Episode 8 | Down in the Dirt with Brad Beene

Alecia Stuaan: Hello and welcome to the Parallel Path. The Parallel Path is a monthly podcast from the marketing team at Parallel Ag, bringing real conversations from across the agriculture industry. In each episode we will sit down with the equipment experts, service professionals, industry leaders, and farmers who talk about the challenges, innovations, and decisions shaping modern agriculture. From iron and uptime to technology and market trends, the parallel path focuses on the people and ideas that keep the farms moving forward. Today's episode is all about what happens down in the dirt. Tillage, application, and the equipment that has to hold up to those Southern Plains country. The wind, the dust, the dry land, the long passes, all of it. We're sitting down with Brad Bean, Territory Product Specialist with Amazoni to talk about what makes their equipment fit this part of the country, what he sees out on demos, and And where this whole side of the industry is headed. Brad runs a lot of field demos for us, so if anyone's got a good story about what actually happens between the marketing photos and the dirt, it's him. All right. Well, Brad Amber,
Brad: Yes, my
Alecia Stuaan: help me get Brad in the hot seat.
Amber Stanik: Rad give everyone a quick version who you are, where you grew up and how you ended up in AG.
Brad: man, well been been involved in the ag pretty well my whole life. pardon me. Grew up in central Texas, just east of Waco, ninety by ninety miles south of Dallas, and you know no farming around there. You had to get north of there and west of there to get back into farming and then went off to college and, you know, like any small town kid, thought I need to go to the big city to try to make money and so spent a couple of years up in Dallas and you know, learned a lot and and anyhow got out of that and went back back home and managed a ranch for about five years and Then it was time to make another move, and so my wife and I we loaded up and moved down to the Gulf Coast and I sold equipment down there for a little over seven years or close to that. And then from there I stepped off into the liquid fertilizer business for a little while as a territory guy and then from there I'm right here at Amazon. So, you know, I've always spent time, you know, around in agriculture. That's pretty well all only thing I've done my whole career.
Alecia Stuaan: I just realized I mispronounced Amazon in the intro.
Amber Stanik: I was about to ask which way
Brad: I started to c
Amber Stanik: I was about to ask which way is it pronounced? Is it Amazony or Amazon?
Brad: I started to call you out. Yeah. Yeah.
Alecia Stuaan: Because
Brad: no, let's talk about that. Let's talk about that. So so Amazon Amazon is is that's how I say it. That's how most of the guys here in the States say it is Amazon. there are some guys over along the Mississippi Delta that yeah, it's Amazon y, you know, which I don't know, I just I don't like that pronunciation. But if you
Amber Stanik: Yeah.
Brad: ask a German if you ask a German, they put a whole other spin on it and it's Amazona.
Amber Stanik: Mm.
Brad: And they like add a T into it or something. It's it's it's Yes,
Alecia Stuaan: It's that Z that turns a yeah.
Amber Stanik: Yeah.
Brad: yeah. Yeah. But they pronounce it Z as Z and so you know that's that's where that that T sound comes from. But yeah, it's Amazona, if you ask
Alecia Stuaan: Okay.
Brad: if you ask good German.
Alecia Stuaan: So the last time we recorded, I kept pronouncing it Amazon. This time I'm just gonna go with Amazoni. Like w
Brad: Hey
Alecia Stuaan: we'll we'll just switch it up.
Amber Stanik: Amazon and ha
Brad: Well look, I really have to concentrate when I talk to people 'cause 'cause it never fails. Somebody brings up, you work for Amazon? I was like, No, we don't deliver packages to your doorstep, you know.
Amber Stanik: Ha ha ha
Brad: I was like, It's Amazon with an E and so
Amber Stanik: Yeah.
Brad: and and then then the rest of the conversation I really have to concentrate on whether I'm saying Amazon or Amazon.
Amber Stanik: Yeah.
Brad: So just, you know, l it it'll be all right. Be all right, you know.
Alecia Stuaan: It will. It will. I'm not going back and rerecording. It's we're just gonna go with it. Like
Brad: Yeah, yeah, no,
Amber Stanik: We're just gonna
Brad: we're rolling with this right here. Trust me. Me calling you out
Amber Stanik: we're just gonna have it pronounced three different ways.
Brad: Yes, yes, yes. I may throw some different ones in there along the way. So let's roll.
Alecia Stuaan: All right.
Amber Stanik: We'll throw a random Amazon in there.
Alecia Stuaan: So how did you land
Brad: Yes.
Alecia Stuaan: at Amazon specifically? Was that intentional or did the universe just drop it on your lap?
Brad: Well, it wa it was it was not i i it was intentional but it it I ni did not expect it to happen the way it did. I was at my old job and and called a buddy of mine up one Thursday night driving home from God knows where. And I said, Hey, I said, you know, you're well connected guy. I said, If you hear something, just let me know. I said, I've got it on my mind maybe. And anyhow, That was Thursday night, Friday morning. He said, Hey, I gave your number to this guy. he'll probably call you today. And sure enough he did and and dang near hired me on the spot. It didn't go that quickly. It drug out for another thirty, forty five days. But, you know, it was one of them deals I was thinking about looking and then, you know, it just kinda worked out. You know, like you said, stars aligned and here we are. Here we are. So been d been with these guys for four and a half years now and Or well, a little over four and a half now and it's it's great company. Great company, great products.
Alecia Stuaan: What would we do without a Brad bean in our life?
Brad: Hey amen. Amen. Yep. Yep. Yep. That's what my
Amber Stanik: It would be very sad.
Brad: wife says. She said, What will we do without you? I said, That's why you kick me out every week to go to work.
Amber Stanik: Brad, what do you do on a
Brad: I I
Amber Stanik: daily basis?
Brad: I love that question. I love that question when people ask me what what do you do as a territory guy? What do you do? Well if you ask my wife and kids, their answer is I talk on the phone and I take people out to eat. You know. And that's
Alecia Stuaan: Except you didn't take me out to eat the last time you were in Illinois and you drove right by my house twice.
Brad: Hey, I d I don't know your
Amber Stanik: that's tragic.
Brad: ad I don't know your address. You know. There you go.
Alecia Stuaan: about to send you a pin the next time you're in Illinois.
Brad: Send me a pen. Send me a pen. Not a problem. Not a problem.
Alecia Stuaan: Okay, I tangented us. Go ahead.
Brad: yeah, no, you're good. You're good. So No, but but you know, every day's different. You know, I don't do no no two days are alike. You know, some are similar, but I'm not an office guy. I don't do well sitting in an office. I wanna be out in the field talking to folks, you know, show showcasing the equipment that we have, right? And so most of my days are spent I do spend a lot of my time on the telephone, no doubt about it. And you know, it typically the phone never rings until you got your hands full. I don't know if y'all ever experienced that.
Alecia Stuaan: Never. obviously you travel a lot. Are you home ever at all?
Brad: so so you know, my wife and kids have a home that they live in and I go and visit on the weekends.
Amber Stanik: You just visit.
Alecia Stuaan: They get weekend custody of you.
Brad: That exactly, exactly. That's my standard answer.
Amber Stanik: Like I'm just a weekend father and husband.
Brad: Yeah, yeah. It seems some days that's all that's what it feels like, you know.
Amber Stanik: Mm-hmm.
Brad: but yeah, that that's our that's our running joke and and my wife and I even say that. I'm like, Yeah, that's my wife and kids have a home and I go visit on the weekends, you know. So, no, it but it but it hey, look, you know, hats off to that woman right there, 'cause she if it wasn't for her, we I couldn't do what I do and And you know, be blessed to do things like this and to be out in the field turning dirt every day and and that kind of deal. And so, you know, hat my hats are my hat will always be off to her for sure, you know, 'cause she puts up with a lot. Yep, mm hmm, mm-hmm.
Alecia Stuaan: We can tell. And that needs to be
Amber Stanik: Mm-hmm.
Alecia Stuaan: I'm just for her her sake, I'm gonna clip that and I'm gonna send that to you in a text so you can send it to her as so as proof that you said nice.
Brad: Awesome. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, for real, for real. Yeah. And then we get to the point where I've been home for too many days in a row and then all three of them are like, don't you have to go to work?
Amber Stanik: I felt the same way with my husband when he's back from deployment. I'm like, Are you going back yet, please? You've been home too long.
Alecia Stuaan: Yeah.
Brad: Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's it. I love you, but it's time to go. Mm-hmm.
Amber Stanik: Yeah. I'm like, I just wanted to be me and the kids. Can you leave?
Alecia Stuaan: Exactly.
Brad: Yep. Yep. man. But yeah. Yeah. So what other kind of fun stuff you want to talk about? Let's talk about let's talk about the history of Amazon. How about that?
Alecia Stuaan: That's literally Amber's next question.
Amber Stanik: I
Brad: I'm sorry, Ember, I hijacked your question.
Amber Stanik: You're fine. So let's talk about Amazon. Family owned, German, been around forever. Give us a quick backstory for everyone who doesn't know the brand yet.
Brad: Yeah, so so yeah, Amazon we came about in eighteen eighty three. We are a family owned company. one, two, three, fourth generation now. And I think the fifth generation just hired back on with the company. So rolling into generation number five. gosh, and I hope I got
Amber Stanik: How awesome.
Brad: that right or I'm gonna be in trouble. But fam
Amber Stanik: We'll do a voiceover for you if not.
Brad: Yeah, yeah.
Alecia Stuaan: Yeah, it'll just be me your mouth moving in my voice.
Brad: There you go.
Amber Stanik: It was actually four.
Brad: Yeah, that wouldn't be weird at all. But but yeah, I know family owned, you know, most German companies they use their last name. because everybody's you know where word Amazon come from, right? Most German companies they use their last name. Mr. Dreyer, who founded the company back in eighteen eighty three, you know, he came up with the name because he wanted something that was as strong and tough as an Amaz Amazonian woman. And if you look at our logo, it is an Amazon woman with a bow and arrow riding a horse. I is is our logo. You know, it's it's on basically everything we produce. And so, you know, that's what he he he wanted something strong and tough and and he managed to build that over the years and and the and the it's been continued, you know, throughout the generations, you know, great products and you know continuing the the innovation side of of agriculture.
Alecia Stuaan: So we have a new facility in the United States and it's in El Dorado, Kansas. That's kind of a big deal for us. What does that mean for everyone?
Brad: It so did Well, I'm just wondering if you've studied how to pronounce anything we're talking about today because it's El Dorado, Kansas.
Alecia Stuaan: Listen, I'm from the Midwest. The answer's no.
Brad: Ha ha ha. I mean first it's Amazoni, then it's you know El Dorado. So so yes, no, thank you, Alicia. We have a brand new facility in El El D see now I'm gonna say it wrong.
Alecia Stuaan: See I was right.
Brad: No, so so this spring, yes, we did. We we got a place in El Dorito, Kansas, right outside just east of Wichita, kind of east northeast of Wichita, Kansas, which is gonna be our main hub or is our main hub here in the US. So that's our parts depot, that's where we bring equipment in to assemble and check out before it goes out to our dealers. You know, everything that goes to our dealers comes to basically fully assembled. There may be a couple of things here and there depending on the size that has to be done on the at the dealership. But nearly everything is coming, you know, 100% assembled and that's where we assemble it right there in El Dorado. In fact I was just up there last week. we we had a a piece of equipment up there. We were mounting a one of our big spreaders onto a Fent chassis and getting ready for a big demo tour. You know, I don't know when this episode will air, but I'll give a shameful plug. Parallel Ag. So what two w next week? Yeah, next week is the Maggie show. somewhere up in Illinois and Bloomington, I think. And anyway the
Alecia Stuaan: Bloomington. I did pronounce that one correctly.
Brad: Maggie yeah, it's right there in your backyard. So I would hope you would. I would hope you would. so yeah, next week we're gonna have we're gonna have one of we're gonna be at the Maggie show. We're gonna have a Fent chassis with our ZGTS truck mounted spreader on a Fent chassis, there on display. We're gonna have a we're gonna be rolling out a new piece, a new spreader. our next generation of spreaders of the three points will be there. I'll let those guys talk about that. But anyway, once that chassis and box leave Maggie Show, it'll be picked up from the Maggie Show and head directly to Fairview, Oklahoma. We're we're gonna go on a two week demo tour across parallel in the Southern Plains. So we're gonna start somewhere there and in western Oklahoma and we've got five days. Last I heard and schedules changed some of course, but we basically got five days of running right there in Oklahoma and then we're gonna turn around over the weekend, ship it out to the panhandle and go from Lubbock all the way to Dalhart, running
Alecia Stuaan: Nice.
Brad: this machine. So get it out there, get it in front of folks, you know, our three point spreaders have been moving real well. We've s we've done a couple of the truck mounts but to really showcase the truck mount to a diff you know, to different folks
Alecia Stuaan: Mm-hmm.
Brad: and and show the technology behind what we do. So I'm looking forward to that. It's gonna be a long two weeks, but it'll be a lot of fun. Be a lot of fun.
Alecia Stuaan: I'd I'd say Ambert, put that on your calendar to go, but someone
Amber Stanik: Yeah.
Alecia Stuaan: broke her foot and can't go anywhere.
Brad: What? What? Maya.
Amber Stanik: Yeah, unfortunately. I was decorating
Alecia Stuaan: Yeah.
Amber Stanik: for my oldest daughter's seventeenth birthday and I broke two bones. So I have a boot. But I was able
Brad: fun.
Amber Stanik: I'm able to put some pressure on it today, so they told me yesterday. So no more scooter life for me.
Brad: there you go, there you go. Well you've got
Alecia Stuaan: Hehehehehe
Brad: you had you have one of them scooters? I'm keep my mouth shut. I'm keep my mouth shut.
Alecia Stuaan: Mm-hmm.
Amber Stanik: Yes. I will I was using crutches and crutches are like the hardest thing to use. I hate those things. So I had a scooter
Brad: Uh-huh.
Amber Stanik: and I was just part of the scooter gang and now I don't have to use it anymore. So I'm super happy.
Brad: Yeah, yeah. man, man. Well you got you have until I think we're gonna start the week of September fourteenth. I'm not looking at my calendar right now, but I'm pretty sure that's correct. You yeah, yeah,
Amber Stanik: Okay. I could probably make yeah, I could maybe try. Yeah.
Brad: yeah. You should be somewhat healed up by then, you know.
Amber Stanik: Yeah, I I they told me I can start walking on it into like putting full pressure on it in two weeks and just, you know, go off
Brad: Okay.
Amber Stanik: my pain level and stuff. So I'll be in a boot until the end of September, but I could probably I could definitely make those.
Brad: Well good, good. So so yeah. Now I'm looking forward to that little deal. So that'd be a neat little demo tour. We talked about hit so I gave a shameful plug and now I'm all sidetracked. I don't know where we're
Alecia Stuaan: It's okay. This shameful plug goes right into Amber's next question. You're
Brad: perfect.
Amber Stanik: Yep. So
Alecia Stuaan: up.
Amber Stanik: yeah, so where d are where does Amazon fit inside the parallel lineup?
Brad: So Amazon fits very well. Man, I feel funny. We get to choke it and then I come all serious. No, no, we do. We do.
Amber Stanik: Look, we gotta be like we gotta really talk about some stuff.
Alecia Stuaan: We
Brad: my god. yeah. Well no, I just caught myself on camera and I just I you know, my whole demeanor changed. Well, so let me tell ya. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. man.
Alecia Stuaan: Ha
Amber Stanik: It's your professional voice.
Brad: dang, what were
Alecia Stuaan: Where does Amazon fit in the parallel ag lineup?
Brad: yeah, yeah, where does it fit in the line though? That's right.
Amber Stanik: Hmm.
Brad: here we go. So you don't have to give me a minute to compose myself here.
Amber Stanik: You need to take a five minute break.
Alecia Stuaan: Just put in a little like blooper where it's like ki countdown.
Amber Stanik: There
Brad: Right.
Amber Stanik: is.
Brad: Right. man. So where where Amazon fits in the parallel lineup? Good question, Amber. And and I think, you know, and I think most parallel will agree with this statement, but but we bring something, you know, different to the market. because we do tillage, we do planters, we do cedars, we do spreaders, we do tillage, you know, and so and we match everything matches real well with Fent. I mean Fent came out of Germany, we're out of Germany, you know, everything is is very I was gonna try to use a big word and I'm not that smart, but everything marries well together about that. And so, you know, but but we bring different things to the table. Like, you know Well, let's talk tillage, right? So tillage tillage is has always been considered dumb iron. You know, you hook it to a tractor and you know, you drag iron through the the dirt, right? but the different things we've done with our tillage over the years, you know, allows us to to to give a a better finish, to have more versatility within the the tools you buy, you know. I'm I'm speak heavily on on two different tools. one is our Catros, which is our high speed disc. So that machine this year is celeb celebrating its twenty-fifth year anniversary. So not only have we been in business since eighteen eighty three, you know, that tool right there specifically has been around twenty five years. You know, most of the US, you know, is pretty new to the high speed disc market, you know. Probably not so much in the Midwest because look, let's face it, you know, that's garden country up there and everything starts in the Midwest, you know. And then us Southerners
Alecia Stuaan: Yeah.
Brad: we get, you know, the scraps. But Yeah, yeah,
Alecia Stuaan: Mm-hmm. True. It's very true.
Brad: yeah. but but, you know, we've been doing this that particular machine for twenty five years. You know, it's in its third generation at this point. You know, they just have continued to improve it, you know, to make it better and and Arguably, you know, for high speed disc, it is it's an amazing tool. You know, we've parallel has moved a lot of those machines, you know, and it's just it's been a great tool. I enjoy that. some of my favorite demos have been with that tool. And then we talk about our our CS, which is our combination tool. So it's our high speed disc up front, disc rippers, closing system, then our rollers out the back, you know. I don't believe there's any such thing as a one pass tool, otherwise I wouldn't need to sell anything else. But you know, I've got a lot of people that, you know, sell it on the premise that it is a one pass tool, and in a lot of situations it can be. you know, but not every time. But the f the finish that tool leaves for being able to go to a max depth of sixteen inches, you know, and still leave a field where you can drive back across it at the end of the day. And I've had guys plant directly behind that tool. So you know, though those two on the tillage side of things are are are heavy hitters, especially down here with parallel, you know, it's just been a been a good combo, and that's where parallel started was with the tillage line. then we move into our spreaders, and so spreaders are second to none. that spreader, we've been making that spreader roughly fifteen years I think, you know, so it's not new technology. it it's funny with the the capabilities that spreader has. I mean it offers section control. It has wind control. It has online weighing, hundred percent online weighing. You know, the the capabilities of that machine, it's all about accuracy and precision. And we can do things with a spinner spreader that's, you know that compare to using a self propelled spray rig, you know. And so that's never been done with with dry fertilizer before. And so, you know, that that TS, so like our spreader lineup, I mentioned a Z G T S a while ago. Well a Z G, the Germans pronounce Z as Z. So the Z G T S is our big boy. So it's it's a seven and a half ton or a ten ton capacity. And then we have our ZATS, which is our three-point rig. And some people say, it's a little guy, because it goes on a three-point. Well, that thing still has a capacity to hold anywhere. So we we ha have a four and a half ton machine, and now there's five ton machines. So five ton, seven and a half, ten ton. So yeah, it's a three point rig, but it's not a baby rig. It still has And it still has all the same technology, whether it's that big s big one or a little one, and you know, it's not that little. they all carry the same technology, the section control, the wind control, the Argus twin system, that kind of stuff. I mean, just really sets that machine apart from from other machines out there on the market, you know. everybody's chasing what we're doing and that's a cool thing to to know that, you know, everybody wants to do what we're doing. And and there's some more things coming out, you know. You'll get to see a new machine at the Maggie show next week. which or by the time this airs it may be passed by then, but doesn't matter.
Amber Stanik: Mm-hmm.
Brad: But but there'll be a new machine come out there. and it it and I I'm not keeping it a secret. I mean it it they we announced it at Ama Technica or not Agro Technica last year.
Alecia Stuaan: Did you not research how to pronounce things?
Brad: Touche, my friend, touche. So so I actually got the pronunciation right. I said Ama Technica because Amatech so we do we have our own in-house farm show at our headquarters in Germany ever on the off years of Agrotechnica. So I technically did not mispronounce anything. I just threw it at the wrong, you know.
Alecia Stuaan: You did. You did. Okay, I'll give you that one.
Brad: I just threw it at the wrong one.
Alecia Stuaan: Wrong year.
Brad: Yeah. Yeah. The wrong show.
Amber Stanik: Wrong show.
Brad: But anyway, so yeah. but it's it's gonna be our Z A T S O one and so it's gonna have some new functionality and capabilities that we hadn't had in the past with our other Z A and our other Z A is amazing. So be really cool. I'm actually going to a training week after next. So to to learn more about that machine personally. So look forward to to seeing what that thing has to offer. But but then so tillage, spreaders. So we've hit field prep side of things. We've hit and with the tillage and the spreaders, you know, again we s we have done we've j we've jumped off into the application as far as liquid sprayers. We Parallel sold the first liquid sprayer well about a month ago now, I guess, out here in the Panhandle of Texas. And so that's that machine hit the ground and so far has been amazing. So it's cool. It's got the yes, it's a pool type sprayer, and everybody's like, pool type sprayer, you just use those in the pasture. And historically that's where they've been used, but this particular sprayer. sprayer that was sold. I mean it is you know it can do everything that a self propelled machine will do. So for a guy that doesn't need that self propelled machine, you know, he can do this pull type and still has individual nozzle control with quad bodies on it. You know, section, you know, because it's individual nozzle control, of course it has section control.
Amber Stanik: Okay.
Brad: Hundred and twenty foot boom, you know, It's got boom compensation, whether it's laterally or up and down, does all that automatically. I mean literally you turn the thing on and it takes care of itself, you know. So you know, doing that and you know, and and there's more to come, you know. we're we're we're talking some air seeders in some places that I think that's gonna be be kind of the next step we take as far as with parallel ag and Really looking forward to to diving into that, you know. So yeah.
Alecia Stuaan: I'm gonna go off script here, Amber. You talked a little bit about wind control. And I will tell you that is one of the most fascinating things that I have heard from the Amazon side of the equipment. Because number one, we don't have the crazy winds that we you guys have down there. And I've seen just people talking about it. Tell us what that is and how it benefits the especially the Southern Plains farmers.
Brad: well they no so the wind control is you know we're we're the only only ones out there on the market that offer wind control. So and the cool thing about the wind control is it's that technology, let's see. let me do the math here real quick. The that can't the wind control was released in it's the newest piece of technology until this one
Alecia Stuaan: Do you need my fingers?
Brad: gets released. No, I'm just gonna say it was twenty twenty. that the wind control came out. So I mean that's that's six almost seven year old technology at this point, right? and so with the wind control, I mean we can maintain so like let's t we w to talk about the wind control, let's talk about what the spreader does as a whole. You know, we can go out and we can spread urea a hundred and twenty feet. And I've sat in front of many a people and they go, No you can't I said, Yeah I can They're like, nope, there's no way you can't throw it 120 foot. I said, yeah, we can, you know. And we do. We do it on a daily basis. We throw urea 120 foot. We can throw some heavier products out to 177 foot, you know. but let's just talk about urea because it is the lightest of most products that are spread. And so, you know, that's like I said, it's at 120 foot. So at 120 foot, you've got a lot of lot of stuff happening there. And with that wind control, I can maintain a swath width of 120 foot and up to 20, 25 mile an hour winds. And I've done it consistently, you know. And the cool thing is, if the wind does get above that, the machine will tell you, say, hey, I can't maintain what you're asking me to do right now. And so you can either continue or to get back to perfect, just narrow your swath width a little bit. So go from a hundred and twenty foot down to a hundred or a hundred and ten. Well, by the way, even if you have to narrow to a hundred, you're still spreading further than anybody else out there on the market. You know, and you're doing it consistently. I had a guy guy bought a a Z ATS, a three point spreader a month, six weeks ago, and I was out there a few weeks ago, when with some other stuff and he said he said I wanna show you my my hay grazer field that I I slung with your spreader. I said, Yeah, let's go see it. I You happy with the stand? He said, Man, he said, shoot. I was out there, he said, I'm not gonna lie. He said, I was spreading that stuff a hundred foot and
Amber Stanik: Mm-hmm.
Brad: forty five mile an hour winds. I was like, so you're heavy on one side. He goes, no. He said, that thing was screaming at me, telling me ought to change something. He said, but I just kept rolling. And he said,
Alecia Stuaan: Ha ha.
Brad: he said, I'm happy. He said it didn't get too heavy. He said, you know Yeah, maybe it's a little streaky, he said, but I was just trying to get it in. Rain was coming and I wanted it on the ground and he said, I just kept rolling. And you know, I'm like, How high was the wind again? He yeah, it's blowing forty. I'm like, my god So he said, And it will scream at you when it says it doesn't like it.
Amber Stanik: Yeah. Where do you guys see leaving the most on the table? Setup, depth, wrong tool for the job, all of the above.
Brad: you know, it could be a combination of all those things, right? You know, it 'cause it's a it's a dance to to make make things to to make a crop at the end of the day, whether it's you know, if you make a mistake in one place it could you know, it could, you know, just snowball down, you know. and in different areas you can get away with doing different things, you know. and so no, there there's And there's only so much time in a day, right? So that that's that's a really interesting question that that hadn't had never really thought about before. But you know, there's you've gotta say all the above, you know, 'cause just different situations. I mean, you can go out and and do all the prep work you get, but at the end of the day if it doesn't rain you're you're out of luck, you know? And so yeah, there there's always something You know, you look back and I've talked to plenty of farmers over the years for the last twenty something years, you know, and they're like, Yeah, man, if I'd have known this, I'd a done this, you know. And whether it was changing the changing the field prep or an extra fertilizer application or, you know, changing their population on their seeding, you know. you know, unfortunately it's a it's an educated gamble at the end of the day. You know, some might say educated I that's kinda my deal, someone say educated guest, but it's an educated gamble 'cause that's that's it's it's a gamble at the end of the day. And you just hope you, you know, put your chips down at the right spot.
Alecia Stuaan: One hundred percent. I always say farmers are the biggest gamblers I've ever met.
Brad: Amen. Amen.
Alecia Stuaan: So on that, what separates an operation that's dialed in from one that's just kind of getting by?
Brad: Mm, one that's dialed in versus one that's kinda getting by. You know, I What separates I I think a lot I think a lot of what separates is is you know you've got to continuously be testing things. Whether it's a it's a test plot, a personal test plot for your seed or a personal test plot for a different tillage practice or fertilizer practice or whatever, you know, you don't have to you always need to be looking at what could I change next year, you know. Because sometimes you don't want to step off with both feet and hundred percent do everything different all in one year, you know? And so, you know, the most of the best test plots I've ever seen and talked to with with farmers is the ones that happen by accident. You know.
Alecia Stuaan: My favorite are the the guys that do the dump everything in the planter from the plots. Whatever's left over. That's always gonna be their best performing three and a half acres
Brad: Yeah.
Alecia Stuaan: of the field is where you just dump everything into the planter all together.
Brad: Yeah. Yep. Yep.
Amber Stanik: Yes, it's
Brad: Or or or my you know, the one that happens a lot, you know, a guy that that he's he's planting his his whatever, whether it's corn or cotton or milo or whatever and and maybe they're using in furrow. Well the guy forgot to turn the the in furrow application back on, you know, and he made a whole pass
Alecia Stuaan: Mm.
Brad: with none of the in furrow fertilization. They go, Okay, well, now I see that I need it or no, maybe I w maybe I don't need that, you know, and
Alecia Stuaan: Maybe I can cut that next year.
Amber Stanik: Yeah.
Brad: Exactly, exactly. So like I said, you know, to quote Bob Ross, you know, a lot of the best test plots are happy little accidents.
Alecia Stuaan: Ha ha
Amber Stanik: Ha ha ha. Okay. what's a piece of Amazon equip restart that. What's a piece of Amazon lineup that nobody's talking about but they should be?
Brad: that nobody's talking well so so here's here's the funny thing. We have a lineup. our our all products brochure we don't even carry with us anymore because they weigh a pound. I mean that brochure is that thick that it weighs a pound. So we don't just do you know, we've talked about tillage, we've talked about spreaders, we've talked touched a little on sprayers and air seeders, but you know I taut us I tout us as, you know, we're a full line short line. So whatever you need to get a job done, we have a tool for that job. And so we've got a ton of stuff that that, you know, we hadn't even we're not ready to bring to the US yet. You know, I mean we're we're still we came to the US I'm gonna get the math wrong here again, ten, twelve years ago. We at first we were using an importer situation. Then we decided no, we're gonna go the dealership route and I think that was like I said, roughly ten years ago or something. And you know, it was one of those deals, you know, sales guy wants to sell everything he can. And you know, we kind of dialed it back and and honed in on what what can we go to the market with easiest and first, you know. Well, that's tillage and the spreaders. but and now like I said we're we're we're jumping into the air seeders and we're doing more with the sprayers at this point. And so you're just gonna continue to see more stuff, you know, come in because 'cause what what's happened is, you know, a guy buys his first piece and he goes, man, I really like that. What else do you have to offer? He said, I I've got this problem, you know, so well, I we we can look at this tool or we can look at that. And and so yeah, we've got a lot of stuff that that that is yet to come, you know. And so, you know, I think the next thing, and I'm starting to see it some in eastern Canada, but I think the next thing, you know, especially for organic guys is is different cultivation techniques to help with weed control, you know. And like I said, that's that'll probably lean a little bit more toward toward the organic guys, but you know, those conversations are starting to trickle out of Canada into into the States. So That's what I see.
Alecia Stuaan: You run a lot of demos for us. Walk us through what a demo day looks like from your side.
Brad: man, it can be anywhere from sheer chaos to everything just lines up and you know and and a lot of times you sp I spend a lot of time just trying to hide the chaos, right?
Alecia Stuaan: Yeah.
Brad: No, no, i and I say that because you know, it it's farming. Nothing ever goes a hundred percent to plan, you know. always always walk into every situation and have this plan and do everything I can to prep the right way. but, you know, hiccups happen, you know, and and what I've found is is sometimes when you're doing a demo and you have a hiccup and you know how to fix it, you know, you just y you get that much more confidence from f out of it, from from the customer at the end of the day because yeah, he ran into that problem but he knew what to do, right? And but you know, every demo is gonna start with a walk around, you know, whether it's just hooking the tool up to showing all the features of the tool, trying to show the differences and then, you know, put the tool in the ground, get it set, and you know, most of the time the tools speak for themselves. you know, we I was out on a on a it wasn't a demo yesterday, it was actual customer setup. Customer bought it 'cause he'd seen one running down the road from him. And called up said he needed one, so we got him one in here last week and I came over here this week to put it in the field and you know, we we had a little hiccup. And you know what? We remied the remedied the problem real quick and right to the field we went and it was like, Man, this thing's awesome, you know. And you know, I get a lot of and it's really cool, you know, whether it's on tillage, you know, I get a lot of good compliments on the tillage. my f some of my favorite demos have come from the spreader line up because you know, you start with this walk around and you tell what all this machine will do and then you go show And then they come back at the end of the day and they go, if that thing would have done eighty percent of what you spewed at us on that walk around, I'd have been extremely happy. But it actually does a hundred percent of what you say, you know. And look, I've learned some of those lessons the hard way. I've messed up, you know. some of my some of my favorite demo stories have been from, you know, come from near catastrophe, you know. but you know, at the end of the day, you know, I can walk into any demo with the confidence that the tool is gonna do what I what what we touted it was gonna do. And, you know, that makes it a lot of fun. A lot of fun.
Amber Stanik: what's the wildest place you've done a demo?
Brad: Ooh, the wildest place I've done a demo. Man, I've been all over the country doing demos.
Amber Stanik: Wanna hear a chaos story.
Brad: They're not all chaotic, you know,
Amber Stanik: Mm.
Brad: but but you know, you're bound to run into one every now and then. I'll tell you my most chaotic in a minute. but I mean I've done demos from upstate New York all the way to the Gulf Coast of Texas and points in between. I've been out to to Idaho or Oregon. no, I flew into Idaho, did the demo in Oregon, I think. you know, just beautiful scenery out there if you had never been out there. But you know, just sure enough while I mean been in in between the mountains in Oklahoma, in southwestern Oklahoma, just to look out on the horizon and see the mesas. I mean, you know, to be in, like I said, right on the finger lakes of New York. you know, in upstate
Alecia Stuaan: Mm.
Brad: New York. So got to see a lot of beautiful country. You know, I remember we're hauling a piece of equipment out to a demo in upstate New York and we're sitting in the big truck and we actually pull this we're I mean, roads in New York kinda like roads in Germany in some places, you know, just little narrow two lane roads and we're in a big truck pulling a tool down the road and and we're looking out over the finger lakes and it's fall and the leaves are turning and we pull off in this little rest stop. to overlook the lake and stare at the leaves and take pictures, you know. but but probably probably one the the demo that that has that was the biggest catastrophe for me was with a tool that I didn't know I I knew about the tool itself, but this was just a bigger version and a little bit different setup. So it was a Katros. so our Katroses they range ten foot to thirty foot and then you know and then we go to we make a forty footer. Well, I'd never spent any time with this forty foot catros and it's a little bit different beast than the ones I'd been selling. And the ones I'd been selling had never let me down and God needs to see this forty footer run. So we bring it in and we haul it to him and we get there and I can't get the darn thing off the trailer. The hydraulics are not cooperating. And you know, I am nervous as a long tail cat in a room full of rocking chairs, you know.
Amber Stanik: Yeah.
Brad: And I mean, to the point I'm I'm making phone calls, you know, and saying, hey, look, I'm trying to stall here to think about what's going on, you know, because this is happening. They're like, Brad, that's crazy. I don't know. And so, you know, I'm phone call like a phone c just trying to stall a little bit, right? And finally what it what it boiled down to was a a fitting. hydraulic fitting had had loosened off and wasn't allowing full hydraulic flow to the machine and so we get that tightened up back up to it everything hooks up fine and at this point this is probably gone on I don't know how long I don't remember because I was so I was nervous I was scared honestly and because you know we were supposed to go down the road once we got it hooked up well it was a father and son and they looked at me they said well Why don't we just go over here to this this this little trap we've been running yearlens in all winter that's beat all to heck and you know, he said, we'll just see what it does there. So we go over there in that little trap and we put it in the ground and and I've never seen two guys dig behind a disc as much as these guys did. And so they made two little short passes and were digging around. They go, hmm, let's fold it up and go down the road here and check it in this other field. Okay, I'm thinking, boy, because really what they were gonna do, they were gonna put me there in the worst condition possible. A f a field they'd never plough anyway, right? And then they were gonna just gonna tell
Amber Stanik: Mm-hmm.
Brad: me to pack my toys up and build a house. And I don't blame because, you know, I d I did. I mean, wasn't anything that that that was overlooked or anything like that. It was just a just something that happened, right? It was nobody's fault.
Amber Stanik: Mm-hmm.
Brad: It wasn't that I didn't know how to operate the machine or anything like that. It was just it was just a good run of bad luck kind of deal. Well, anyhow, we ended up going to four different fields that that morning and running that tool and then we got done probably about two o'clock in the afternoon. We went to the cafe in town and ate lunch and I started heading back home and before I got home I get a phone call saying it's soap You know. And I mean it I was in sheer panic mode that morning. Like
Amber Stanik: Yeah.
Brad: you said, when they sent me to the cow trap to plow it up, I'm like, Yep. If this doesn't work, I'm going to the house with my tail between my legs. So yeah.
Alecia Stuaan: Well, that actually just led into my next question. And I think you answered it, 'cause my next question was, What's your best convert story? Someone who showed up spet skeptical and left feeling different. And I feel that kind of covered it. Do you have another one you want to share?
Brad: you know, that that was a that was definitely a good one there. you know, n I think one of my favorite Convert stories is and this just happened here recently. we go and and demo a CS to a guy and ran ran it right by what he was doing, which what he was doing was sure enough old school, right? And we ran it right in beside what he was doing and and he fell in love and and and bought that machine right there. And you know, that's a great convert story, but the story continues from there. And he goes, Well, hey, I really like that other tool you're demoing to me too. I think I need it as well. And so within a span, No, I'm not kidding you. This is a true story.
Alecia Stuaan: No, I'm hold on. Are you I just I don't
Amber Stanik: He goes, I'm not kidding you, it's a true story.
Brad: I knew I knew she was looking at something on her end.
Amber Stanik: Yeah.
Brad: What'd you break, Alicia?
Alecia Stuaan: Okay,
Brad Beene: Crasses averted.
Alecia Stuaan: crisis averted, we're gonna pick up on do you have a best convert story?
Brad Beene: Yeah, yeah, I do, I do. You know, we talked about one a while ago but but my favorite one, like I said, just happened here recently. a guy wanted to look at our CS tool, that combination tool I talked about earlier. It's got our high speed disc, our desk ripper, closing system. leaves a beautiful finish. And so we go, you know, guys just used to running a straight, you know, ripper. And, you know, he's you know when they do that out here and this happened to be out here in the panhandle as well. And when typically when they run those rippers, you know, during the summertime, you know, they're gonna bring up big boulders and clods and, you know, if it brings up too big, you know, they're gonna do something a little different. And, you know, they'd ran a few passes with their tool before we got there and said, Hey, we wanna fall in right beside that because if we can get those clods to a size where they fit in a five gallon bucket, we'll be happy. And You know, that's that's how he was measuring and we dropped in right beside and I mean, our clods were that big. You know. And we're still going the same depth
Alecia Stuaan: Mm-hmm.
Brad Beene: and breaking the hard pen up, doing ever and leaving it where you can drive across it after the fact. Well, he fell in love with that tool, bought it basically on the spot or within the next day or so. And then a couple of weeks rolled around and and that that same day we had demoed not only the CS, but we demoed a a catros as well. because they were looking at the two and we had kind of talked back and forth and so we took both machines out there to show And a couple of weeks rock and roll by and I get a phone call and said, Hey, I need a price on a forty foot catros because they want a catros to go along with this CS, which in my opinion is a great combination, you know, CS gets down there and in deep rips and still leaves a really good finish. But you know, they needed something that they could pull five and a half inches deep, which the catcheros can do, or pull it vertical till style for seed bed prep, which the catros will do. And so then they buy that. And you know, they're absolutely in love with it. And by the way, they came back not too long after that and bought a spreader. That was the story I told earlier about the guy that was spreading the the hay grazer in forty mile an hour winds. And and though by
Alecia Stuaan: That's fantastic.
Brad Beene: the way, they also bought the very first pool type sprayer for the US.
Alecia Stuaan: So you have a full lineup of equipment
Amber Stanik: Yeah.
Alecia Stuaan: on them now.
Brad Beene: Yes. The only thing they don't have is at this point in time is yeah, at this point in time the only thing they don't have right this minute is an air cedar. And we're in talks about that as we speak. So
Alecia Stuaan: Nice.
Brad Beene: yeah, yeah. So that you talk about a convert story, I think that's that's kind of the ultimate right there. Yeah. Yep.
Alecia Stuaan: That is one hundred percent.
Brad Beene: Yep. So yes, ma'am.
Amber Stanik: So so what do farmers actually respond to when they see the equipment running for the first time?
Brad Beene: They respond to to the overall job that takes place, you know, because you know, even though you're you know, if I take a catros go demo, you know, if I take it to you, Amber, and you Alicia, y'all may be looking for two different things. So the biggest thing you gotta figure out is what a guy's looking for. What are their expectations? Are we trying to go deep? Are we trying to hit somewhere in the middle? Are we just doing seed bed prep? That kind of deal and what What really strikes guys most of the time is the versatility f of the tools, you know, 'cause 'cause you know, like I just mentioned that catch rose it can run vertical till style, so you can scratch the ground with it or you can go five and half inches deep, which you know, same as a conventional disc. the C is the same way. You can run you can rip twelve inches deep or you can run it shallower and do more of a cultivation style pass. you know, the spreader. You know, yes, it's for spreading fertilizer. But I would say half the guys that own in the panhandle of Texas are using for straight cover crops. You know, they're putting out, you know, a cereal rye or wheat or whatever. And I mean I've even got guys that plant their wheat crop with with that spreader. So it's the versatility of, you know, not only just being able to do that one thing they were looking for, but then they go, well shoot, I can do this with that tool and I can do this. And so that's that's what really really makes things stand out. And the impression I get a lot of times when I leave somewhere is is that, you know, they can do multiple applications with with fewer units on the
Alecia Stuaan: Yeah. Amber, I'm gonna jump ahead again, go off script, 'cause we've covered a lot of what the next few questions were. so and I'm gonna ask your question. How
Amber Stanik: That's fine because I like Googled how to say this and I was like, I'm pretty sure I know how to say that. It's like I sub is it I bus, I sub us.
Alecia Stuaan: ISO bus. ISO bus.
Brad Beene: Assobus.
Amber Stanik: so I was I was gonna say it right. So thank you for taking that question. Cause
Alecia Stuaan: You were.
Amber Stanik: I literally go at how to pronounce that one and cat roast or cat rose. I was like,
Brad Beene: Yeah.
Amber Stanik: I don't know how to pronounce these. I did my research.
Brad Beene: so so so let let's talk let's talk about that. No no no no wait a minute. We're gonna sidebar real fast when you talk when you were trying to say catros there. S yeah, yeah. So
Amber Stanik: Catros, catros. Catros.
Brad Beene: so I kid you not, James Newell out of Fairview, Oklahoma, he's he's always voice texting and this, that, and other. And now
Amber Stanik: I see it.
Brad Beene: he is calling the catros because when he says catros to the to the phone It comes out at cat roast. And so so
Amber Stanik: okay.
Brad Beene: yeah, I get text messages from him all the time. Hey, what about that cat roast over there? you know, or k do we have one here?
Alecia Stuaan: That sounds like something my kids would do.
Brad Beene: So So yeah, yeah, you look at my
Amber Stanik: He that is hilarious.
Brad Beene: text message string and you see a bun you you see us talking a lot about cat roast. So,
Amber Stanik: Mm-hmm.
Brad Beene: you know.
Amber Stanik: That's hilarious.
Brad Beene: yeah. Yeah.
Alecia Stuaan: So ISO bus precision spreading, all the smart application stuff for a farmer who feels like they might be falling behind on tech, what do you tell them?
Brad Beene: You know, nearly nearly everybody today has a tractor that's ISO bus capable. You know. that's the beauty of our stuff that has high technology. It is ISO bus compatible, and talks beautifully across multiple platforms. Whether you're talking, you know, Fent or Trimble or, you know, those other guys, you know, you know, i that is, you know But a lot of guys don't necessarily use it. You know, a lot of guys still have five freaking monitors in their tractor, you know. The wall of screens, that's right. That's right. And and there's nothing wrong with that because different applications you wanna see, you know, you wanna be able to see things. So I I don't necessarily knock the wall of screens, but the beauty of the stuff we use that is ISO bus compatible, you don't have to purchase an extra screen, you know. The machines take care of themselves well enough that if something happens and you don't have my screen pulled up or you don't have it split screened or whatever, it'll let you know and you can go check out and see what happens. you know, our ISO bus machines just truly do take care of themselves very well. you know, I kind of spun off there. Go go back to that question one more time for me, Alicia.
Alecia Stuaan: for the farmer who feels like they're falling behind on tech, what do you tell them? I feel like that just covered it, is 'cause basically what you have is is plug and play. It goes right into any
Brad Beene: Yes.
Alecia Stuaan: tractor that's ISO bus and so they really don't need to worry about having the technology or a new technology for your equipment.
Brad Beene: Correct. Yeah, very very seldom do I you know, in in certain places, you know, you but I maybe once a year I run into somebody that doesn't have that's interested in say the spreader, which I need the ISO bus for, you know, run into a guy like that, but but those calls are few and far between, you know. I can count on I think one finger the times that's happened, you know. But cool thing is if a guy does have that, you know, there's a way to update those tractors, you know. It just it boils down to what it is and and what exact capabilities you want it to have. but nearly everything you can you can retrofit these days. So
Alecia Stuaan: and I'm once again going to jump ahead here. From your C at Amazon, what does a great dealership relation dealer relationship look like for you? And what does it what does Parallel do that works?
Brad Beene: So you know, key the key thing, when it comes to to dealerships is is looking for a partner, you know. somebody that's that's gonna have that give and take, you know. somebody that's gonna stand s you know, 'cause look, none of us are perfect, you know, and so sometimes there there may be hard conversations that have to be had about certain things, you know, but but at the end of the day it's somebody that that's gonna stand beside you. And you know they're gonna stand beside you and in turn you're gonna stand beside them and do everything you can do. And so it's all about the partnership, you know. I've talked to to dealers that that we've researched, you know, looking at becoming dealers for us. And at the end of the day, you know, I tell them say, Look, if you're not looking for a partnership, then then that's probably not gonna work, you know. kinda like speed dating, you know.
Amber Stanik: Ha ha ha.
Alecia Stuaan: Ha
Brad Beene: You try to ask all these questions at the end of the day you you know, you can start to get a feel of whether it's somebody that's just trying to tie something up in a particular territory or somebody that truly wants to to partner up and and try to grow grow a brand and and you know it's funny we were sitting around last night, I had some other guys with me and and that's they made that comment about Parallel Ag. They're like, Man, they they really they're good partners. I said, No, a hundred percent, you know, I've got to build great relationships across the complex and if I need something I can go, you know, know who to go to and talk to about it and vice versa. If they need something, they come to me and we talk about it and, you know, we figure out a solution one way or the other, you know. And, you know, sometimes those conversations aren't always the easiest. because at the end of the day we're all in business and we're, you know, we've got th things we've got to look out for. But But as long as, you know, you can usually come to a mutual agreement, you know, it's that partnership, you know, look, I'm gonna I won't I wanna do this for you because you're being a good partner and in turn that's usually reciprocated back and it just it makes it a lot of fun to do business at the end of the day, you know. So
Alecia Stuaan: And then you get roped into doing podcasts.
Brad Beene: Yeah, yeah, then you get to do stuff like this,
Amber Stanik: Yeah.
Brad Beene: you know, with with just some marketing girls, you know.
Alecia Stuaan: Hey.
Amber Stanik: Marketing women. Marketing women.
Brad Beene: Sorry, Alicia, I had to do it. I had to do it.
Alecia Stuaan: It's okay. I'll forgive you. That one I can f forgive. Not taking me
Brad Beene: Okay, I appreciate it. Yeah, yeah.
Alecia Stuaan: out to eat when you were in Illinois. That one's still that's that's a little hard pill to swallow, but we'll get there.
Brad Beene: Okay. W yeah. We'll we'll take care of it. We'll get there.
Amber Stanik: Yeah.
Brad Beene: We'll get there. Uh-huh. Mm-hmm. Mm
Alecia Stuaan: I might forgive you if you take us to Germany.
Brad Beene: Okay, we can work on that.
Amber Stanik: Yeah.
Brad Beene: We can work on that. Yeah, yeah. be because
Amber Stanik: They have really good waffles.
Brad Beene: isn't that Belgium?
Amber Stanik: Well, Germany also has really good waffles. I ate some the when I went in twenty seventeen and they this place was amazing. Best waffles I had in my life.
Brad Beene: Okay. I've never had waffles when I was in Germany because I don't know why, but just never had waffles. They have good bread. I love their bread. And you know, that
Amber Stanik: They have good beer too. There's this beer called Shoof. I think it's called Shoof. And it was really good too. I remember it being really good. That was also in twenty sixteen, so I could be misremembering.
Brad Beene: Yeah, yeah. No.
Amber Stanik: so why does local support still matter when you've got a global manufacturer behind the product?
Brad Beene: Well man, wow, you know, it matters tremendously, you know, because at the end of the day, these machines, you know, live in a harsh environment, right? whether you're talking about tillage where you're just dragging iron through the dirt, you know, and and I know that's way oversimplified, but you know, or you know, you've got our spreader which has tons of technology on it, you know, things happen, you know. Nothing's perfect. you know, and to have somebody on that local level that's just, you know, down the road mean means everything, you know, because there are times that, you know, while we don't get a, you know, we don't have a ton of major catastrophes or anything like that, but when something happens, you need to know you've got somebody, you know, just down the road from you. And you know, and people people wanna know that somebody's just down the road from you, you know. they they don't i if it wasn't for the local dealers, I wouldn't be sitting here, you know. I wouldn't talking to you or, you know, even in this role, you know, you've gotta have boots on the ground, you know, and and I do everything I can to keep my boots on the ground, every chance I get. you know, I'm like I said I I'm out here in Amarillo right now and I have been averaging being in Amarillo every other week for the past two months, I think, you know. And it hadn't been because of problems or anything, but you know, people, you know, yes, they want the contact with the local dealer, of course, but but they also enjoy seeing, you know, us company guys, you know, digging in the dirt with and out to visit with and following up, you know, even after the sale, you know. going and doing that follow up, say, hey, you know, you've run it for a month now or a year now. Has has anything popped up that you have questions about? Or, you know, what would you change if we were to change something? What would you change? You know, and and carrying that feedback back with us, you know, I got some yesterday with Steven, you know, some s something he's never mentioned to me before. He's like, Brad, would y'all look at changing that? I'm like, Yeah, that's a pretty simple change. I said, I can't Can't guarantee it, right? But I said, you know, I get what you're saying. He said, Well, it'd just make it just a little bit easier and he said, It's not really anything that costs any money. I said, Of course, I'll carry that back, you know. And I've been dealing with Steven basically since I started dealing with parallel ag, you know. And it was just something that over time he's like, Hey, look, if you just tweak that, it makes it better. I'm like, Agreed, you know? And so now I've gotta remember to send the email off and get that taken care of.
Amber Stanik: Yeah.
Brad Beene: So maybe when I watch this back or you know, I'll I
Alecia Stuaan: You'll remember.
Brad Beene: I'll remember. Yeah. So there's my note right there.
Alecia Stuaan: All right.
Brad Beene: So
Alecia Stuaan: We I know for a fact you have at least watched one of these other podcasts. So you know
Brad Beene: Yes.
Alecia Stuaan: how we typically wrap these up with a round of rapid fire questions. Amber, you're up. And Brad, quick answers, first thing that comes to mind, no thinking aloud.
Brad Beene: Yes, ma'am.
Amber Stanik: All right, are you ready? The hand of our mustache. How much of how much of your personality is responsible on it for a scale of one to ten?
Brad Beene: five. There's a funny story behind the mustache, by the way.
Alecia Stuaan: Okay, I we I nope nope
Amber Stanik: Okay.
Alecia Stuaan: I was going to we got to hear the original story of how the handlebar mustache started in the first round
Brad Beene: Yeah.
Alecia Stuaan: of recording on this. So we need this one you can think through and give us that story because it's a good story.
Brad Beene: Okay, okay. Yeah, yeah, 'cause that that was that was that was an interesting question. You know, I've never I've never really thought about it being connected to my personality, right? So you ask me
Amber Stanik: Mm-hmm.
Brad Beene: that, I'm like, five? I don't know. You know. Because the the mustache started out out of sheer boredom, right? I d my last job I covered two thirds of the state of Texas. I drove everywhere and you know, I drove a lot of miles and my goatee had gotten a little long and I hadn't trimmed it and I started playing with it driving down the road and I go, wait, wait a minute, we might could we might could twist that out a little bit, you know? And this all started I guess in twenty nine yeah, twenty nineteen. So it was before COVID. And 'cause I had a lot of people ask me if that was a COVID mustache, right? And I was like, no, I was this dumb before COVID did. But And so it started out, and so I started jacking with it, twisting it out, and and my youngest son, he said, Daddy, when are you gonna put your mustache back to normal? And and and I also you know I figured that my buddies would make fun of me and this, that, and the other, and I mean it's hair, you cut it, it grows back, it's not a big deal, right? And so anyhow,
Amber Stanik: Mm-hmm.
Brad Beene: none of them really made fun of me. And so I'm like, well, I'll just carry it out and see how long it takes them to make fun of. And they never really did. And so it just kinda stuck, you know. Yeah,
Alecia Stuaan: Here we are seven years later.
Brad Beene: yeah, seven years later and it's still there and yeah. you know, some some say it's kind of become a trademark or whatever. I don't know. Like I said, it doesn't really have anything to do with my personality. It started out as a joke and you know, it bothered my kids, which was great,
Alecia Stuaan: Really?
Brad Beene: and
Amber Stanik: Mm-hmm.
Brad Beene: you know and so I'm like, Yeah, let's just keep going. You know, so yeah, that's kinda where it started. But no, it wasn't a there's not really anything tied to my personality per se. You know, I th I think the last time I was clean shaven was right before I got married and that was twenty two years ago. So yeah, yeah, there's a baby face there's a baby face Brad Bean picture floating around somewhere on Facebook
Alecia Stuaan: Off to
Amber Stanik: So
Alecia Stuaan: go search for it and throw it in this podcast.
Amber Stanik: yeah. We're
Brad Beene: Yeah, yeah.
Amber Stanik: gonna pop it up right beside your face.
Brad Beene: Yeah, yeah, yep, yep. So yeah. But yeah, no, so that's that's where the mustache came from. It was just just kinda by accident.
Amber Stanik: Okay, cool. All right, so wax comb or just vibes?
Brad Beene: Away, huh?
Alecia Stuaan: For the mustache.
Amber Stanik: For the mustache, wax comb or just vibes for the stash.
Brad Beene: no no, so it's it's hair dryer, comb and wax.
Amber Stanik: hairdryer like you actually like hair like blow dry it? With like a little be comb?
Brad Beene: Yeah. yeah. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yep. Yeah.
Alecia Stuaan: Like blow dry it?
Amber Stanik: Does the comb have like four little like little sprouts on it?
Brad Beene: No, it's it's a regular comb, you know, you don't have to have a special one. No, but yeah, yeah. Yep, no.
Alecia Stuaan: I'm just picturing like a mascara wand. Like a
Amber Stanik: Yeah, that's what I was trying to
Alecia Stuaan: like a teeny tiny round brush.
Amber Stanik: Well
Brad Beene: No. No, just no, it just It's just,
Amber Stanik: Would love to see a how to video on this.
Alecia Stuaan: Ha ha
Brad Beene: you know, you just roll it in there and you know, of course I can't really see it in this screen. I hope I got it back right, but you know
Amber Stanik: Yeah.
Brad Beene: just yeah. Hair you gotta have that you gotta blow dry it, and then
Amber Stanik: Mm-hmm.
Brad Beene: you gotta have the blow dryer to heat the wax up to get it good and pliable. You know, otherwise if you don't, you'll pull every hair out in that mustache. So yeah.
Amber Stanik: Ooh, okay.
Alecia Stuaan: Are you speaking from personal experience?
Brad Beene: Of course.
Amber Stanik: So all
Brad Beene: Yep, yep.
Amber Stanik: right. So next question, one German word you picked up from working at Amazon.
Brad Beene: so well I'm gonna go with this 'cause I gotta be quick. Moin.
Alecia Stuaan: Which means
Brad Beene: Mm-hmm.
Amber Stanik: Yeah, what does that mean?
Brad Beene: Good morning. Good morning.
Alecia Stuaan: Okay.
Brad Beene: But it's a regional
Amber Stanik: Okay.
Brad Beene: deal. It's a regional. And it's it's it's so the different regions of Germany have different slang terms and different dialects and some get along and some don't and that kind of deal, you know, just like anywhere else, right? But yeah, Moin.
Amber Stanik: Okay.
Brad Beene: but but I also had a German lesson one night with one of my German colleagues where we were sitting we were in Münster. Is where we were and and he said, So are you gonna trying to learn German? I said, I said, Man, it's just so different. He goes, Well, how? I said, Man, I listen to you guys talk and I try to pick up on little things and I can't. He says, Well look, Brad, he goes, What is you know, beer is beer, right? I said, Yeah, beer. That's how we say beer. He goes, You know how we say beer in Germany? I said, How? He goes, Beer.
Alecia Stuaan: Ha ha ha.
Brad Beene: And I'm like, y'all really do. Yeah, it is. It's just a E I in there instead of two E's, you know. and in fact, so so to to to jump on this and and I'm giving a another shameless plug to my youngest son. I think it was two weeks ago, he well, s a little while ago he decided he wanted to learn German for school. He didn't wanna do you know. Because I work for a German company, so he got to pick his foreign language, so it was Germany. So my wife downloaded Duolingo, I think, for him. And as of I think it was two weeks ago, he had done over 700 days sh in a row of German lessons on Duolingo. And we don't
Amber Stanik: That's awesome.
Brad Beene: we don't prompt him to do it. He gets up every morning. He is a complete creature of habit. He gets up every morning, he brushes his teeth. He sits down on the couch and he does his his German lesson and you don't speak to him until he's done with that German lesson.
Alecia Stuaan: Mm.
Amber Stanik: Awesome.
Brad Beene: But but yeah, I mean over seven hundred days straight. So I thought that's pretty cool. And you
Alecia Stuaan: That is.
Brad Beene: know, the biggest contribution
Amber Stanik: Yeah.
Brad Beene: I have is moine and beer.
Amber Stanik: Moin. Yeah.
Alecia Stuaan: And beer and beer.
Amber Stanik: Mm-hmm.
Brad Beene: Yeah, sorry. Okay, next
Amber Stanik: if Amazon made an energy drink, what would it be?
Brad Beene: They made an energy drink. I don't know anything about energy drinks. I know that sounds bad. I had one Red Bull
Amber Stanik: Same
Brad Beene: about 25 years ago and I've never had another one since. I don't know.
Amber Stanik: I don't drink them either, so
Brad Beene: Okay. I mean, you know, I got my little tootin' totem cup here full of iced tea.
Amber Stanik: Just give it like a cool name.
Brad Beene: okay. So I well look, I can't think of a really cool name
Amber Stanik: Moin.
Brad Beene: right now, but but no, no, but if they came up with an energy drink, I promise you it'd start with a C. Because if you look at our equipment line up, dang near everything in the lineup starts with a C. So
Alecia Stuaan: So it'd be can of caffeine, only in German.
Brad Beene: nah they'd come up with something cooler than that, you know. I mean these guys are pretty good when it comes to that kind of stuff. But I mean, you know, you like I said, and start with a C because everything starts with a C. I that's the best I
Amber Stanik: Okay.
Brad Beene: can do without thinking too hard about it.
Amber Stanik: All right. Would you rather do a demo in a dust storm or a mud pit?
Brad Beene: Ooh Neither one of are fun, but I do most of in a dust storm, so we'll just stick with what I know.
Amber Stanik: W worst customer question you've had to keep a straight face through.
Brad Beene: my gosh. I don't know that it's actually the question, but it but it's when I tell people like like I mentioned earlier, talking about the spreader that I can spread urea a hundred and twenty foot, and they go, No, you can't. Well, yeah, I can. And they said, No, you can't do that. I said, Okay, you're right, I can't. You know, I mean, how do you argue with it? I mean, they're just like,
Amber Stanik: Yeah.
Brad Beene: No, you can't. I'm like, Yeah, I can, you know.
Amber Stanik: Mm-hmm.
Brad Beene: yeah, no, that's That that's yeah, that's my favorite. But I also like some of those questions you get you get especially if you you spend enough time at farm shows, you get people that don't have any kind of clue what you do and they go, Well, how does it work? I said, well, you know, you you explain a little bit to and then and I said, and then we're also using some PFM technology. yeah, yeah, I've heard of that. I said, yeah, really? Yeah, yeah, I've heard of that PFM technology. I said I said, do you know what P PFM technology is? well I've heard of it. I said, Well let me tell you what PFM technology is. Well what is it? I said, It's pure freaking magic.
Alecia Stuaan: See, the thing is about those farm shows is you don't need those twenty two year old marketing girls to get the the customers in the booth. You got the stash.
Brad Beene: Yeah,
Amber Stanik: Yeah.
Brad Beene: yeah, yeah, yeah. There you go. There you go. You know, but the funny thing is, I get sometimes I get more comments about my cowboy hat than I do my mustache, believe it or not. Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Alecia Stuaan: Interesting.
Brad Beene: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Next.
Amber Stanik: Most underrated piece in the Amazon lineup.
Brad Beene: most underrated piece is I think it's the high speed disc quite frankly. you know, because you know there's there's a lot of high speed disc out there on the market and you know they just think that it's a it's a niche or a fad that's that's gonna disappear. Well twenty five years says it's probably not going anywhere. So
Amber Stanik: One thing you wish every farmer understood about tillage.
Brad Beene: One thing I wish every farmer understood about tillage is that there's more than one way to skin a cat. you know, you don't always necessarily have to do it the way you've done it for the last hundred years. You know, there's some things that that are tried and true and you know, you need to do but but there's also there's also some new and better ways to do things new these days.
Amber Stanik: Coffee energy drink or straight adrenaline on a demo day?
Brad Beene: Sweet tea, baby.
Alecia Stuaan: Ha ha One thing you guys do get right in the south.
Brad Beene: But
Amber Stanik: Yes.
Brad Beene: yeah, yeah. Mm-hmm. Yep.
Amber Stanik: Song that's playing song that's playing when you song that's playing when you pull into a demo site.
Brad Beene: I typically am on the phone. 'Cause, you know, it never fails. Nobody calls you. Nobody calls you when you don't have anything to do. They all call when you're busy and so yeah, typically I'm rolling up to a demo going, Hey, I gotta go
Amber Stanik: Yeah.
Brad Beene: Yeah, unfortunately. Unfortunately. but no I I do I do love me some A C D C. You know, that's kinda, you know Sell sell all salesmen are adrenaline junkies, so anything that hypes you up, you know.
Amber Stanik: Yeah.
Brad Beene: although although ever since Matthew McConaughey covered choosing Texas on Saturday night l whatever that one of them shows is, all I can sing it all that's been rolling through my head is that song for the past three days. Every time I open Facebook it's playing and I'm like, Wow,
Alecia Stuaan: He spoke.
Brad Beene: wow. And then yesterday I was whistling the Sesame Street song. I don't know where that came from. Yeah, yeah. Mm-hmm.
Alecia Stuaan: So he's gonna be listening to Sesame
Amber Stanik: I don't even know if I know that song.
Alecia Stuaan: Street. Okay. Next question.
Brad Beene: Yeah, yeah. Mm-hmm.
Amber Stanik: Yep. Would you rather every tractor come with a laugh track or every implement have had its own theme song?
Brad Beene: I think they all need a theme song, right? It's like a hype song, you know, or or you know, all these little league kids now have their walk up songs, you know. Yeah. Yeah.
Amber Stanik: They do, yeah.
Brad Beene: I mean yeah, I think ever I think every tool needs to have a theme song, right?
Amber Stanik: Yes. All
Alecia Stuaan: For sure.
Brad Beene: Yep.
Amber Stanik: right. Last question. If you had to sell one piece of equipment using only interpretive dance, what would it be?
Alecia Stuaan: Ha ha ha.
Amber Stanik: And if you would love if you would like to act it out, go right ahead. We would
Alecia Stuaan: Please do. Please do.
Amber Stanik: love we would love to see it.
Brad Beene: Jeez Louise who wrote this crap
Alecia Stuaan: AI.
Brad Beene: Some twenty two year old marketing girl
Alecia Stuaan: That's neither of us, so yes.
Brad Beene: Yeah.
Amber Stanik: Yep. Mm.
Brad Beene: please.
Amber Stanik: We are the judges. Parallels got talent. Go right ahead.
Brad Beene: Yeah. Yeah. yeah, you're not gonna see me dance 'cause, you know, I've got as much rhythm as, you know, this lamp I'm sitting next to.
Alecia Stuaan: So I'm just imagining you like one of those floaty guys outside a car dealership.
Amber Stanik: He's just like
Brad Beene: man. Yeah. I I don't know, I guess just turn in circles and be a spreader. Yeah, I
Alecia Stuaan: Do the sprinkler.
Brad Beene: I can do that. Yeah,
Amber Stanik: Ten out of ten.
Brad Beene: yeah. Yeah, what that's it. wait, hey, wait till
Alecia Stuaan: Hit the golden button. You're going to Hollywood.
Amber Stanik: Mm-hmm.
Brad Beene: I break the Wait till I break the bull rider out. That embarrasses the hell out of my wife every time.
Amber Stanik: Ha ha.
Alecia Stuaan: Okay, now I need to see an example.
Amber Stanik: Yeah.
Brad Beene: man, yeah, no.
Alecia Stuaan: You think I'm kidding.
Brad Beene: Yeah, no, that's that's just that this is this is
Alecia Stuaan: Yeah.
Brad Beene: good, clean entertainment.
Alecia Stuaan: Okay, so we'll see the bull rider when you take us to Germany after you've had a few
Brad Beene: Yes.
Alecia Stuaan: morning beers.
Brad Beene: Yep, mm-hmm.
Amber Stanik: Yes.
Brad Beene: Yep. Yep. A hundred percent. Hundred percent. When we're in person, I'll I'll I'll do the bull rider.
Amber Stanik: We are ready for this.
Alecia Stuaan: One hundred percent.
Brad Beene: Yep, yep, yep.
Alecia Stuaan: As we talked about today, tillage and application aren't flashy, but they're where a lot of your season actually gets made or lost. Having the right tool for the country you're working in and someone behind it who knows the equipment makes the more difference than I am going to have to redo that. I just totally missed that.
Brad Beene: You were on a roll too. You're on a roll. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Alecia Stuaan: I was Okay. As we talked about today, Tilligent application, they aren't flashy, but they're where a lot of your season gets lost or made. Having the right tool for the country you're working in and someone behind it who actually knows the equipment, it makes a difference more than what most people would give it credit for. That wraps up this episode of the Parallel Path. Thanks you for spending some time with us today. If you enjoyed the conversation, Make sure to follow the podcast wherever you listen so you don't miss the next episode. And if there's a topic or guest you'd like us to cover, we'd love to hear from you. We'll see you next time on the Parallel Path. Yay, we're done. that was a good one. One hundred percent. Yes.
Brad Beene: Adios man. Good times, good times. This is fun.
Amber Stanik: That was
Brad Beene: Yeah, yeah.
Alecia Stuaan: So I'm
Brad Beene: So
Alecia Stuaan: gonna stop recording now.