agricultural world. And that's what we're doing today. It's my pleasure to have three. We got a little surprise. Got to have three of you sit up here, but that is one of those things, more the merrier. Right, Rachel?
Yes.
I also want to welcome Rachel to her first podcast interview, so we'll see if we can actually get a question out of her today or not, or if she's going to help us here with the ratings on our visual content. So guys, how's the Farm Progress show been for TerraPlex?
Oh my goodness. It's been a great start, right? And today, obviously with it being Wednesday, we know it's going to air a little bit later here on the network. But my gosh, the weather's been just incredible for us today. And a great opportunity to meet so many folks who have been our customers, who may be our customers, and who are just curious about drones so far.
So it's been busy all over the grounds today. You're right. The weather's been awesome. If you like hot, humid weather, And sweaty. We're 80 degrees and nice today. Today. We got one nice day.
You're right. It started off really, really nice itself, but I'm excited. We've had both of you on the podcast before, but Rodeo, why don't you remind our listeners who you are and what your role is, and then we'll just kind of move down the line as far as position goes.
Okay, my name is Ryan Schrader, and I'm one of the founding partners of TerraFlex. And yeah, Danny is the other one, and he couldn't make it here today. He's out in the field. So I guess I'm lucky, maybe. Of course you are. Absolutely.
Okay, so I'm Sue Braykane. I'm down out of Winterset, Iowa, and I'm actually the economic director for the company. So we're working on Different applications, what can you do with the drones from imagery sources to, and taking imagery in the field, learn about your cropping system that's going on, and then what do you do with it? Can we seed, spray, prescription map? What are we working with?
Very good.
John Liebel, CEO of TerraPlex, just joined the company a little bit earlier this year. I know Ryan said he's the lucky one, but no, that's the other way around. I'm lucky to learn with a great team and to be a part of a great team as we usher in this new era of innovation in farming.
And that's something that's changed since our very first conversation as well. So explain your pathway into the CEO position.
Marketing, right? I mean, what a fun opportunity to get aligned with a great group of folks here. I met him originally in October and kind of assisted with some marketing aspects for launching this new product. And I remember first talking to him. And when the words agricultural spray drone came out on that phone call conversation, I said, what? Wait a minute, what is this?
And started diving into this, right? Had an opportunity to meet Danny Osman, Ryan's partner, and our other founding partner earlier, and got to see a drone be demoed and just think, my goodness, this is where it's heading and this is where it's going. And still that awe is out there in the world, right? When folks see this or when they stop by and see this.
And I didn't have been fortunate enough to get to know Ryan and and get to know Danny better, meet Charity Schrader, and of course Sue, and start meeting the whole team. And then officially joined the company as CEO in early February. And we're piloting this new era of precision farming and learning as much as we are trying to educate the public in what we do.
So Sue, as we dive into the way this growing season is shaped up, it seemed to be almost imperable to have a partner with a drone because it feels like it's rained and rained and rained and really killed some of our opportunities.
A lot of opportunities are presented to us because you couldn't get a ground rig in the field and a lot of places where you had way too much water consistently, how many ponds you get, what can we do with those, you know, can I seed over the top, can I spray, what just a lot of opportunities we weren't planning on.
But we got a chance to get in the field where a lot of times they couldn't with other equipment, so it worked out well for us.
Yeah, I feel like we almost saw that coming, the conversation that we had talking about the opportunities that existed. But it's nice to know that we had a partner that fully understood this. Dave, not in on this interview, got to use a drone service. and learned a lot about the process itself.
But he also got to learn about how effective it's been and how it's not the only limiting factor that you can't run out of nitrogen and just spray fungicides. So it's neat to see that there's continuing evolution of the way drones get used in the field, even more than what we had talked about the first time in our conversation.
Ryan, as you've sat here and observed your company's growth, and you had a great appearance at the Iowa Ag Expo, and now you're at Farm Progress Show, what has been the excitement at your booth as producers come through it?
As we look back, you know, we were just coming off of a pretty good, a dry year, three dry years, and then we went into the power farming show and there was a lot of interest, you know, right after first year, but never got really a good chance to utilize drones earlier in the season like we did this year, like Sue just said. You know, we were getting calls every day and
we didn't even know if we could get it done, weren't even really ready to go. And that was kind of the scenario, like you said, we were waiting for to actually show what these drones can actually do in different applications on fungicide.
And, and, you know, as we talked to people here in the last couple of days, it's been, you know, commodity prices are suppressed a little bit compared to what they have been the last three or four years. And a lot of guys now are looking at these drones going, man, I could spend 30, 40,000 instead of going down and spending $300,000. So there's still a pretty good interest and appetite for,
for what a drone can do. So Rachel, what do you want to know about drones?
Well, I know in the last episode you guys talked a little bit about expansion. So you guys have had a few different stores open up. What do you know about those?
Expansion, right? Well, yes, we do have six physical locations, five in Iowa and then one in Brandon, South Dakota. And we could expand that footprint even more if we wanted to. But To that point, I mean, the calls come in on a regular basis. Hey, how can I join your team? How can I become a dealer for TerraPlex? And that is one of those questions that does pop up a lot in the industry, right?
You know, there's a lot of companies that will sit there and say, hey, we're looking for dealers in our area or, you know, become a sub-dealer, sub-distributor for us. And we're not any different in that capacity right now. But our approach is maybe a little bit different in that sense. You know, certainly we will entertain that conversation. We want to have that conversation with people
folks who are interested in, but typically they've been a customer or they want to become a customer, right? And we really, really, really want them to kind of really be in the drone business the way we are in the drone business, right?
Our motto, our model approach is not just simply we're going to sell you a drone and we're going to ship the box to you, which I think, Ryan, that's probably how your first drone came to you, right? You bought a drone at a trade show and then the drone gets delivered and so now what? And how many YouTube links can you find to learn how to set this up? It's not that easy.
And that's one of the things that really attracted me to this company and pulled me in was seeing the care that Ryan and Danny and the rest of our team really put into educating our consumers, educating our customers as to how to operate that drone.
Danny and I just took a trip down to Arkansas a few weeks ago, and he was on his phone the entire time, answering calls and taking calls and making calls and even just wellness checks of customers of, hey, how you doing? How's it going? And that's part of what we're doing. So is that expansion happening? Yes. Will it always be a TerraPlex store officially that we own and operate? Maybe not.
But our affiliate program that is off and running right now is something that we are entertaining conversations with people online. all throughout the country, Arkansas, Texas, Minnesota, Nebraska, and growing even the Pacific Northwest as those conversations come in.
Perfect.
That is good to hear that you mentioned an affiliate program because scaling a business is always one of the most difficult things to do, and finding good partners is a way that you can do it a lot quicker. Yeah, very much so. Yeah, no question. So you're open to more affiliates. So if somebody's interested in being a part of that, they can reach out to you guys.
Yeah, yeah. Now we're trying to get Ryan to be off his phone more, but I'd say call right now. It starts with that conversation, right? And usually those conversations find their way to the right person in the company, whether it's Ryan or Danny or myself when that conversation does happen. But yeah, absolutely. Looking to expand our footprint.
Yeah, I know one of the first things that we talked about in our interview is your experience. If you've got your first drone and it's completely different than the experience that you're providing those of our listeners that just get their first drone, you're fully training them.
You're fully making sure that this is going to be maximized its use and all of the things that we can put together on a farm. That's a lot to do in a growing company, so a great model there as well.
Sue, have you been able to put any data together on not only the effectiveness of getting into a field when it's too wet to get in with a rig, but the profitability or the cost savings measures of using a drone versus an alternative method?
We haven't put together necessarily straight up figures. Every field's going to vary enough. As we look at doing our in the fields, the efficiency of the field and how you're set up. So we're in wide, flat, open area up here where you can run a half mile through very easily. You get into down south, we get into some cut up acres that roll up and down the hills.
Northwest you've got some really steep banks up as you get towards Ryan and Danny's backyard where all this started at and the ability to go through those fields on the drone screen when you're mapping a field out there's a big efficiency and I can knock out the waterways, I can take out the terraces so the drone knows to stop and start within different areas of the field and make sure you've got a buffer zone for the outside edge of the field depending on what you're spraying or get away from tree lines so you don't hang the drone up if you're running your own or one of our guys is running.
So the efficiency to me is I think there's some savings on chemistry. We can take out those waterways and some of those terrace lines that are not traditionally taken out when you're doing, whether it's a flyover or whether it's a ground rig, everybody can run across those with the booms if they're able to drive it or up in the air.
So I think the efficiencies and the savings is the chemistries and how the operator effectively maps out that field to run in it.
So one of the things that I loved was the personal perspective that you have and the story that you have throughout your entire process of owning drones and now a drone company. How did you use them on your operation this year?
So when we started, I had just seeded 130 acres of hay and I still have it. So we do that four times a year. And then, you know, it's evolved into not only myself, but I've got brothers and brother-in-laws that are now starting to integrate that into their operation. So it's fun to sit and watch and see how... Certain people will sit back and say, oh, it's a drone.
I don't know if it's really going to be feasible to fully embracing it and using it on a large majority of their acres, if not all of them. So it's been neat and fun.
So the benefit of you spraying your hay four times a year with the drone is there's no tire tracks, there's no wheel marks?
No tire tracks, no wheel marks. I can do it. Mine happen to be in a bee area, so I can't spray them until after six o'clock at night or before eight in the morning. So You know, the ability to get a guy with a ground rig or an airplane or a helicopter, you know, is virtually impossible when you want to do it. So that's where it's really been good for me. Yeah.
You said a key point, too. I think, you know, when you want to do it, right? You know, and one of our approaches is with our company is take flight, take control. Right. I mean, you know, tell me you've met a farmer that doesn't want control of their farming operation. You can't. Right. And that's one of the things that we've seen.
And with the wet spring that we have this year, control is out the window if you had a ground rig. Right. And love them. Right. And a crucial part of the farming culture. But our calls went from. When can you get in here? Not how much. How much does it cost? It's like, we need you now. And so our crews were running a ton this year, aspect of that. And I think we solved that.
Now, it's not going to be as wet as it was this year, every year. But that control aspect is so big with our customers, knowing what's in the tank, what's going on in their fields, when they can get in there, and being able to do it when and what they want and how often they want.
I do think control will continue to be key because I just saw a headline. I think the EPA is considering potential rewriting the rules for endangered species and spray. Is that right, Sue?
Yes.
Yeah, so there's more to come on that. Obviously, they're announcing that it's in consideration, but even more of a reason, like he said, if he's around bees to be able to have full control over that product. Yeah, so it fascinates me. We've got the inside track. We've got to have conversations with you. Of course, we've been following along with the business.
Our listeners are the same way, getting some of the latest exposure. As you see this moving forward, I know you've got a goal in mind, Ryan. Do you think there'll be a drone on every farm?
You know, that's a good question, and it gets asked often, but do I think there will be one on every farm? I think every farm is going to have an opportunity or have access to one in one way, shape, or form.
I think it can help out a lot of different operations, and I think it's a tool that they, whether they don't use it fully, it's just a tool, and it's at a point or a price point to where it makes sense to have it just in case you need it. Yeah.
I don't think you're wrong. I think that's the right route that it's going to go. But maybe it ends up being further down the road because the capacities have already continued to increase. What's new on the technology side in the drone world?
Well, that's another often asked question. And talking to the guys, you know, I've got a chance to talk to a lot of the distributors here this week already. And, you know, that's something that's not really...
kind of hush hush and no one really wants to you know they're chinese drones and are they going to be banned and are they not going to be banned and and uh so and there's there's different models out in asia and they got to run them for a year over there before they'll release them here so no one really knows for sure but there are bigger ones being made there are bigger ones coming out this fall it's just going to be nice for us to get our hands on them and and put them through the rigors of running
like we run drones here in Western Iowa. So will technology improve? Yes. They've closed a wide gap in like three or four years. So it'll be interesting to see how big they get, how fast, and what comes.
And to even piggyback on the technology comment with what Ryan said, will there be a drone on every farm? Maybe not a spray drone, right? Now, we obviously like that from that perspective, but the imaging drones are next level for what it's doing. And that's even been exciting talking to some farmers here at the show, right, who run a bigger operation. They've got a ground rig or two.
But there's a need for the imaging drones. And we've heard it to how many cattle farmers. And the minute you talk about a thermal drone, they're like, oh, yeah, that would help me next time they get out, you know, when one gets loose. And Ryan's got that own personal example there. But even from the imaging perspective, there are drones that you can program to go up
two or three times a day, or every day, same time every week, and go take a look at your crop, go look at your field, send that analysis right back to you.
And Sue's been involved with some of the crop analysis programs that we've seen this year, and we continue to look for new partners in that space as well, too, to really provide even another level and another layer of service to our customers out there as well, to show them stand counts, show them some of the NDVI imagery, show them the health of their crop when they can't necessarily look at it from eye level or ground level.
Yeah, I even used the one that you guys repaired for me this year because we had side-dressed urea. And the elevator had a small window of time between rains that made it a useful process, but they had to sub some of that out and drove over a lot of corn. So we went up just to show proof saying, hey... We got a claim. It's as simple as that to make an instant ROI on your operation.
And that's the bare minimum. That's just using the camera and taking a picture.
Oh, it is. And you look back at the imagery, you can try patterns across a lot of fields. We had a guy call and he's looking at the manure application. It was custom done, nothing wrong with custom done, but you can break on your own equipment too. Not every sensor feeds back to a cab to know that you've got a blocked line or you've got something going on. So what do I do? There's an application.
If you're widening a spot, you could do something with a drone to maybe pick up and feed some of those spots, but you don't want to mass produce nitrogen across the acres. That's a lot of volume. but there's ways to treat areas as you go across or know the area that it affected from a perspective of the acres too.
Yeah, that's right. Rachel, you got any questions for them as they continue to impress you?
Yeah, I feel like we've heard Rodeo's story before of how he came about TerraPlex and we've now heard yours, John. Sue, how did you get involved with the company?
So my background is completely agronomy. We farm in southern Iowa, mix the cattle country and row crop and alfalfa for our own operation, but I played in the seed industry for several years and worked in and out of that. I got a chance to work with an equipment company. I love the new equipment, wondering what can you do with it, what can be next.
I like the technology perspective, and so for me it was an intrigue of, hey, we're looking at growing and we've got this company going, would you be interested? And I thought, you know what, this is It's a new thing. I like to learn it. It's intriguing to me to see what else you can do with things.
Yeah. That's a good point. I appreciate the open-mindedness because that's what it takes to push companies like this forward is taking different levels of expertise, putting them all together, and pushing forward on a general mission and a concept. So what else did we miss today before we wrap up and make sure that they all reach out and get a hold of you guys?
My goodness. Well, everything starts at teraplexag.com, right? I may just jump in there and run through there. And look, we know people that are into drones, they're doing their research first, which is great. And I think we've seen that with a lot of our customers. They don't need that full education for when they come in. They want to ask about... you know, what brands do we carry?
We carry both DJI and XHE, which is really great for us because we can give you an unbiased opinion, right? Both of those drones, both of those drone manufacturers are excellent in their own right, but different farms have different needs based on those models. So we're going to help people with that. The service element is a big thing, right?
Not just the service after the sale, but when that drone inevitably crashes, it's going to crash. You're going to hit something, right? We know that that's going to happen, but we've got multiple service centers in multiple locations where the guys are going to
work late i mean how many times do we get an email or a text message from from the guys running at you know 1am 2am in the morning not trying to always do that but gosh that extends from the halton heart and culture of who danny and ryan are as our founding partners with this company we want to rent your drones we want to get them out working again so you're not missing opportunities to get on what you need to get on in your field so we're going to do it
That's great. I appreciate you guys being a partner of us and taking the time here at the show. Hopefully you can get back to another full booth. Maybe the heat's going to weed people out a little bit.
We've got free ice cream at our booth. That's the best part. Now, for those hearing this later, they're going to miss out on this. But for those watching this live right now, booth 1340, free cup of ice cream. Get your ice cream. We won't even make you buy a drone to get a free scoop of ice cream, but we will have a conversation with you at minimum.
I love it. Thanks again, everybody. Make sure you go check out terraplexag.com, and we will hopefully have more conversations later this fall. Keep our listeners up to date.
Thanks a lot. Thank you. Hey, well, good morning. I'm in west central Missouri this morning, and I'm visiting with my friend Brent Pearson of Pearson Farms. So, Brent, when I think about this year, only one word comes to mind, and it's extremes.
Yeah, absolutely. The extreme wet to we all kind of joked around like one day it's just going to turn off, and boy. It did. You know, we went from couldn't get in the field to go, go, go, and then it just shut off, you know. And it's been dry ever since. I think since June 20th, we've had maybe an inch of rain here on the farm.
So, yeah, everything's burnt up right now and, you know, waited on beans to get ready to go. And, you know, they just keep getting drier and drier every day. And, you know, the more we don't get out, the more we're on the ground at the end of the day.
It is. That is definitely a year of extremes. I remember being out here. We shot a video earlier this year, and it was raining, and it was wet when we were out here. And then, like you said, it just turned off dry. And you guys have a river on the backside, and somewhere in the middle, you guys had a flood as well.
Yeah, yeah, exactly. You know, just went from finally got some crops in to ended up getting three or four inches of rain in a 24-hour period, and Palm Lake Taylor River got up the banks, and everything flooded. So it's just... Like John said, one extreme to the next.
One extreme to the next. And you guys are in the field cutting right now.
In general, though, considering the year you've had, what do you think about your field? Oh, I'm well pleased with what we've had, you know, like John said. Southern Missouri here, you know, our typical year on a good year, we're 65 bushel beans. You know, this year I'm set right at 40. So yeah, I'm well pleased. Awesome.
And Brent, just one thing I kind of want to talk about with products that you've used at Change. A lot of times when we think about Change, we think it has to be complicated and it has to kind of almost be over our heads. You guys made a change this year utilizing GrowPak AI and pretty simple. What was your response to that? What was your interaction with it?
Yeah, no, just like John said, it's pretty simple. Nothing more complicated than what we've been doing. You know, I had the talc powder in it and just kind of used it the same way I would with my talc in my planter. Just super simple. I think it made a huge difference this year talking to some neighbors. You know, I think our yields are a little bit better for the area that we're in this year.
Good deal, right? Get our micros, get our biologicals, and just be able to get it in the ground without a lot of extra work. Yeah, absolutely. Well, Brent, I'll let you guys get back in the field. I appreciate it, bud. Appreciate y'all.
We're going to interview with our next guest from Brandt right out of Canada. It sounds like a couple of our guests are coming. If you'd like to hear the story and learn more about the company, come on to the Farm for Profit podcast.
How does Tanner usually start? And welcome back, ladies and gentlemen.
I pitch it a little bit. Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen.
Dave and I are off the rails again on our own. I can't believe anyone lets us do that and trusts us to do that. And we are here at Farm Progress Show for another beautiful, hot day. Not much air moving. But I tell you what, if you were here the day before on setup, it was 12 degrees warmer. And, yeah, I about fainted that day. Yeah, it was brutal. It was a good one.
So, as always, we want you guys to go like, rate, review. Please leave us some reviews. Five stars only. Then you can type whatever you want. Anything you want. Yep. And then you can also call or text us. Leave us a voicemail, 515-207-9640. And Tanner gets that. So please blow him up, especially like in the middle of the night.
And you got that little option to, you know, it says notification silenced. But you can notify anyway. Yeah, hit that. Definitely. So it definitely notifies them.
So what do you think, Dave? I think if you are not familiar with Farm for Profit podcast, we do two kind of episodes. We do one kind of episode that is all about profitability. How can you make more money on your farm? What to watch for, et cetera, et cetera.
And then later in the week, we come out with Farm for Fun, where we might just interview a random guest, learn something about them, drink some beer, and that's the way it works.
Yeah. So today, we have two guests from Brandt, Kyle and Kurt. Welcome, guys, to the show. Let's start with Kyle. Give us a little background about who you are, what you do for Brandt, and how you got there.
Yeah. Hey, thanks for having us, guys. I'm Kyle Bennett. I'm the U.S. sales manager for Brandt over the ag product line on the manufacturing side of the business. I've been with Brandt for about seven and a half years now.
Seven and a half years? Yeah. Okay. And you live where now?
Just outside of Kansas City, Lawson, Missouri.
Okay. So you're not Canadian?
Not Canadian, no. Okay. No A's in this sentence.
What did you do before Brandt?
for an irrigation company out of Nebraska, uh, manufacturers rep for them for a couple of years. And before that was, uh, some John Deere dealerships and school.
So you've been around, you know, no thing to do. Yeah. All right.
I think I do anyway.
Kurt, what about you? Yeah. Uh, thanks for having me as well. Um, Kurt Boris, I'm the director of product marketing. So I cover all of our manufacturer products, which includes our ag products, but, uh, extends into our construction and purpose built product lines as well that brand covers. Um, Been with the company about eight years now. Work primarily on the egg side for a couple years now.
I've been overseeing the whole portfolio, run a team of guys that are working with our sales teams, working with our internal marketing teams, making sure we're talking about our products the way that we want to and the way that our customers understand them and selling the value on that side of it. Been around the farm all my life.
Grew up on a small grains farm in Western Canada, so I'm based out of Regina, Saskatchewan, where our head office is. Worked for a number of different egg companies coming up out of school.
dabbled with tech for a little bit, got used to doing some digital products and stuff like that, but it's always been tied into marketing and product development, and that's kind of where I'm sitting these days in Brant, too.
And if somebody ever wants to visit Regina, if you ever want to go there, Corey, Western Canadian Agribition is right there in town, been up there, auction contest, of course. It was a great time. It's almost like this event we're at today, but more livestock-based and even bigger when you talk agriculture in Canada.
Yeah, and we've been invited by a lot of our listeners. We have a lot of listeners in Canada that want us to come north of the border, but haven't been invited by anybody to get us up to a show yet. We've been invited to Sheer Sheep. Oh, yeah. And just a lot of people just want us to come drink beer for some reason. Of course, plenty. Yeah, but never to a show.
So maybe that's a show that we should go to.
We need somebody with a plane. That's what we need. I'll get a pilot's license. We get a plane. We'll fly anywhere anybody wants.
There you go. So I am genuinely interested. You mentioned the brand portfolio. And when I think of brand, I think of grain carts and augers and belts and rollers and things like that, tillage tools. But you said portfolio. And when I went to the website once, I'm like, oh, this is way bigger than I ever thought it was. Just give us a 30,000-foot view of what that is.
Yeah, absolutely. So we've been around for 80-plus years as a manufacturing company. We got our start in agriculture, making grain augers and handling products there. But ever since the mid-90s, we got into the dealership side of the business as well as manufacturing. We're the world's largest John Deere construction and forestry dealership.
So all of Canada, 56 stores, covers our construction forestry side of the business. And then we extend into Australia and New Zealand as well with dealerships that we run there on that side. We recently, and a few years ago, got into the agricultural dealership side of things, selling John Deere out of the ag stores as well.
We're also in the Peterbilt truck industry as well with dealerships throughout Canada and New Zealand on that side of it too. So very diverse, just even on the dealership side of it. And then you flip over to my world within manufacturing, lots of ag products that we're here and well known for throughout the US and Canada.
But we also deal with construction attachments for the John Deere machines that we sell through the dealerships and manufacture there. As well as purpose built machines. We do everything from a hydro excavator truck on a Peterbilt chassis to a scrap material handler for scrapyard recycling operations.
So large John Deere based machines that we work very closely with a value partner like John Deere. and use donor source machines to convert into purpose-built construction, scrap handling, pipe layers in the oil and gas industry. We're kind of all over the board with that, but do a lot of business with very unique customers throughout our dealership side of the business.
We're always looking for an opportunity to say, where is something that that original manufacturer doesn't provide a solution for our valued customer and how can we get in and close that loop a little bit with something that's very specific and neat for us.
So I didn't know you for 90 years. Okay. That's awesome. And I didn't know you had anything to do when I didn't live for 90 years. Yeah, exactly. And I didn't know you had anything to do with construction side of the world. The question I was going to ask is what is the piece of your guys' brand that flies off the shelf that everybody would know?
I guess in which industry are we talking?
Yeah, let's go agriculture first.
Yeah, so on the ag side, definitely in the U.S., you know, it's our swing augers and our field belt conveyors is the most well-known products throughout the U.S. And, you know, as you can see, we're expanding that out as well. But those are kind of what started in the U.S. for sure.
I got you. And what about the construction side? So is it attachments?
Yeah, I'd say it's primarily attachments with our close relationship selling deer products back in Canada and overseas. So... Again, really unique position. We make a very purpose-built suite of attachment products that suit the Western Canadian market and, well, I should say the entire Canadian market and some of the unique climates and geographies that we operate in up there.
So that really sets us apart for our customer base in Canada.
So are you making attachments for tractors or, like, skid loaders or, like, stump grinders and that kind of stuff? Or go deeper. Yeah, for sure.
I'm digging deeper here. We've got a full range of buckets for a full line of John Deere equipment. So you're talking about dig buckets and clean-out buckets and everything, thumbs and grapples, everything in between for – wheel loaders, excavators, compact construction equipment.
So even a little bigger machines. Okay, great.
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, if it goes on the front of a piece of yellow iron, we tend to make it.
Got it.
Yep.
All right, let me do Tanner and let's reel back into agriculture now because I think that's the lane that we're trying to stay in. We are at the Farm Progress Show.
I'm going to disagree, though, man. There is a lot of construction that goes over into A. Absolutely.
There is a great crossover. But last time we talked to you, I think it was a while ago, and crop prices were a lot higher than they are now. And if you ordered something, you'd have to wait months, maybe years for stuff. How's the current demand looking in this environment?
Yeah, so the demand for the grain handling stuff is still there. As harvest is coming along, everybody's still got crop to move, and they don't last forever. So the demand is strong for the grain handling stuff. Probably your bigger, more luxury items, your grain carts, your tillage and stuff, maybe that's down a little more than what the good times were last time we talked.
You know, guys tend to stretch those out a little more. But when the auger breaks down, you know, it's either go find one that's sitting on the lot or try to fix your old one. And usually the quicker solution is you go pick up one that your dealer has.
And then so with demand, we need to talk supply. Has supply been well?
Yeah, the supply is great right now. You know, everybody seemed to catch up all at the same time over COVID. And we're sitting in a really good spot with inventory and supply. Yeah.
Prices down, up, flat? Where are we looking at from a couple years ago?
Yep, so we're getting really aggressive on our rebates. The prices are pretty flat, but we are offering some really attractive rebates across the whole product line.
Okay. As I will say, I just bought a Brandt 1545 top drive. Top drive, yep. Haven't picked it up yet. But the reason that I pulled the trigger on it was because it was older pricing. It was on the lot already and came with a motor and all that. Even though it's a single phase, I want to go three phase on the farm.
But I could actually get that, use that motor on some other stuff and put my own on there. And it's already wired. And, yeah, it'll be great. So it was like a couple grand cheaper than what he quoted me for a new one. Yeah, absolutely. Savvy buyer.
so that's that's tilly belt style right a what belt i call it tilly belt or just a belt driven rather than an auger driven that's a yeah yep and i'm planning to use that we've had seed beans for years we always have to pay 15 cents a bushel to hire a grain vac to come in because our grain vac would not meet the needs of the trackers that are hauling it out it's just going to be more gentle on your seed beans correct and not bust them up yeah
you know if you're just taking beans to get crushed it doesn't really matter if you split a couple of them or you know a little rough but seed beans they need a whole bean to plant the next year yeah so every auger every piece of metal that touches that bean coming out of the field you know they don't like to see it go through they'd rather see a draper head than an auger head they'd they'd rather see no no freaking augers on the combine but you can't yeah um but what what they like is like the corner augers they don't like dual augers um and the bigger ones because anytime you can have beans on beans flowing through and not on metal
It helps. Once it goes in the bin, it's a belt or a vac that they want.
Is that something you see in U.S. sales as one of the bigger products, or is it grain handling all around?
Yeah, grain handling all around, you know, in Corey's instance, any of the seed growers and stuff, they really benefit from that belt just because, you know, like you said, they're having to pay somebody to come in. Or, you know, there's been seed companies in the past that if you're using a belt, they offer a premium on that.
And, you know, some of the programs back then, you know, a few years would pay for the belt, you know. It's all about making money.
I like decisions that you can put data behind it really easy and just write it out on, you know, it's a math problem. It's like, yeah, yeah. Makes sense. Two years. Bankers like that. Dad likes that. It's a no-brainer.
Absolutely.
There's your biggest fan, Dave. Yeah. Oh, man. I want to talk a little bit about the grain cart that I had last fall. It was pretty dang cool. You got my picture. I didn't know you guys were going to do that. That was about 20 pounds ago. You got me looking a little thick up there. But that thing was awesome.
uh i didn't think i was gonna need that joystick on there i'm like i don't need that and all of a sudden all my grain cart operators if that wasn't working or something or had to go back to the old cart they're like nah i ain't running it yeah nice it's got that long stick on it comes up out of the corner and instead of but dave you would never know this you haven't been ran a grain cart you used to have to crank your head past 45 degrees back behind you and at the end of the day your neck would be
stiff yeah and this these long sticks come down and you just have to just just look that way about right at the door pretty much i remember your tiktok video you were making with the joystick and just talking about it because you guys upgraded your combine so you have more more capacity more volume then you needed some more capacity to get it back to the farm yep and then now you still have a pinch point in the middle but you kind of were solving all of those pinch points in the middle and this was one of those solutions right yeah yep and what i learned also is you guys actually make these in the u.s absolutely where at
We have our facility based in Hudson, Illinois, just outside of Bloomington there. It's a dedicated cart facility, so all of our grain carts are coming out of that factory.
Even the ones in Canada?
Yeah, they're coming back to Canada that way too.
Why did a Canadian company decide to come manufacture in the U.S. when there's U.S. companies that are going elsewhere?
Yeah, I think it was a bit of a strategic move on our part. We have been in the U.S. selling products for a long time now, but having a presence here locally... right in the heart of the Midwest, made a lot of sense for us. Distribution is a big advantage for it then too. Yes, all those carts are coming back to Canada where we have really strong brand presence.
But if you're looking to grow and push and really develop the market, having that local presence on the ground for parts distribution, access to product is a huge advantage on our side.
People like to work with people they trust all day long and brands. And so what better way to establish that than relationships?
Do you guys give tours there?
We do, yeah.
We'll have to get you guys over there.
Yeah, for sure.
I try to stay out of Illinois as much as I can, and Nebraska, but I guess I could come over for that.
You'd sneak over there for that. I was going to say, you try to stay or they try to keep you out.
They try to keep me out. They have a river in between us. That's right. They know I can't swim.
As you guys are building this stuff, I know Corey and I, I geek out on equipment even if I don't know what it does. And so we kind of love to go around shows like this. And he's like, what do you think that does? And I say, well, I don't know, but I would have built it this way or done this. And I wouldn't have used pop rivets there. I might have bolted that or et cetera, et cetera.
I don't think the flow would be as easy. How about supply chain? So it was away. Now it's back. I know Corey kind of alluded to it on the front. But are you having trouble?
I think we're pretty steady at that point now. We've grown substantially over the last even five years with our dealership expansion. It allowed us to get a lot more sophisticated and progressive with how we're sourcing and supplying components, developing really strong relationships with our suppliers.
Since some of that downturn that we saw throughout the pandemic and whatnot, we have really pushed and solidified our supply chain on that.
Gotcha. And then the second part of that is, just like I'm talking, we walk around and whatnot, and farmers, there's a lot of farmers, are very innovative. They know this is not going to work because of this. Do you guys have some kind of internal checks and balances? Like, well, hey, Dave gave us a suggestion on this. It actually was a good idea, but how do we implement it?
Is there a tie with the community of agriculture and construction on that?
Absolutely. We value that. The customer's voice matters. throughout our development process above all else within it. There's no stronger advocate than our own users and customers and I think every company here at the show would say that but we take it very much to heart and there's no better
example the fact that cory's talking about his forward reach auger on his xt grain car yeah somebody that's missing here you're not supposed to call it big stick yeah somebody had a sore neck at one time tanner was on our customer advisory group for the development of that project i reached out to him through social media and developed a little bit of a conversation there and we got him involved and picked his brain quite a bit with a number of other customers throughout the uh
couple of years that we were developing that product there. And, uh, really we, we try to go and seek, uh, users of our product, you know, some guys that have some loyalty and awareness of our product, but we go out and we try and find just as many guys that are using competitive product to understand, uh, kind of what they do really well, where some of the opportunities may lay for us.
And we bring them in multiple times throughout our development of that, uh, product, reviewing concepts, going through actual designs, validating things that maybe we're assuming versus just knowing through data and whatnot. But, uh,
and then getting their feedback all along and having them work directly with our engineering team, working directly with our sales team, with the boots on the ground guys, just to make sure that we're not missing some of those obvious points.
In fact, not 30 minutes ago, we were on the phone as a group with the engineering team about some things that we noticed on a product that we're making tweaks to right now, going, hey, if we just do it like this, we've heard a couple things here at the show. We've talked to a few of the sales guys that have been selling more of these products than anybody else right now.
Here's what they got to say. Let's make the changes on the fly as we go right now kind of thing.
Gotcha. And then just a random question. Yeah. Regulatory. Corey was just asking about being U.S. built. Every time I go to Canada, of course, we go through security, et cetera. And do we have this or did we bring this? And there's duty-free stuff there. Is it easier to bring equipment from U.S. to Canada or from Canada to U.S. ?
I don't know. Kyle's looking at me on that side.
What's the regulatory body on that? I'm just curious.
I think for the most part with domestically manufactured product, there's not really any hiccups that I've been ever aware of on that side of it. I mean, there's a set of standards and rules that you follow, but they're not difficult to follow.
I didn't know if there was tariffs and bring stuff in or whatnot. I know you guys want the relationship and U.S. made, which is awesome. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah, that's a big part of it.
So 10 years ago, I maybe would have seen a blue auger around here and there. Knew what it was, didn't know anything else. So now, I mean, it's hard to drive by five farms and not see something that's brand. How has that growth been?
Fast and exciting.
Yeah. Yeah. What changed it?
So, you know, 10 years ago, we would have had, you know, independent reps kind of running around and independent reps rep 10 different brands of different things. And so, you know, probably eight years ago, kind of right when Kurt started, we changed our focus and started hiring, you know, dedicated brand employees to go into these territories and really build up the dealer network. And
Brandt, you know, being as aggressive and growth oriented as they are, they've came out with some really great dealer programs. We partnered with a lot of different dealers throughout the country and really was able to get in there and provide them equipment and, you know, support them in the sales of this. And it's just, you know, Really expand it, especially from the last 10 years.
As we've got the opportunity to interview people from across the country, there's different brands in different places, and a lot of it is that I can service it. It is that I have parts for it. We were talking with some dealers last night about that. How much inventory do I need to keep, and what parts do I need to keep, and et cetera.
Sometimes we as decision makers, that's a big portion of the decision decision. So as you guys have moved into that, that I'm sure has helped grow the business to have those dealer networks with parts.
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it supports everything, right? If it breaks, it's win. And partnering with good dealer groups that are really, you know, stand behind our product and support us, it really makes that customer satisfaction that much better.
Yep. One thing me as a farmer, and I don't mean to call you guys a short line dealer, but maybe not one of the major, you know, you don't have an X9 sitting on your lot, right? Right. I get worried about resale. How's resale been? Has it been holding up compared to everything else?
Yeah, the resale on the brand equipment has been really good. So, you know, the augers and conveyors and stuff have been around for long enough now that the brand name is well known. You know, especially like conveyors and stuff, they hold up so well that the resale value is really good.
See, I knew that. I'm just a good podcast host because I actually just sold a brand auger for a neighbor. And I didn't even have it on there for a day. And I had three people that were willing to give full price.
Yeah, there you go.
I said, hey, that's too low, and I raised the price 1,000 bucks.
Was that your grain deck you were selling?
So the blue one, the drive-over? Yeah, the drive-over. Yeah, that's not mine. That was the neighbor's. Yep. And so he actually messaged me today and said, ah, the first guy was a scam. Went to the next guy. Yep, I'll get him a check tonight.
yeah that's awesome yeah the grain deck is is a prime example of units that hold their value i mean we got you know we had a guy in the booth this week he's like i can go buy a used one for 17.5 and i'm like we can buy this new one for three grand more like you know yeah um it's just it's crazy how how well they that's got to make it easy for sales absolutely yeah right so that's that's why you stick with good quality brands because you know you can sell them and you know you can buy the next one it's going to be just as good
So you guys have an outlook for the next five to 10 years for, let's start with Brandt. What's the outlook?
I think it's generally positive, right? We continue to grow and expand very aggressively. We have a private ownership group that has eyes on big goals, right? Uh, worldwide that includes our manufacturing division that includes our dealership division, uh, looking to grow and continue to build the relationships within all the dedicated industries that we operate in.
And, uh, I think it's that motivation from the family owned business aspect that really pushes everybody within the company to kind of achieve those same goals. And, uh, I think it's positive. We we've stuck through and survived quite a few ups and downs in the industry. whether that's on the construction side or definitely here on the ag side for sure.
And we haven't gone away and we haven't shrunk back from the challenge by any means. So we keep pushing forward and generally a really good outlook.
So coming from Canada, you know, I will say we Americans in the United States get a little tunnel vision that it's our crop, it's our everything and our equipment. But having just gone on vacation out of country, there's a world perspective here. And, you know, so I'm thinking Regina, I'm thinking canola, nothing to do with we're in the heartland here, corn and beans all day long.
But when I think of canola, you know, we might be having our prices a little lower right now or our markets a little lower.
do you have a feel for the whole world and what the economy is of scale there i know it's a loaded question that's a lot to put on my shoulders is just a product guy on that side we're gonna get a crystal ball and we're just gonna make it blurry that's all we're gonna do i'd say definitely canada and even worldwide we're experiencing a lot of the same challenges that we're seeing down here for sure with commodity prices you know we had some really good years recently uh with with crop prices uh back home and around the world and
You know, things aren't always going to stay where they are in the good times on that side of it. But there's still a lot of general optimism. Our crops are looking great back home. We've heard good things from overseas in Australia as well, too. So, I mean, that's going to put the optimism in the farmer's hands a little bit, right? And we work with that.
Yep. So this show probably won't air for a while since we've... Done so many shows here.
Batch recorded.
Yeah. So it's going to be down a ways. Is there anything that's coming in the next few months that you could, like, hint that's something new, a new feature? Give us a little nugget.
Yeah, for sure. I'll try and say something that doesn't get me in trouble with my higher-ups. That's for sure.
Earmuffs. Yeah, no.
Greg would probably be happy over there looking at me. He's excited for me as a few things that are on their highs. And I think the big thing for Brent right now is – Doubling down on our commitment to the quality of standard product that we put out there right now.
We definitely have always got something in the pipeline, whether it's new versions of what's kind of gotten our success levels to where they are right now or looking for the next great idea.
I mean, that's why we have people like myself and a number of other guys that are coming down to the booth right now that are out there walking through the show right now, talking to customers, talking to other manufacturers and dealers alike, just seeing where things are moving. What are those growing needs?
You know, the, the big companies like deer do a great job of fulfilling their core customers needs, but there's always an opportunity that's kind of lies, lies a little bit deeper for companies like brand to take advantage of on that side of it. And, and we work really hard to, uh, to make sure that we're committed to filling those needs. Awesome.
I'm going to try something new here. We haven't done this, but I'm going to try it. What I want you guys to do is elevator pitch. Okay. So a short answer and then a short reason why. So we're rolling into harvest. So I'll go, Kurt, you answer first. What is one product you think that our listeners need and why?
Going into harvest? Yep. Going into harvest. One of our brand grain belts for sure. The hardest grain belt, if you're growing any sensitive crops or anything like Corey was mentioning that you're going to experience any type of dockage or anything like that that affects your world, I'd say get into our grain belts.
Kyle, what do you got for harvest? I would say to partner with that, just making sure that you have a good swing auger and really get the highest capacity one that you can get the most throughput with.
A lot of times the main hang-up point is at the auger and if it takes a while for the trucks to get back, you're slowing down the grain cart, you're slowing down the combine, so utilizing one of our augers is
Let's move forward. Let's go to just after harvest. What do you got?
I'd say our high-speed disc. Okay. It's a big, huge entry into— And I have a disc already, so why? There you go. I would say we—elevator pitch-wise, we have the most consistent and ground engagement with any high-speed disc on the market.
We put a lot of detail into that in achieving—you know, coming in late to the market to the high-speed disc space, we learned a lot from everybody that's out there. We got to cherry pick a lot of really good things and develop some innovations on our side as well.
That's good. How about you?
Anything different?
Yep.
Since he said disc, I'll say a field belt like the 1545 that Corey just bought, being able to get that grain out of the bin and into your elevator.
What about looking into spring?
I mean... I got a lot of good Canadian products I can throw out there that don't really have the established presence down here. Getting into spring, open up the fields. You can't beat a good heavy harrow when you're dealing with cereal crops. But I'll speak a little bit more down here, too. I mean, you can keep on that.
I would say land rollers are a really good one coming into spring post-planting, getting out there, making sure that you're dealing with any ruts or uneven fields, and we offer a really good, again, ground-engaging tool that gives you a good, consistent field finish.
Yep. I will. And you do that. I will echo the roller. You run over your beans all the time. I've used a few different kinds of rollers, and this thing is built. I'm going to tell you that right now. It screams confidence that nothing is going to break.
Okay, so if that's the case, I can't pull it with my little engine that could. How much John Deere tractor do I need to pull...
their roller you know it's not that it's not pulling it's stopping yeah yeah okay how much weight do i need in front of it yeah probably a 7 series or better huh oh you know my chevy 2500 actually pulled it down the road will it okay i'm a while away so yeah i mean that right around that 200 horse okay is you know usually enough um like you said main thing is just stopping it so
Okay, very good. So he gives roller in spring. Is there anything else you're thinking on the U.S. market for spring?
Yeah, I mean, you could even echo the high-speed disc just as one last through to get your seed bed prep done in the spring as well.
Okay, now let's change from season to money-wise. So we're Farm for Profit. If you had one piece of your equipment that would help me be more profitable, save money, save time, whatever we want to value money, what's your thoughts?
grain cart with all the time we put into developing our single auger grain cart dual auger grain cart it's it's kind of a linchpin at harvest now kyle touched on an auger you know it's it's your bottleneck for most operations but having a dependable grain cart in the field servicing one or multiple combines just keeps the entire operation moving on time and in sync i'm putting you a little on the spot here but do you have a how many how many years to pay that off
I don't have that number off the top of my head, to be honest with you. I guess it's different for every operation. Yeah, there's a lot of variables there, but we try to keep those things in mind when we're developing it so it can be calculated into a customer's ROI for sure.
How about your favorite or easiest sale? Which piece?
I'd say the easiest one for me is the fully loaded field belts, the self-contained units. We take them out to a guy that, you know, maybe wants one without it and say, here, try this, and it hardly ever leaves.
Yeah, hardly ever.
Yeah, they're great units.
They are cool.
Yeah, I get the benefit of not having to sell and having all the pressure on it. The one I like talking about most, I'd say field belts for sure. High-speed discs have a lot to offer, a lot of good unique value. Grand carts as well, all equit, all stay on that side of it. They just are an undervalued piece of the harvest operation for sure.
How about for the, and I don't know, so correct me if I'm off here, but not looking at your website yet, do you have any hay equipment? No. Is there anything that goes into that side of the world?
Nope, nothing for hay or livestock side.
Well, I mean, it's an indirect application. I've been looking for a good opportunity to squeeze this one into the conversation, and it kind of ties back into something with you, Dave, is even just in transportation and logistics in general, whether it's hay or anything else that you're moving on the product, we have a full line of... equipment hauling trailers now.
Everything from a small 8-ton tilt deck or 5-ton car equipment hauler type trailer all the way up into we do low boy heavy hauls as well. Oh, really? Okay, very good. Again, that's part of that diversified portfolio of products that we manufacture.
But getting a heavy-duty, well-built trailer that we design around construction contractors needs, but being able to find a place for that on the farm, whether it's moving the skid loader, whether it's throwing a few bales of hay on it, whatever it may be. Love it. It's just a great gap filling product kind of thing for us.
So what's been getting the most traffic at the show?
That big 2000 bushel grain cart right at the front as soon as you walk in has been lots of videos and pictures of that thing. And then one of our low boys are over there this year too. We got a 45 ton low boy with one of our single auger carts on the trailer. That's been a really good show piece as well.
As we move forward in evolution, farming, geez, years ago we were horse and plow, okay? Look where we are today. We've got billions of dollars worth of equipment sitting here. What's the future look like? And I'm going to go specifically automation-wise. Is there anything that Brant's doing automation-wise that will help us?
Yeah, for sure. We've taken technology to heart. I mean, I think You were hesitant to say short-line equipment earlier. I'd say a lot more people would say it's the dumb iron of the farm on that side of it. And I say that with love in my heart on that side of it. But technology is the next big play for us.
I mean, we've seen it from the innovations that we've made in our electric swing hoppers, on our swing augers and our harvest belts, to some of the automation systems that we're now baking into our grain carts with the joystick operation, but then the scale systems that we're doing it.
And we've worked very closely with some of our technology partners that supply the hardware and some of the software for that for us. But now we're seeing some of those same companies taking big steps forwards on their own with autonomous grain carts and things like that. So we're in a really good place with a strong internal development team.
but really valued partners that are already working in these spaces, and we're really confident that we're going to be in a good position.
And you made me think of that because you were talking about the capacity, and I think we're almost to capacity because of infrastructure of roads and how wide we can go and how big we can go and weight limits that I tend to think towards the future as we expand our operations and get other acres and hectares, other places, we might just need multiple sets of equipment. Right.
Now we're multiple sets, and maybe they're smaller, but they're all automated to, hey, let's harvest at the same time simultaneously on seven different farms. My prediction is we're going to go that way, smaller, more efficient, because they're all operating at the same time. So hence my question. But, yeah, thanks, guys.
Yeah, no, I think that makes a ton of sense. Yeah, for sure.
Great, great. Well, boys, what did we miss? Anything else? Give us your final thoughts on what you want to get out there.
Well, I mean, thank you for being on the show. It's a really good opportunity for us to come in and talk about the value that Brandt provides to all of our customers. But I've been really excited to be down here. As the Western Canadian guy coming down from head office, I love getting down here to Iowa.
And then, you know, when we alternate over into Decatur and stuff in Illinois, it's just always a good time. It reaffirms kind of. The assumptions that I have to make thinking about the U.S. market on that side of it and making sure we have the right product for what you guys need down here as well as back home on that side of it.
So if Canada is America's hat, what is America to Canada like in reverse? Is there a red-headed stepchild south of the line?
Here comes the stereotype. No, no. I'd say America is the foundation that we're here for on that side of it. You keep us propped up on that side of it.
I wonder if that's the same answer when he goes north. I don't know. They might change at 7 o'clock tonight.
Catch him tonight at the party.
Yeah, exactly. One more thing. I need to know where to find you guys. Every listener, where do they go? What's easy?
Yep, so www.brant.ca. So we have all of our info there. And it's N-D-T, B-R-A-N-D-T, correct?
That's right.
Yep.
Very crucial. Well, Kyle, Kurt, thanks for joining us, coming down on this hot day. It was great.
Yeah, sure. Appreciate it, guys. Thanks for having us.
Awesome. Listeners, have a good one.
Remember, if you aren't farming for profit, you won't be farming for long.