You don’t need to know all of the answers — just where to find them

Farmers have long understood the importance of practicing networking, long before it even had a name.

If a fellow needs a little help, he learns who to call for whatever the precise job might be. If he doesn’t know who to call, he knows how to seek help in getting pointed in the right direction. 

And when the job is done well, that helping hand is promoted to everyone who might need the same type of work done on their own farm.

One of my dad’s often-repeated sayings was “we couldn’t farm without him!” — and he meant it wholeheartedly. 

His appreciative mantra covered everyone from the veterinarian who was also our neighbor and friend, to the happy-hearted livestock trucker, to the kindly neighborhood electrician and plumber, the busy equipment repairman, the dairy cattle artificial inseminator and many more.

I remember the jovial conversation at the kitchen table one day when Pete Smith, the electrician and plumber, made the comment that he appreciated Dad’s wholehearted support and praise, but maybe it was time to stop spreading the word. 

“I’m covered up!” Pete said. “I don’t know whether I’m comin’ or goin’ and my wife says the phone never stops ringing!”

A few years down the road, Pete said our farm alone kept him as busy as he wanted to be, and he had to tell people he was no longer taking on any business. The problem was, no matter how much he insisted, Pete’s phone didn’t stop ringing. Word of mouth had proven to be a little too successful.

I grew up in a time when a quick phone call asking for help was often the start of a lifelong friendship and partnership. If someone agreed to complete a job, they considered it an obligation to show up and see it through, long days stretching into night work.

“Here is the fellow to call, and you can count on him,” I often heard my father say as he jotted a phone number down for a young farmer starting out. 

Being able to count on someone was as valuable as gold.

Shared advice and encouragement flowed throughout all of the transactions and interactions, and we learned the importance of positive support just by being on the fringes of so many of my father’s conversations.

“I’m smart enough to know I don’t know it all, but most of the time I know who to call,” Dad often said. It was a great lesson in teamwork and networking in its finest form.