What’s Most Important?

• September 10, 2020
• Paul Neiffer

Today’s blog post will not cover any farm tax issues.  Instead, I will tell a couple of stories about what can be more important than taxes, accounting or even farming.

I spent the weekend with my oldest son, his wife and my 20 month old granddaughter (my only grandchild but a grandson is on the way and his due date is my birthday). My son is a fairly good golfer (about a 4 handicap) and I am decent but more like a 14 handicap.  We ended up playing four rounds of golf with one day teeing off at 4 pm in 114 degree heat.

We had a great time and on the last day we played a course near his house.  I was playing fairly well and I knew that I was close to my son’s score but did not know how close.  The last hole was a par 5 and I was 115 yards out with my 3rd shot over water.  I hit a good shot that landed on the green but spun back and went into the water.  Instead of getting upset about the shot, I hit another one which ended up about 1 foot from the hole and I tapped in for a “nice” bogey and ended up losing to my son by about 3 shots.  I think he shot a 75 and I shot a 78.

The moral of the story is not what I shot or whether I beat my son.  It is simply that I had a great time playing golf with my son and daughter-in-law and that I could do something with them that we all enjoyed.  Make sure to take the time to be with the important people in your life and don’t get upset about the lost birdie when sometimes a bogey is even better.

That is a story about me and my son.  My last story is about my dad and I.  My dad was born in 1912 on a farm in South Dakota and only had an 8th grade education.  I started operating a combine for my dad at about age 14 or 15 on a full-time basis and during my first year we had a lot of cheat grass in the wheat field.  The cheat grass will bind up the wheat and lay it over which becomes very slick.  

We were harvesting a field that had about 10 acres of fairly steep ground (probably 45 percent slopes or greater).  When I came to the matted down cheat grass on my first cut the combine slid down the hill a bit (not much – perhaps 10 or 15 feet but enough to get your attention).  I finished the cut and went to dump the grain and told my dad about the sliding.

I could tell that my dad did not quite believe me so he decided to get on the combine and show me how to cut the wheat.  I told my dad we were coming up the slick area and I could mentally see the smoke coming out of my dad’s ears.  We hit the slick and we did not slide 10 or 15 feet.  Rather, the combine completely turned 90 degrees and proceeded to buck and jump all way down the hill (about 300 feet).  I still remember opening the cab door to jump off the combine but I saw we were coming up to the disked area and I knew we would stop.

Once we stopped, my dad did not say anything and of course I did not say anything.  We proceeded to dump the grain and my dad turned to me with a smile on his face and said “Son, you know what you doing and I am getting off now”.

He very easily could have chewed me out or gotten really upset. Instead in his very own way he validated that I was qualified enough to operate the combine which was very important to a 15 year-old boy.

I hope both of these stories show that the little things in life with your kids or parents can be more important than the price of corn.

But I still wish I had beat my son in golf! 

, Ag General, Legacy Planning | 16 Comments »