The Farmer's Greatest Asset Podcast
The Farmer's Greatest Asset podcast is dedicated to supporting and empowering farmers by recognizing that their greatest assets are the knowledge, experience, mind and health. Hosted by husband-and-wife duo Jesse and Dr. Leah, this podcast combines their unique backgrounds to provide valuable insights. Together, they explore topics that help farmers thrive both personally and professionally. Tune in for a blend of practical advice, real conversations, while having a little fun along the way as they talk about all thing's agriculture and family.
The Farmer's Greatest Asset Podcast
What If The Farm’s Knowledge Lives Only In Your Head? Building A Farm That Survives The Farmer's Worst Day
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We share the story of a brutal farm accident, a long recovery, and the uncomfortable shift from lone operator to team leader. The conversation leads to a practical solution: a detailed workbook that gets the farmer’s know-how out of their head and into a plan others can run.
• Hip and wrist injuries, surgeries, and slow rehab
• Mental health, usefulness, and combine therapy
• Overcompensation, fatigue, and lingering limits
• Family milestones and pushing too hard post-injury
• Letting go of control and teaching the next hand
• Moving from doing tasks to leading a team
• The risk of undocumented knowledge on farms
• Building The Farmer’s Greatest Asset workbook
• Contacts, passwords, and emergency protocols
• Legacy planning and where documents live
• Why handwriting plans increases follow-through
• How community support fits into continuity
The workbook is available on our website uh the farmersgreatest asset dot com it is the workbook and if you have any interest in this if this is something like oh my goodness I need this for my farm or I’m going to buy this for my dad just just do it. Just purchase the book get it sent to you and as soon as you get it start writing in it.
Welcome And Health Update
SPEAKER_02The Farmer's Greatest Asset Podcast. We believe the Farm's Greatest Asset is the Farmer. Their knowledge, experience, mind, and health.
SPEAKER_03Welcome to the podcast. I'm Jesse.
SPEAKER_00And I'm Dr. Leah.
SPEAKER_03Well, good morning, good afternoon, good evening. Whenever you're listening to the podcast, I guess. This week I had a follow-up appointment with my hip doctor. Had a good report there, so we thought we'd report to you guys a little bit with um about my injury and my recovery and stuff like
The Accident And Immediate Aftermath
SPEAKER_03that.
SPEAKER_00Well, it's been almost two years since your hip replacement. Almost two and a half years since the accident. And it's kind of amazing to me like how fast it goes. Like I can't believe it's been that long already. But on the other side of that, also kind of like how slow it can go with recovery.
SPEAKER_03Right. Because it has been two and a half years and I'm still recovering.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. It takes a long time to get stronger, build those muscles back after you haven't used them. How does has that been discouraging to you? First of all, like recap people on kind of what happened where we are right now.
SPEAKER_03In July of 23, I got caught in a livestock trailer with fat cattle.
SPEAKER_00At our county fair.
SPEAKER_03At the county fair. It was not show cattle, it was open fat cattle that I was unloading of my own. And the door popped open. So I got trapped between the wall of the trailer and the cut gate and had a pretty serious uh hip fracture and dislocation and a left wrist fracture and dislocation.
SPEAKER_00And hand.
SPEAKER_03And hand.
SPEAKER_00The hand was pretty gnarly as well.
SPEAKER_03Right. So to spare you all the details, it was pretty rough.
SPEAKER_00So underwent the initial surgeries, the hand healed well. Um still have limited range of motion on the wrist. Right. Because those bones had they were separated and had to get brought back together.
SPEAKER_03I still have some carpal bones sewn together.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_03So my range of motion on my left hand is limited, but it still works.
SPEAKER_00And through that fall, although you couldn't walk, we got you into the combine, and you had to utilize that wrist
Nine Months Off Feet And Muscle Loss
SPEAKER_00repetitively while combining, which was very good for you mentally to get out there.
SPEAKER_03Well, being in the combine itself was the best therapy I could have had, I always say, because um it got me out of the house and it made me feel useful. Because that feeling of uselessness was pretty hard.
SPEAKER_00How long do you think you had that that feeling?
SPEAKER_03Well, it was that fall that it started to go away because I got out there.
SPEAKER_00Right.
SPEAKER_03Prior to that, all I could do was sit in a chair or somebody drive me around. Um and even that fall, it was I kind of pushed the limits into me driving. I was still non-weight bearing, so it meant I had a walker.
SPEAKER_00And it was your right hip, left wrist.
SPEAKER_03So I'd have to pull the truck up as close as I could, get the walker out. Somebody'd have to get the walker off the back of my pickup so I could get to the side of the combine. We put a lift on it so I could get to the lift. And then once I was in the combine, I was in the combine for the day. So once I could get to the combine, I felt pretty good. I didn't drink anything all day because I didn't want to have to get up and pee. Then it kind of all would kind of come back again in the evening because then I'd have to get out, go down the lift. Somebody'd have to get my walker and help me get to the truck. But it was those feelings were all going away slowly because I was able to get in the combine and I was able to shouldn't have been driving, but I was able to drive. So um, yeah.
SPEAKER_00One the big reason why we had to wait
Mental Health, Usefulness, And Harvest
SPEAKER_00the six months was because five weeks post-operatively you had gotten blood clots in your lungs. So they had to anticoagulate you, and then they had to kind of wait for that, as well as anytime you have a surgery, you want to wait a good six months to decrease the inflammation before you do another surgery, ideally.
SPEAKER_03So we were hoping the acetabulum would heal a little bit too.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Uh so when I had the hip fracture, he had to try to replace the acetabulum, which is the socket of the ball and socket joint, because it was annihilated. So instead of working with a cup, um, he had to put that cup back together and it it didn't heal. There were plates and screws in there. So he was I think he was hoping that would heal a little bit more.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Um and he ended up having to do a lot of bone grafting and uh used up all of the revision parts for a total hip replacement. Uh but during that six months, then I got avascular necrosis of the femoral head. So the bone died. And if you could see the MRIs, you could see where the hardware that he put in there to replace the socket was rubbing on the femoral head, the ball of the socket. Um just kind of wore a groove into it, had a broken screw in there.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's a lot of of technical things that a lot of people probably won't understand. But um there's a lot going on. There was a lot going on. There's a lot of hardware in the hip that was evident on the x-rays that we saw on Monday. You didn't walk for nine months. Even being in a hospital bed for a couple of weeks, you will have a lot of atrophy of the muscle. And um, so that nine months, all of the muscle in that leg went away. And there were other muscles in your back and lower back and in the other hip that had to compensate for all of that lack of use for you to hold yourself upright. So it has been a process of rebuilding those muscles and getting you to stand upright or properly for your body and also to start in your walking.
SPEAKER_03So, still two and a half years after I got hurt, I still I still get wore out in the evenings. So then I end up putting all of my weight on my left hip. So I'm starting to feel a little bit in the the left hip from overcompensating and walking, not with a normal gait.
SPEAKER_00Because even in in the office, there was still limping going on. And the reason that we're sharing a lot of this is because you know, there are young men and older men, farmers especially, that get injuries, and you just want it all fixed right away, and you want it
Complications, Surgeries, And Setbacks
SPEAKER_00to be like it was. And unfortunately, your hip is never going to be like it was before. There's no surgeon that can do a better job than the original creator. So it's learning how to adjust and work with what we have and just figure out your new normal. And and that has been not only for you, but for me as well, living this life with you. And because there was an abrupt change and it was, you know, initially it was just all about trying to get you comfortable and healing you because you were very affected initially, and and then kind of dealing with the pain and having to us having to relearn our behaviors and habits around caring for you. Um even just like things like you had to have somebody help you put your socks on, you had to, you know, you couldn't carry even a cup of coffee. Like, so there were a lot of things initially that we had to change, and then you started taking those roles back, but there are still limitations, and it's sometimes hard to live with those, especially as a man.
SPEAKER_03It was at the point where I couldn't even cut my fingernails or some stuff like that.
SPEAKER_00And I couldn't do it right. It is really hard to cut the fingernails into another person. Even as a surgeon.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it was it was an experience. So at that point, it happened at the county fair, and Henry had the chance to show three weeks later in uh the final drive, which is a show where champions and reserve champions and stuff can come back and then um show against each other, against other counties, and at that point somebody asked him asked me how I was doing because I willed myself to go, and I said if I can go through this pain and my children never have to go through this pain, uh that that's what I'll do. Because it was brutal. But I was there.
SPEAKER_00I we hauled uh a golf cart there to go to that show, and your walker, and like there was a lot of paraphernalia and a wheelchair, and a chair for you to sit in.
SPEAKER_03That yeah, it was so then a couple weeks and a half later, Henry had the opportunity to show in the Governor's Charity Steer Show at the Iowa State Fair, and we were so looking forward to that all year long, and I willed myself to go to that.
SPEAKER_00It was a wonderful experience.
SPEAKER_03I gotta go, right? It was awesome. The whole Governor's Charity Steer Show experience is amazing. So we can back up a little bit. I have missed one Iowa State Fair since I was probably four years old. So it's just kind of our thing to go to the Iowa State Fair, and we have our kids have shown there also, but then to get a show in that show, I wasn't gonna miss it.
Family Events And Pushing Too Hard
SPEAKER_03Had somebody help Henry take the calf up and all the equipment, and we loaded the car up with all my equipment, my equipment, and mom and dad come with their pickup and thank God for scooters.
SPEAKER_00Like that thank God for that scooter that could help you get around because it took for you just to go out in the fair, like two of us had to be walking in front of you to block the people because you had your you had to keep your legs straight.
SPEAKER_03So I didn't I was never in any brace for my leg or my hip. So you really didn't know that my hip was jacked up. I was in a brace for my wrist. Um, but beyond that, and uh because I willed myself to go to that thing, I probably looked halfway normal riding around in the scooter, but you guys would have to run roadblock for my leg, so nobody'd hit my leg, and that's when I come home after that with blood clots.
SPEAKER_00Well, I think that it was just too much for your body too soon. Not that you sh not that I didn't want you to go, but I think it was just a lot, and your body needed to heal. We we pushed it too much, I think.
SPEAKER_03Probably.
SPEAKER_00And then got the blood clots, and so we had all of that recovery time. You you and Henry both got really sick after the fair. We all did. It was kind of like a I think a big, huge, stressful thing. Like we kind of got through going to the state fair, and it was kind of it was like after the holidays when you get together and you have all this stuff going on at one time, and then you all crash and get sick.
SPEAKER_03It was totally let's power through, let's get there, let's will ourselves to get there, and then so what I'm hearing from you is it was it was a very humbling experience. It was all of it. Even going into fall, normally in the combine, I'm the one that runs the combine. I would go out to the combine in the mornings and say, I'll just do it myself. I can get it ready, I'll service it, you know, on the beanhead, I'll change the guards and the sickles, and because I can do it faster than anybody else, so I'll just do it. Henry at the time was 15, and he would come along with me prior to that, but um, and maybe help, but it was always I would just do it. So that was one blessing in disguise, and that I had to teach him so he could learn the combine, and it was teaching me to slow down, I guess. Teach him. But it's humbling when you can't do it. You just have to sit there in your pickup and hope
Humility, Letting Go, And Teaching Henry
SPEAKER_03that he does it right. Hope that whoever does it right, because you can't do it.
SPEAKER_00How did you mentally get through that time?
SPEAKER_03I didn't. I struggled. Because we even had fat cattle to sell. And normally the way I have our loading area set up, I could load cattle by myself. And uh we had two potloads of cattle that had to go out there shortly after that, and sat in the truck and watched somebody else set up for me and try to load the cattle, and I could remember sitting in the truck just screaming. One because I couldn't do it, mainly that was why I was screaming, but um I thought they were doing it wrong. They weren't doing it my way.
SPEAKER_00Um because you had always just taken care of things and had them just come and help. It had never been a situation where you were not involved. Right?
SPEAKER_03And it was somebody fully capable of handling cattle. I mean, he had he was a guy that was working for us and he has his own cattle, and but I couldn't do it. That was hard. That was hard sitting there watch him set everything up and load my cattle because I couldn't do it. So I don't know how I handle it, I don't think I handled it at all. It was bad.
SPEAKER_00In looking back at it, over time, you having to basically step away from your farm and allow other people to do the work that you had been doing, all of the work. Like you because you couldn't do it. It was a process making you and I both aware that we can't be the only ones doing the day-to-day stuff. Like that is we definitely learned the value of a team and the importance of a team. And it can't just be on your shoulders.
SPEAKER_03We learned the hard way that even though we always had had an employee or a couple or three employees, I was still there basically. They were just kind of there helping me. It wasn't they were doing the task for the business.
SPEAKER_00So that has shifted.
SPEAKER_03So I learned that the hard way that they I don't
From Doing The Work To Building A Team
SPEAKER_03hire employees, so I can do the work and they can be there with me. We hire employees so they can accomplish tasks while we run the business and do other important tasks.
SPEAKER_00More like working on the business, not just in the business. And I think that you and I still both kind of struggle with that.
SPEAKER_03I do. And I I don't know, I take pride in working on the farm and doing those jobs. And so it's hard to give up the responsibility of some of that stuff.
SPEAKER_00Well, because when it's when you're working on the business, um the busy work feels good, right? It's not all the big stuff. Not all the planning and financing, finances and it's those quote unquote easy tasks.
SPEAKER_03They're just automatic and you can just do them and the productivity is a checklist, right?
SPEAKER_00So there's something. Oh, I got that done. It's like me and mowing grass. Like I really I enjoy mowing grass because in the you know, it's something that anybody can do, and I have a hard time letting it go. But when I do it, it and it's done, it looks nice, and I accomplish something. Um, sometimes when you're working on the business, it's just mundane.
SPEAKER_03It's avoiding doing the hard things, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yep. The things that take more from us and have more shadow work that needs to be dealt with. And so that is that is something that has been a big shift. But allowing our team to step into the roles that they are fully capable of doing and us not hold them back. Um because it's been fun watching our I I don't want to call them employees, our team members. It's been fun watching them blossom into you know becoming um you know a teammate part of the team and not just somebody who shows up and clocks in. Definitely s makes you see them differently and makes you appreciate them more. Also the vulnerability of not being able to do it physically and having to allow someone to do that. And I think it just took time for you to grow to a place that you felt comfortable with that. And maybe you still don't feel comfortable with it.
SPEAKER_03Well I'm getting better getting better.
SPEAKER_00So if if anyone out there is listening and you have had to go through anything like this or you're in the middle of this kind of not where you want to be physically or if you've been limited to what you can do if you had to have a hip replacement or if you know you had a small injury or a large injury on your farm, realize that growing through it is it just takes time.
SPEAKER_03A lot of time. And it's been two and a half years.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. And we still have I mean we still have a ways to go um not only with you physically but with us moving forward and recovering from everything that happened from that.
SPEAKER_03There was a lot of sequele in the injury not just the injury you know things that you don't even think about there is a lot that happens on the farm that
The Hidden Knowledge Problem On Farms
SPEAKER_03uh is just in my head that you had no idea I'll go back to having to sell cattle. You had no idea who to call to sell those cattle. And by the grace of God I was still able to be here and talk you through some of those things. But I was physically just not able to do any of it. That led us to creating a book help the farm survive and thrive and pass on the legacy and pass on the knowledge and experiences that are all just in the farmer's head. And that's where the farmer's greatest asset come from that we need to realize that the farmer is the greatest asset. It's not all of your equipment or all of your land those are huge assets but none of that works unless the farmer is around so we created a book.
SPEAKER_00So that led us to create um the farmer's greatest asset the workbook um and it is basically the farmer's brain on paper Jesse was able to come home that day but had he not I would have been completely lost. I didn't come home that day if you would have passed and had had that tragedy been ended differently um I was involved in I mean you and I talked about day-to-day operations so I was involved in the operation I I take care of the bookkeeping portion of the farm and also you and I talk through decision making but I you had no idea who to talk to or I don't know who to call I don't if something's breaks down I don't know who the people are to reach out to you know I I grew up on a farm but I didn't help on the farm I was more in the house and took on those roles and that was kind of my
Creating The Farmer’s Greatest Asset Workbook
SPEAKER_00role in in our operation like we made decisions on fertilizer and those types of things like we would talk through them but I didn't know what would go on what field everything was planted but I didn't know when to spray fungicide. I didn't know what to look for I none of those things. So creating the workbook was as much getting your brain on paper but it's it's kind of an insurance policy for the spouse as well. I wouldn't have known what to do and our employees didn't make any of those decisions either so they wouldn't have known what to do and we would have backpedaled significantly because then I would have to go back to doing everything that our co-op told us to do or our chemical guy told us to do and we have been like creating our own which is the wrong thing by the way don't do what your salesman says you should do well pluses and minuses not that the salesmen the salesmen are are there to help um but you know you are in charge of of the health of your soil just like you are in charge of the health of your body so you no one knows your farm like you do. Like no person knows a farm like the farmer who goes in and puts his blood sweat and tears and or her blood sweat and tears into that soil um because it's more than just or livestock. Or livestock because it's more than just you know what seed choice you put out there or what fertilizer. It's how you bring everything together it's like making a recipe of love for the soil. And that's what farmers and ranchers pour into their crop and into their livestock.
unknownRight.
SPEAKER_03So we created the workbook and it is very detailed uh so should there be a massive injury and the farmer or rancher can't make those decisions you have basically a workbook to work by so it's about documenting the farm and putting the farmer's brain on paper and passing on the knowledge and experiences that you've gained and the failures and the wins and there is there is nothing like it on the market that we know of we have talked to some individuals and they have even said that that there is nothing like this on the market and it's really just about documenting the farm in the farmer's brain.
SPEAKER_00So it goes from key contacts from your seed reps to your to the guy who changes the tires on the tractor to your cattle buyers so everything is in there you have there's space that you can write down exactly how do you utilize those people when you call them all of the all there is room for you to document everything that is in the farmer or rancher's brain.
What The Workbook Documents
SPEAKER_03So we're trying to create some sort of system that you can put on paper so somebody else can continue on the operation there's a section on emergencies.
SPEAKER_00So you know if you would need to move the cattle because something happened there was a flooding in the in the pasture or you know it it kind of has all those contingency plans that you would know but I wouldn't necessarily know what to do or who to call um or even how to think about doing that. And just people that I would be able to lean on and trust in those situations people that you would go to that I know could would come and help me.
SPEAKER_03And that being said thank God for good community because we had neighbors show up and while I was in the hospital neighbors brought some food for the kids and um well a lot of people offer help. Yes there was a lot of people offer help and that's that is across all agriculture that there's always farmers that are just jump at the opportunity just to help their neighbor and you can write down who you should call for help.
SPEAKER_00Who do you trust to you know come over and help that kind of stuff well even as far as like these are the websites that I go to these are my this is my login information for that website. The PIN code to your phone you never know what know what you need to get off of there especially pictures right so those are important things that you need to be able to get onto somebody's phone to grab and and have those types of memories from as well so there's a section in it in the book for that as well as the legacy planning.
SPEAKER_03So it's not a legacy plan but it's more about sparking the conversation and it's a place for you to start writing it down to think about it. It could be the legacy plan the estate plan though the secession plan if you talk to a lawyer they're gonna say it needs to be done by a lawyer but at least it's a place to start writing that stuff down and what you want to happen because for whatever reason as farmers we don't talk about that kind of stuff and we need to but uh it's it's a place to start that kind of stuff. And also where you keep those things if you have an actual secession plan estate plan you know all those things if they're filed away somewhere you know in the safe or something like that it's this is a place to have
Emergencies, Contacts, And Community Support
SPEAKER_03it where it is located.
SPEAKER_00The the book has there's so much information um that is housed in your brain and this is a place to put it all together. Right.
SPEAKER_03Outside of your mind and it so it's a nice looking book it's a leather hardcover book that could sit you know on your office desk if you want it to it could look nice on the the bookshelf I believe and I know that if you write things down they are four times more likely to happen. It's better to have things written down you know handwritten. And not that to say having things in your phone and your computer are bad but having it handwritten is more likely to happen.
SPEAKER_00Going through the book with your significant other I think is an important thing as well to make you sit down together and go through what need what would need to be done. Right. And think through those things together. This is a book that every farm and ranch needs. And whether it's our book or you just start the conversation on your own uh it's important in the agricultural community to have this knowledge documented it is the true legacy of the farm there's so much knowledge that's passed from father to son or father to daughter or mother to daughter that is not documented that can get lost. And this is a way to document that true legacy not just the land but the actual knowledge that's built generationally so I'm gonna come back and it may seem archaic but having it written down is more effective than having it in your phone or your computer.
SPEAKER_03Not that you shouldn't do that and have those there but having it written down and in a safe place whether it be on your office bookshelf or on your office desk and people should know that you have the book because there's a place for those passwords and if they need it then they could go find those passwords to get into your computer because if it's in your computer nobody knows the password to your computer or to your email.
SPEAKER_00So if if I need to go get reports off of
Passwords, Processes, And Legacy Planning
SPEAKER_00for us John Deere operations like I need to be able to have the password to get in there or reset your password or so all of that information is very important to get out of just someone's head so the book is available on our website uh the farmersgreatest asset dot com it is the workbook and if you have any interest in this if this is something like oh my goodness I need this for my farm or I'm going to buy this for my dad just just do it. Just purchase the book get it sent to you and as soon as you get it start writing in it. It's very valuable information. You never know when an emergency can happen to you.
SPEAKER_03It's like they say about insurance it's one of those things that you hope you never need but every farm and ranch needs the knowledge and experience and memories and those things to be passed on. So that's why we say take care of yourself because if you're not here to operate your farm the farm doesn't operate this book is a $150 book to help your legacy and your farm succeed it's a really cheap insurance policy.
SPEAKER_00I don't know any insurance that costs $150 So this is just a small little component of you know what we want to do here with at the Farmer's Greatest Asset. You know it's part health part knowledge part education but definitely a lot in legacy and this is how you can document and get it on paper to move your legacy forward we just don't want you to have to learn the hard way like we did like I said if I could go through this pain so my kids don't have to we are just trying to help you get through it easier so you don't have to struggle. The workbook is available again on the farmersgreatest asset dot com and we want to thank you all for listening today.
SPEAKER_03And remember it is a good day.
SPEAKER_00To have a great day bye
