Nick Welker - Shelby, Montana | @WelkerFarms | After Hours Ag Podcast

[Music]

welcome back to another episode of after

our zag podcast I've got a guest with me

Nick Welker from Welker Farms he's

joining us here in his home base office

here right yep yep yep there are offic

outside our shop so a lot of stuff's

happening in and out of here but a lot

more than we intended for this room to

be yeah

it's a lot of coffee drinking yes and

Chip

eating and having guests stop in to

visit you occasionally that too yeah we

were just in the tractor with his

brother Scott make sure you check out

that episode as well where you get to

hear about what he's thinking about

what's on his mind and how the whole

YouTuber Farm tuber thing has affected

him and and what he's he's done with it

and we're definitely going to dive into

that a little bit with you or maybe a

lot we'll see yeah but first of all to

kick things off Nick what is a a

background about you and your experience

in your family so I'm uh my older

brother to Scott or as many you know leg

arms um grew up together on the farm

went off to college uh I had intent to

farm when I was younger then it kind of

went away was planning on going into

Aviation was going to be a Pilot Air

Force and then corporate and Commercial

and kind of went through air traffic

control and then in the process of

waiting for a gig in air trft control uh

came back to the farm and our Farm grew

during that time a bunch of Acres were

added and so I kind of just kept farming

and then I just said you know what maybe

maybe career in aviation isn't for me

maybe I need to be farming so that's

where that really took off um and then

from then on I just worked with my dad

and my brother um throughout and the

farm has continued to grow and things

have happened married kids all sorts of

things and then of course eventually

YouTube hit the mix and so yeah it's

been a it's been quite quite an

adventure so far been pretty pretty

thrilled with it yes tell me tell us

about the time when you were maybe at

that decision making point of do I go

back to farming do I just like duck out

of it all together and go do something

else with my life well I I when I was um

before I went off to college basically

my parents told me like you're you're

not you're not doing much like you you

need to go find something to do because

clearly your heart isn't in this and

you're being kind of a bum so so I so in

the process I had a cousin that was

going into Aviation and I KN I knew him

real well and we got along well and and

well you should look at this too Nick

and in the process I was like this is

pretty cool and did my Discovery flight

and everything and so that's how that

happened then when I came back to the

farm it was I think living in Denver for

four years um I I got to experience uh

life off the farm and uh and I realize

living with a neighbor 20 ft from you or

50 ft from you and and having the police

call in you for using airsoft guns and

popcs in your backyard and all kinds of

things this was here no this was in

Denver yeah yeah yeah my neighbor yeah

uh that I realized there's a lot of

freedoms that you have that you know you

just take for granted so uh and there

just a lot of things I come back to

Montana and spend some up here between

semesters or whatever it was summer

break and I just like this is just so

nice um so when I got back and was

farming and and things were picking up I

I think I just really felt like the Lord

was telling me you need to you to stay

here um and and my the career path that

I wanted I thought I wanted as it turned

out I'm I'm I'm glad I didn't go down

that route so good now you didn't come

back alone I understand you maybe

brought someone else back with you uh no

no no I came back alone okay yeah yep

yeah I came back alone and that was that

20091 and then in uh so that have been

yeah four years later so 2014 is when I

got married okay but I met her after I

got back so okay okay I thought maybe

you found her and came back no no no no

no she's a Detroit girl so didn't didn't

go to den River okay okay Still Still

Still d though so D City yeah speaking

of family you got kids I have four kids

yep yep oldest just turned seven

youngest is uh G to be two this fall so

that's the would that be the sixth

generation yeah two two two and a half

two two yeah my way off sorry um yeah

the fifth fifth generation fifth

generation with your kids mhm yep yep

fifth generation yeah so I'm fourth or

fifth very good very cool yeah cuz you

talk or we we see a lot out there or we

see a lot of situations out there where

people are deciding to leave the farm

not stay farming maybe it's for reasons

like there's not enough land and there's

another brother that's taking it over or

something like that or but sometimes

they just don't want to deal with the

hassle or or the challenges they want a

9 to5 8 to5 job and their time right

when they're when they're not work I was

talking to a friend about this the other

day there's still times I look at that

and go man I just wish I had a job like

that I had a retirement um I had

guaranteed days off I whenever you

wanted probably you actually had

weekends off a job that you could leave

work and not think about work and be

gone for work you don't live at your

work you're just literally it's

disconnected from your mind you can

focus on your family um you know

benefits Health Care all this stuff it's

there's a lot of times I'm like that

would be so nice I mean it's people It

farming is not for the lighthearted it's

not it's it's a difficult career yeah

extremely difficult and it I I feel like

a lot of people that aren't involved in

egg not everybody a lot appreciate it

but they just don't understand they have

no clue the level of stress and

decision- making and pressure that's put

on you and there I mean suicide suicide

rate's huge in egg there it's really sad

but there's a lot of guys that just

can't take it um a lot of pressure with

trying to continue their legacy their

grandfather great-grandfather great

great-grandfather passed on them and

they're the ones that are going to lose

it you know even though it's maybe not

their fault the economy or factors in

their environment when they're farming

other players in the area who knows what

it may be government regulations a lot

of times that can be the final um say so

uh it's it's tough and now as especially

a dad that's the new main pressure now

you know I'm out there sometimes dark to

dark um and I think to myself yeah I

might get to see my kids at lunch real

quick grab a bite to eat or but I'm gone

before they wake up and I come back

after they go to bed and I'm like I am

missing my kids years of my kids go to

go to church on Sunday and go back to

work after that you know or or weekends

you know you should be able to go off

and go spend some time so those kind of

realities are hitting more home now and

and you know okay you can pick your own

hours in this job but there's if you

want to be successful if you want to

continue you you've got to get the job

done and certain jobs you just have to

get done so especially when you are

dealing with backto back years of

drought hail yeah things like that and

and even when commodity commodity prices

were strong those years yeah you guys

didn't have a crop to to turn in to get

that in my lifetime we have never

matched both of them up where we had

good yields and good prices it's always

which is oh you know there has been a

allot years we've had great prices and

terrible yields well that's that's good

I mean at least we're still you know

we're not like terrible price of

terrible yields I mean not often have we

hit both bottom it's usually been one or

the other we've had great yields and low

prices or low prices and uh or or high

prices and low yields that's typically

what it's been which is honestly it's it

evens you out but it's that get ahead

like oh we could just nail it you know

one year it just be like that at those

prices and they were when wheat was 10

12 bucks you know I'm like if we could

just have an average year I mean it's

massive what it could do for us in land

payments and getting equipment payments

and and our own Financial helping us out

and so um yeah it's uh but you know it's

who knows what next going to bring those

of this year is I really don't know it's

it's like you're hanging on or you're

sewing seeds to see what kind of uh

Harvest you could get right it could be

big it could overflow the bins it could

be another problem here but it's

certainly that that opportunity it's a

risk but it's an also a possible reward

yeah and that's that's exactly what

farming is pretty amazing yeah well

there's certainly all those challenges

and um long hours and things what are

the positives you see with being in

farming and and even with your operation

well I mean it's it's it's there's quite

a list I mean one the beauty of it um

the land the sunrises the sun sets the

animals the smells um the quietness

sometimes or the busyness uh the family

working with your family your dad your

brother your mom sometimes your wife

your kids hopefully eventually someday

you know they might are still kind of on

the edge of being too little to do much

but they're right there there's a lot of

that and then and then seeing the the

the um the benefits or the the re the

rewards of your labor whether it's

working on a piece of equipment all

winter and then using it that year and

seeing like yeah we rebuilt the engine

in that thing now it's running in the

field is getting a job done there's just

so many little things or being able to

express yourself fabricating stuff

designing fixing things on your own

accomplishment a lot of sense of of uh

um

uh not Pride but just sense of

accomplishment knowing that wow that you

know that was me that fixed that that

the reason this is happening is because

I did this so it's not like you don't

see you see a lot of of your effort put

in that's you know huge in it too um

Legacy there's a lot of that knowing

that my grandfather great-grandfather my

dad were doing this we're doing this

we're driving on the same trackers my my

grandfather ran um and there's just a

lot of of that just kind of

uh Pride I don't want to say Pride yeah

proud of of yeah of what we're doing and

then and then you know making food for

the world too you know there's a whole

sense of that that we're feeding we're

feeding people um and you know we and

we're taking care of our land and um and

we're running a business and we're

trying to grow it's it's a really unique

industry it's there's a lot of factors

that go into it um but it's it

definitely has its rewarding factors

otherwise I wouldn't be here doing this

absolutely would not eventually You' get

yeah fig out and go I'm not going to do

this anymore yeah yeah you've pioneered

a few things maybe something

specifically is one of the early

adopters of using uh YouTube to Market

your brand a brand Welker farms uh tell

us about that what's how's that looked

over time how did it uh start and then

what is it morphed into today so it it's

it started back in 200 N or 10 um when

YouTube was still kind of in its infancy

it was it was still pretty early on and

um I had some my old roommates down in

college came up with me a couple times

to Montana and they got to experience

some fun life on the farm and like man

we need to record this and put some of

the stuff on YouTube this is before it

was very uh sensitive you could put more

stuff on there and it was okay um and so

uh we were able to do a lot of fun stuff

shooting stuff driving stuff destroying

stuff you know we just had a lot and so

they were they were the ones that were

kind of like recording some of that and

I had just bought the very first Pro

Hero so we recorded a little bit of that

and I think my one buddy just like here

I'll give me that footage I'll edit real

quick and he edited it I made Welker

Farms page just for the fun of it and

then I don't know if we named it that it

might have been something else I might

have changed the name I think I named

that and he threw those two videos on it

it was just I think it was us destroying

a chicken house and and then

wakeboarding on a reservoir I mean it

was just like not much to it and I had

no intent for that to do much I didn't

really put much effort into it and a

couple years went by two or three years

of that just the only thing was on there

and then as we got towards um the 100e

Centennial for our farm in

2012 I thought you know it would be

something else to uh put together a

video celebrating our 100-year um

Centennial accomplishment of our farm

and so I did two videos I did one went

back on all the photos of historical

photos of our family and put that to

some pretty emotional music all the way

up till the latest of my brother and I

you know farming together and then I did

a another video of actual GoPro stuck to

everything I could possibly find

everything I could think of and and that

video 100 Years of Montana farming is

what that one's called and and the

Hundred Years Montana farming tribute

was the other one and those two and then

when I did those with really no intent

of them I wanted to get a million view

video that was always kind of just back

of my like oh be so fun to have a viral

video just no worry about money or

anything it's just I just want a video

to get a million views that'd be sweet

um and they did take off they on

Facebook they they spread across all

these groups and and that really is

where we got our foot in the door and

got the name out there with those videos

and then didn't really put much out we

did a restoration on our big bud that

was a big one and big buds were just

starting to really kind of all of a

sudden hit this new Spotlight of

legendary old tractors um and so the

repow of that that video did very well

time lapse beginning to end and that

took off and that might have been my

first million view vide either that one

or the other and so when that happened

then that really got it um name out

there and then in 2016 I bought a drone

um and got the first real drone of our

farm year did three seasons that and

that one did very well um and then

Farming Simulator was really starting to

take off and a lot of younger audience

and they uh group put our map made

helped make our a map into or Farm into

a map downlo map for the game and that

brought in a huge audience of those guys

and so the name just really took off

then and then it just morphed into okay

well one or two videos a year all of a

sudden like I've seen people doing Ving

and they're they're I'm spending 100

hours to make one video and they're

spending 2 hours out there with filming

themselves in the day raw hardly any

Cuts edits or anything and they put it

up there and they're getting a bunch of

views on it and I'm like well okay I see

where this is going so then instead of

pointing the camera at track as we

turned the camera started having

ourselves in front and that's that's

where the real change happened and then

it was video a month okay couple videos

a month then video a week and one to two

videos a week and so that's kind of

where we turned into where do you see it

going in the future I don't know H you

know I don't know keep thinking of

myself we got five years and that was

like 5 years ago you know it's going to

die off you're just not going to get

people are going to stop watching

there's a lot of newer channels out

there that are more exciting things are

happening Fresh Faces TV shows come and

go I mean unless it's like The Simpsons

or something I mean they they come and

go it's just reality of it like you're

just not and so uh I just at some point

figured it would die off but um it just

kind of keeps going you know we we had

some big Partnerships with kih and some

other brands that have really gotten us

out there to these shows and things and

it just seems like every time we go to

these shows we have the same amount of

people that are coming to see us the

same intensity the views and the videos

seem to stay really consistent continue

to to be uh worth it and in the day and

age when farming has been really

difficult um four four and a half five

years of drought and out of that three

years of severe hail um just been

decimating uh morally and and and

financially for the farm and to have

this Alternate Source of Revenue that

has not only sustained but has gotten us

ahead in our own personal lives has got

us into new houses we got our trailer

houses now we're moving into houses um

you know we're able to be financially

comfortable in a situation where

normally we would be I don't know

working multiple jobs off the which off

the farm which YouTube is its own job

it's it's it's a very intensive job yeah

speaking of how many hours you think

that is a week well maybe maybe back

when you were doing your own editing and

things like that a lot more yeah I was

40 50 hours a week on top of farming um

because you I'd edit for 10 hours a week

uh you know or more um and that can only

be done when I'm at home after working

on the farm so you have to do it at

night so it'd be up till we hours in the

night and then finish it put the video

out the next day and I realized quickly

that wasn't going to work you know how

many years did you do that uh I only did

it for about a year about a year a year

and then I realized I got to bring on

editors because there's just no way I

can sustain it and now it's not like you

just bring on an editor and it's pure

Revenue it's there's a cost to having an

editor right oh yeah yeah cuz if no

one's going to do it for free at least

not for very long you're paying

someone's salary so yeah you so you have

to I got to that point where I said okay

we're making this much money it's nice

we're making this much money if I bring

an editor okay now it's a wash because

it's going to cost to pay this guy as

much as we're making but if we can get

that much more content out maybe we'll

make more and that's what happened was

we were able to get a lot more content

out which made more Revenue which made

up the difference of what we're paying

and that made it um that's where it

really made it work out so but yeah the

the time but you know if you factor in

the time throughout the day we're we are

working I am driving that tractor I

would be driving that tractor anyways

this time I've got a camera on so

technically I don't know if you can

really those hours are kind of mixed

like farming hours and YouTube hours

they're still hours in both but there's

a lot of in between stuff stopping and

getting the Drone driving up the field

charging cameras this and that trying to

download the footage on your computer

upload the footage previewing your

videos before they go out watching them

making thumbnails making titles adding

descriptions working with sponsors

integrated ads put make sure their

content working with emails the amount

of emails we have just it's like 50

emails a day you know and you got to go

through the emails and reply and back

and forth and contracts and working with

lawyers and like and then you may to

make your website and you got to make

your your uh um your logo and then you

got merch and you got to put merch in

the mix you got to have somebody who can

make your merch and send the merch out

it's just as and then you got to make

another post office box because you got

a lot of fan mail that's coming and and

figure this out and so it's just this

this this Snowball Effect of just it

just keeps getting big and so finally we

got to a point where I feel like we we

got a grasp of it and now we're just

maintaining you know and there's the

hardest part I think is it's you could

do so much more but it just takes that

much more of you to do it yeah which

you're already at the your W end at

times end of your thread as a dad I I've

got four kids and yeah I could I could

put a lot more effort in this Channel

and probably make content that I can't

guarantee but I think would do very well

and it would yeah it would be great

financially it' be great with growth on

the channel and the farm but at some

point I have to draw a line and say no

uh this this is I've only got so much

time with my kids they my kids were so

long I can't you got to draw a line you

just got to and so and I don't know if a

lot of people I don't think understand

that they they don't realize you know

why has it taken so long for the next

video or why haven't you done this yet

or

whatever I mean that's the thing about

farming in YouTube is it's okay we work

hard on the farm as soon as the farm

ends it's working on YouTube and the

other thing is okay we're done with our

season oh we're just finished seating

today literally we're pretty much done

today I should be like all right let's

go on you know let's not doing it for 2

weeks like no you know what's going to

happen I got to make content for two

weeks because I got to get those videos

out so you can't just take a break from

the content or what happens I could but

I every time you do that you you see a

big dip and it takes a while to climb

back up it's like you're riding a wave

and then you fall off the wave and it

takes a while to get back so it's like

you want to maintain that two you might

have obligations with sponsors which is

my own doing three we have an editor

we're paying so I want to make sure he's

got business to keep doing if he doesn't

have videos to edit you know needs to

make money so he might go somewhere else

huh yeah so there's a lot of pressure to

keep pumping videos keep making those

Instagram posts keep making stories try

to be funny try to be creative try to be

original uh you know it's so there's

there's that animal that's always there

so it's a huge blessing but it's a lot

of work you know after you just said all

that I was like wow that is work there's

probably some fun elements of it right

and you enjoy the i' we've talked about

the kids get super excited to meet you

and I know I've been excited to be a

part of you and my my seven-year-old

almost eight-year-old son he he just

loves watching the channel and

connecting with you guys but um that I

I'm really glad you shared that because

as you're rolling through all those

things that's a full-time job in fact

it's a full-time plus job and another

thing you touched on was Revenue

generation and and something that is out

there is you can say okay we got to cut

costs that's how we're going to save

money what about growing Reven

instead of cutting costs cuz uh

sometimes we get into trouble either as

business owners you're a business owner

as running a farm too you you can either

cut costs and try to hold on to what you

got or you can try to grow revenue and

maybe the costs don't get cut you try to

be smart with costs yeah but how are you

or what do you see as something you can

grow Revenue with and not necessarily

just so focused on cutting costs so on

the farm that's hard because we're not

in very consistent land where we're at

so we're not guaranteed rain so we can

we can like let's grow our Revenue so

that means more fertilizer let's let's

do more expensive crops let's do this

let's put more take more land out of fow

and farm it um and then it droughts and

we just shot ourselves in the foot which

I've done a couple years back even

further in the hole because now we put a

lot more expense in and there's no

guarantee we're getting it back so you

would have to do something outside of

the farm you'd have to do a secondary

business of some type something that's

not associated with the farm problem is

we don't have time to do that we're so F

oh yeah we could work on other people's

equipment or something like that or

custom farming we barely get our own

done so you can't do that so with a farm

you really can only cut costs um in our

industry right now where we're at I mean

there's some areas maybe in some of the

row crop areas you know they can they

can do stuff that bumps their yield 20

bushel an acre that's well that might be

what we make that year is 20 bushels an

acre and they literally just bump their

crop 20 bushels by changing their

prescription a little bit and and their

their farming plan I mean literally it

can 20 bushel like that you know and to

us that's like our entire crop I mean

like we'll get the guys coming you use

this new product you know it's five

bucks an acre but this will'll help your

root structure and your plant your

drought resistance and all this stuff

and helps and inure usually the pitch

the roots are way thicker and all longer

and all this stuff

and it adds a bush an acre to our crop

and it costs four bucks an acre and a

bushel of wheat is five bucks so we gain

a buck an acre maybe on that like is it

really it's not worth or or it's just so

so that's the hard part is um you just

have to where we're at in our land where

we Farm you have to be very careful with

your expenses and that's doing your own

work running old equipment um and not

putting the inputs in that you don't

have to you can spend limit but when it

comes to YouTube absolutely I mean

there's not necessarily a lot of cost

YouTube I have an editor so your cost is

time it's it's time um like cameras okay

they cost so much drones cost so much

it's not an excessive expense um but

it's all time do I want to make that

trip to go to that person to do a

collaboration with them because I know

it'll help my channel help their Channel

and it'll be a fun experience for our

viewers they' love to see us together

okay it's a 4-day Endeavor I got a drive

all the way out there get a hotel see

them whatever like is that worth me

being gone for the family for four days

after you're just away from the family

for how long yeah for for for a number

of days and and then and then farm shows

you know we've been doing a number of a

year with kit been send us out to him

which has been amazing but it's a week

basically every Farm Show we do four a

year so that's a month out of the Year

we're gone from the farm and the family

one of them happens in the middle of

all you Roop guys don't they don't had

to pick it don't they take your combine

too yeah they yeah we we've literally

had we've literally had equipment leave

in the middle of which we chose to do

there was benefits involved it's not

like they just took it but we've had the

sprayer go the combines go the big bud

go yeah all the way across country back

in a trailer it's it's been Titan tires

taking a couple her pieces put on their

lot it's it's fun to see but it's like

don't don't roll the truck please little

nerve-wracking I'm sure come back in one

piece I know it's it's been great though

to see it there it's it's like when is a

good time to go or to not to have your

equipment gone unfortunately it doesn't

always line up to be perfect timing but

it sure is great to get that out there

and get people to actually touch the

equipment see it see what the uh these

iconic pieces of equipment yeah on your

channels get them in person on site it's

yeah I think a lot of people had really

have really enjoyed that being able to

see that in person and and and see

something that's off the camera and

being able to meet people to the show is

is huge it's it's it's it's an eye

opener every time you forget about it

and then when you get to real life and

you see real faces and real people and

and signatures autographs pictures I

mean the the you're not I'm not bragging

by any means trying to say but the

thousands and thousands and tens of

thousands of pictures and autographs

that we've done with people um and you

think to yourself why you know why do

you want that with us you know but it's

we struck a nerve with some people and

and and and you know and so I hope to

try to to to live up to what they they

feel we are so well out of all the call

it people they could follow people that

they could idolize or be interested in

it's so nice to know that there's people

in the farming Community who are

typically faith-based yeah um good

Traditional Values that that built this

country and and that that there's

another option out there for them not

that we want them to idolize any of us

but or any of you guys but I know that

that's not your desire but it's really

neat that they've got a different role

model to choose from than some of the

other options out there absolutely I I

absolutely hope that we can establish a

role model of someone who's faithful

Faith oriented you know God-fearing

patriotic uh um responsible hardworking

loving you know a lot of good

characteristics that are our culture

really needs right now um so not that

we're putting s because we we have our

own faults it it definitely sometimes

comes and goes but but but I I I know

what it's like to look up to somebody

and something and so um yeah I really I

I can only imagine there's some younger

ones especially that look up to us and

so I don't take that lightly what's a

message you have for those young ones

that are or anyone who's looking up to

you um well just for one don't

underestimate yourself or think that

something will never happen cuz I can be

one to definitely say I things happen

that totally Blindside you that you

would never think you're capable of or

that would ever be an opportunity and so

don't ever underestimate yourself always

um always just work hard and uh don't be

afraid to step out of your box a little

bit you never know it might be something

you feel like G this just isn't me as

long as it's not like a bad feel like

okay this is going to be like bad for my

character bad for what I'm doing bad for

someone else like that's bad but like if

it's something you're just nervous to do

just because of for the sake of you just

don't know it's unknown factor like

sometimes you just need to take that

step and and do it so that's that's what

I would say and and listen to others and

be be kind everybody and try to

establish relationships with a lot of

people because um networking is Big too

networking is huge learn from others too

watch watch what watch what I'm doing

and and and and and and uh imitate it I

mean if it's working for me it might

work for you maybe the learning curves a

lot smaller if you can learn from others

and see what they've done and it's hard

to get past the School of Hard Knocks as

they say yeah you still got to learn the

hard way there's Sweat Sweat Equity

sweat labor you got there's there's

going to be some trial and error and

you're going have to put the effort in

but you're not always guaranteed success

but you'll never get to there I mean

yeah the ship isn't going to sail unless

the sail is put up first so that's true

yeah you got to you go to you got to at

least take a step what's been some of

the things that have tested you the most

in your time um on the

farm some of the biggest trials you've

had maybe some of the tests of of your

with your family with your

faith probably dealing with drought um

in hail seeing I mean literally I just

we just finished I've been pulling 15 18

hour days the last three weeks um you

know getting up at dark and going to bed

at dark and working extremely hard

during that and see the amount of

decision- making we had to make and

spraying and fighting elements and

weather and Equipment breakdowns

electrical issues and and um trying

trying to keep up with the guys and

meanwhile trying to maintain a family

and all this stuff um to see all that

effort and energy put into a crop and

then just either watch it one get hailed

out in a day or droughted out and just

watch slowly die um it's that's that's

tough that's tough It's taxing mentally

physically um spiritually emotionally

all of it I mean it's it's so that's

that would probably be ranked up there

one of my the toughest things to do um

the other would

be I would at this point in my life I

would say time away from family and kids

having to make decisions the kids are

like Dad are we going to do something

today like can we can we please do this

buddy I can't I'm sorry today's I know

today's a beautiful day my daughter had

her birthday the other day um it was the

only day out of 10 days the wind didn't

blow beautiful day sun shining perfect

temperature 5 mph wind 65° absolute

gorgeous spraying weather and that was

her birthday right and most people

listening to be like so what just uh

have a birthday what what does that mean

for farming

she's only got so many birthdays but

like I got to get that sprayed so you

know I get up in the morning I spray

early and I stop halfway in the day and

I spend time with her for a number of

hours and then I go back out that night

and spray and try to take as much as

advantage of that little weather I can

but it's stressful because you're just

kicking yourself in a sparrow like I

should not be in this hunk of M right

now I should be there with my daughter

then you maybe start to hate it even oh

like the situation that you're in

there's a lot of times that I I start

getting uh you know and it affects

everything I don't want to turn my

camera on and record I'm not in a good

mood I'm stressed out like there's just

a lot of factors that play into that um

and so and a lot of careers this doesn't

just a lot of careers deal with this uh

but that's that that's probably the next

thing I would say is is is the time

Factor not being able to do stuff with

your friends anymore not going on

vacation not doing stuff for yourself

it's just a grind and why would you be

doing the grind well it's to be

successful to try to financially get on

top to try to establish you'll get there

someday I'm guessing you're kind of

thinking right I'm going to build this

thing up and get there and I'm seeing it

now we get we got houses built you know

that was a goal of mine it was like it's

just just got to get us to build a house

it's all it's got to do we get a house

built you know we built a lot of the

house ourselves but financially it was

able to get us there and today is a

terrible time to building a

house but it made it happen so I can

check that off like it's that amount of

work that was put in got us to you know

to into a new home that we can we can

hopefully enjoy for the rest of our

lives and so um so yeah there's a lot of

benefits that you you get but it's just

yeah the time thing is probably the next

big so senior crop die and time you know

I haven't had any major loss of family

close Mir anything like that I'm sure

that would Peak the top list immediately

if we had an event happen on the farm

someone got hurt or whatever obviously

but since none of that's happened it's

been just yeah yeah disasters and

farming in the time you do you find it's

easy to blame God when those natural

disasters happen you know you'll always

have immediately in the back of your

mind go God what are you doing and why

are you doing this like why is it that

my neighbor 3 miles from me just got an

inch and a quarter of rain and I

literally watched the storm lift up set

break apart and then on the other side

of our farm dumped two inches it

happened this last summer I'm literally

watching it this wall of water coming

the radar is red wind is blowing right

to us we're getting it this is the rain

this is a $200,000 rain right here 200

Grand it would have gave us $200,000

worth of crop and it just stopped went

over and started again with in a five

mile I mean our farm is very Central

we're not spread all out we're fairly

mess and it and it just and two or three

times has happened and so yeah you're

going to go God you know cuz who else

has got control of the weather maybe

some believe we do I don't know cloud

seating whatever but but yeah so you're

there is there's a tendency to want to

have frustration towards God in that but

I just always try to bring myself back

and remind

myself that the only reason my heart is

beating at that moment is because of God

the only reason I have a beautiful wife

and who's amazing is because of God the

only reason I have kids is because of

God the only reason I live in this

beautiful state of Montana and I'm out

here farming is because of God so like

the only reason I'm not in a prison cell

riding away or my kids got abducted or

taken some off of the Border or whatever

the list go so much worse than than than

that and when you think that way you're

like okay and Eternity yeah eternity

yeah right eternity you could be in a

prison but what about eternity when it

could be an etern prison oh oh yeah I

mean that's the thing am I really going

to shake my fist at God the very one who

hopefully someday you know will say Well

done good and faithful servant will you

know be in Paradise with I like I yeah

so it's easy to do that and I think you

know even in the Bible a number of

characters did that but I shouldn't say

charact yeah characters in The Bible but

but it's just I guess you just have to

turn around and thank God for the

blessings you have because if you don't

do that you're just going to be blind

clouded by the the Despair and yeah

sometimes it's easier than sometimes it

like happens you're like all right let

move on other times it hits you hard so

but but we all handle it differently I

don't know that that's probably but yeah

it's I I not say I never have but I I

try to really remind myself Nick this

is God sees things that I do not my

little view on timeline is so little he

sees everything in one shot I see this

little blip over this huge thing and I

just I'm so minuscule in in the grand

scheme do you find these tough times

grow you closer to him or do something

different draw you farther away I think

they definitely would grow you closer

because why would you need to go to God

if everything's great you get cushy and

when you get cushy you you you don't

rely on God as much if you're suffering

or if you're in need then you go to God

so yeah it's it and throughout time I

think God's used that multiple times

that takes takes a little bit of hurt to

make you go oh hey that's right hi God

you're still there yeah like so yeah I

think probably closer but it could

definitely if you don't handle it right

could make you bitter and resentful and

allow a lot of dark sinful uh

characteristics to come out and be take

hold of you and can take you the other

way so true very true we get into a

little bit of a theology question and

say why does bad things happen to good

people because clearly you're trying to

be a good person right yeah and I've had

a lot of people comments that why do

Welker get all this this trouble they're

good people they out of anybody they

should be having the rain and maybe

God's using bad things for us to show

people how we react in those bad

situations maybe it's one person that

God's trying to affect by our entire

farm and our entire family and all of

our kids and all these people that are

dependent upon this farm this operation

will go through some suffering just so

that one person who may be on the edge

of ending their life might go you know

what wers are able to handle that

situation maybe I can tough my a little

more I don't know it could be one thing

like that or could me could be nothing

it could be 100% character building on

ourselves it could be building us up to

a point in character that we're raising

our kids so that D day they'll be a a

pillar in faith and a pillar towards

truth and righteousness you never know I

I really don't community in our

communities there's a lot we need a lot

of

those solid foundations a lot of a lot

of the the the so in in in the the

strong Generations are usually built by

the the generations that suffered before

them so um CU they they put the effort

in so yeah I I uh um I don't know why

God allows good things to happen to bad

people and bad things to happen to good

people but I think our perspective of

what's good and what's bad sometimes is

skewed too because we think okay being

rich and having a lot of land and nice

new equipment is a good thing well it

can be but it might not be too cuz might

not be his will that's may not his end

game maybe that's not good for your

character maybe you need to have

something you got to fix oil leaks at

all the time and turn ranches on because

you'll get you'll get

too

um I guess too prideful in it you know

and that I created all this I built all

this you know humility is an important

thing and Y so I've heard it said that

that argument is actually flawed because

who is good you know what to find good

people we may be good as in as an

average compared to other people in the

world or hey we're contributing to

society yeah um we do more good things

than bad things but in God's eyes yeah

who's good yeah that's that's the thing

really we all sin we all have issues and

we're the only way that we're good is if

he redeems us right and makes us perfect

before him through Jesus so 100% yeah

that's a really good perspective and uh

and it's really great to hear your story

here uh how you deal with these

challenges because I can't imagine in

pouring your life into several years of

an operation uh taking risks you're

putting hundreds of thousands of dollars

on the line I'm sure it even grows

beyond that yeah as a whole and then

you're it feels like rolling the dice on

well maybe it'll work out this year yeah

or maybe I could even move closer to

catastrophic loss and so I think that's

a story that we want to get out there

and share and show what farmers are

facing and it's kind of like a casino

but you're not even having fun you know

don't you're supposed to have like an

enjoyable time burning some money but

you know no it's yeah but there's a lot

of benefits too to farming and we we

want to share that story that side of

things too and yeah um and I can tell as

you sure about missing time on with your

family you get a little choked up I can

I can sense it in in your voice and i' I

got a little bit of that with running

the business a different category but

yeah you're a business owner you know

what it's like there's there you get and

I mean we're we're we're we're we're

supposed to you know work we got to

provide for family it's not like we

can't just spend time with our family

247 I mean food's got to be put on the

table but yeah but there is a point

where and I know some I have some close

friends who who um have resentment

towards our dad because he never left

the farm ever and never went on any

vacations never hardly went to I

shouldn't say never but rarely ever did

anything other than if you spent time

with him your dad it was because you

were farming with him that's it and they

it's it's it's hurt them and and they're

all adults now and it still has you know

so and it's a it's a it's a something

that I think you just you don't take

lightly and so how many of our little

kids would say Dad I want you to make a

little more money so I can have that toy

yeah or would they say Dad I just want

you to hang out with me oh I just those

videos why do you got to go videos

people make about like like Jordan

Peterson he had one about how you know

like you know of course he he the way he

speaks is very profound and and the way

you elaborate on how you're kid um

there's only one person in this world

that wants to be your absolute best

friend who could care less anything

about you just wants to be and that's

your kid like they'd give up anything to

be closer to you to be more more of a

buddy more of a friend you anything they

would do it in a heartbeat you know they

would um you know and then we're not

acting on that you know or like you see

the videos the parents in the phone and

the kids are in the background like

sitting there you know or or um there

was another recent I I heard and it just

it just hits you deep you're like and

because we're kind of doing that at a at

a different level right or at a at a in

a different way too many times and it's

that time in the sprayer you're like

this is this is stupid why is this why

am I doing this and I've had those those

times where just but I think it's a good

message to all of us to take the moments

we have yeah the best you can right at

times you got to do your job yeah but

whenever we can put down the phone yeah

um stop that hobby don't choose another

take another job that maybe could grow

some more Revenue it's really hard like

a lot of people say your time with your

your kids grow up like that and I hear

it and I'm like okay I I I got a few

more years they're still young I got a

few more years we're not there yet I

still got time I got time and now my son

was actually sleeping on the couch

behind us um because he's wondering when

what we're going to do next yeah uh he's

already almost eight you know and he was

just two yeah when I thought that 10

years he leaving the house I mean yeah

and yeah he's almost 10 it's it's it is

and and you'll have a should have a lot

more life ahead of you that you can

hopefully do those

things not guaranteed but take the

moments we got y absolutely that's and

that's kind of where we're at so yeah

well you've had a great go here with uh

just and you're really exposing yourself

you're putting yourself out there your

family right you're bringing exposure to

them your kids and all that stuff and I

think it's really you've benefited from

it financially but not always and it's a

benefit to us to get to see your life

and and be encouraged by that so thank

you so much yeah I appreciate it yeah

people learn a thing or two or inspired

or or find another reason to absolutely

hate my guts there's always G to be I

hate that

guy where's my dart board of Nick darts

at

him you you need something better to do

if that's if that's all you're going to

do right well okay you can do it I don't

worry what time is it oh yeah sick okay

well it's been a real treat yeah getting

to see you again yeah appreciate the

time thank you Matt yep yep definitely

it's a pleasure to have you here don't

be a stranger if you're ever in Fargo I

need a reason to go to Fargo maybe we go

pick up a tractor we can find something

else Case tractor plant yeah we get a

715 we can bring that up yeah there we

go case or some planner part on that I

know a guy that has some good parts we

do have some parts we we have some parts

and some of them are on your Cedar they

are have they been working good yeah

yeah yeah yeah yeah no no haven't had

much trouble at all with that that that

sy's been great as long as we don't bend

anything accidentally by not unhooking

something all the way and droing a

manifold but other than that we're great

that would be operator error yeah that's

an operator error yeah yeah there's

always that well I mean you'd think the

engineer is would engineer heavy enough

for the operate err so that would never

happen but

true then your tires would deflate yeah

blow that's a good point yeah yeah yeah

it cost 10 times more what's what's been

your experience with ready how has it

gone and why did you CH to do business

with ready and would you do business

again with ready uh well it's been great

um you know our our our air cards were

pretty thrashed with the powder coat

that was rusted off and there was a lot

of leaks and a lot of nasty rust in them

and they were at a point where we had to

do something to them um and so not

knowing where to start you guys had the

parts and the knowhow on how to strip

them down and bu approve from the back

up with some raafa gear so that was huge

you and as a as a team goes uh you guys

are real Pleasant to work with the the

guys that that you have are good

character upstanding um you know I know

you guys morally are are are sound so

it's nice knowing that you're with

trustworthy people that aren't going to

try to scam you out of your dollar that

are are trying to make your product your

machine better with your products but um

at the end of the day also running a

business too so no that's been great

yeah and absolutely you know when we

when we run into any kind of situation

that is a service you guys offer that we

need done yeah we we would definitely I

just wish we live a little closer but

other than that yeah little does he know

that it was the first time i' ever

worked on that his style of cart that's

why you guys kept scratching your heads

what we do here I was I had a bump cap

on so it yeah protected my nog and

that's right the bump caps yes those

were good no that if it was my first

time it wasn't the first time of our TM

Adam had done a few and yeah in fact

we're developing some parts I think

even after we left because you had a

different style uh gear that's right

with the baffles you had to modify some

things yeah we hadn't seen that before

yeah and you know what the DAP would

overcome yeah we had a challenge it's

like uhoh I think uh that's possibly a

difference between us and some other

companies where because of our

engineering background well we're like

well we're not going to just leave you

with this these parts that don't work in

the baffling like well you're on your

own figure that out yourself we got the

rest of of it uh we went back to the

shop and got our Engineers involved

again and and we whipped out some

designs and I think we sent them to you

or did we bring them with that time yeah

I think you had them overnighted they

were like that week of they were like

brought over or something and we hey

don't put anything in people's minds

that we're going to overnight stuff

though right off the engineering yeah

that's true I don't want to do

that yeah we did we got back and we

cranked them out and got him back fast

no but it yeah it's been good I mean I I

yeah obviously there's there's there's a

lot of places you can go but I mean you

guys got a a pretty upstanding business

and so and it's it's nice seeing seeing

seeing the the growth that you've had

and there's a reason for the growth is

because people are um seeing the

benefits of what you guys the services

you guys offer and so um yeah no way I I

think for sure in the future definitely

if we came into a situation we would

definitely call you guys up so least to

complain yeah I just want Jesse to come

at you though oh yeah who's Jesse yeah

he's my twin you know in case you didn't

know that there is two of us yes yes or

Adam Adam's cool or Adam Adam's pretty

cool Adam's pretty cool yep hope he's

not listening and get he doesn't listen

to stuff

no well thanks so much Nick really

appreciate you absolutely y yeah yeah

the next time I forgot my ready hat yeah

well you got a few hats of your own

that's right I do I I remembered your

shirt though I know yeah supporting and

did you see I got like 16 17 episodes of

my patio bunker project I'm always

wearing Welker fast T Millennial Farm

I'm always trying to switch them up

Sunny Farms you know anyone we've ever

worked with don't don't it's fun don't

discriminate that's right that's good

anyway and the apparel fits great and

it's it I don't know I love these shirts

my wife even starts to wear it she won't

wear in public sometimes but she'll wear

our shirts and where do we get that

apparel by the way Farm Focus Farm

focus.com y Farm focus.com they even let

us on the the site I'm really amazed

that they they did we're not even

Farmers I keep I keep putting a to get

you guys off oh that's coming from you

well a little farm focus.com they have

so many cool brands on there and uh

great apparel great quality yeah hats

shirts all that stuff hoodies yeah it's

not it's not junk by any means M yeah

good do a good job all right thanks so

much for listening to after our zag this

uh episode is brought to you by Yours

Truly the host Matt fall and we had Nick

here with Walker Farms such a great time

to come and see them I know not everyone

gets this opportunity that I've had to

rub shoulders with these guys and share

life but uh we really like to share

their story and many of your stories if

you're a farmer and you're listening to

this and you would like to um talk about

your operations some of the challenges

and opportunities you've had please

reach out to us and let us know if

you're also listening we' we'd really

appreciate a festar review get those in

there so we can spread the word spread

the message we're all about promoting

Agriculture and sharing the story of our

farmers who we value very much that's

why we're in business is to help farmers

keep on farming here at ready and of

course uh we are doing that every day

through the parts we sell and services

of putting those parts on anyway thanks

for listening God bless and we'll see

you next time