Abigail’s Fodder for Thought – Three guys, a girl and a fodder trailer – 2013 WI Farm Technology Days

My most recent venture out of the office was a first for me. How is that possible you ask? Well, this trade show, I got to take a back seat and see how it all works.

On the Saturday before the show, three of my co-workers left our CT campus bright and early. With the trailer hooked up and the truck pointed west, they braved the 1,200 plus miles of road ahead of them and drove! To Wisconsin! From Connecticut! (Unfortunately I don’t have the stomach to handle that much time on the road. I turn green like fodder.) This trailer is a traveling display of, not only the fodder systems, but alternate hydroponic growing equipment as well. Rick was there for technical support, as it was the fodder trailer’s first trip off the lot. Rick designed and built the trailer so it only made sense that he accompany it for the maiden voyage. Paul is our newest edition to the fodder sales team and Sam is our dedicated fodder marketing specialist. Bright eyed and bushy tailed, these three saddled up and headed out with me anxiously texting every step of the way to see how they were progressing.

I flew into St. Paul on Monday to meet them for the show. These three made quite a team in that everything was all set up, organized and ready to rock and roll for the days ahead. This little lady didn’t have to lift a finger.

Tuesday came (right after Monday, how about them apples) and so did the storms. As I waited patiently for a delivery from our Iowa facility the clouds rolled in – but not back out. Rain and thunderstorms shook and cracked, rolled and poured for hours. The midwest weather was certainly all my customers advised it would be.

Wednesday followed with not a cloud in the sky. A lovely breeze blew all day and, while the sun was hot, it was certainly manageable. Folks definitely made up for Tuesday’s weather and people were coming out of the wood work. Now, typically this is where I say I was busier than a no-armed paper hanger answering fodder questions but this show was different. It certainly made a difference having other people able to address customers’ questions. While we were all still busy busy bees, we were able to give each customer more time and attention. Since FarmTek is a catalog based company and shows are really the only time we get to be face to face with customers, I found this hugely beneficial for all involved. Rather than giving the Reader’s Digest version of answers, I was really able to get into the meat and potatoes of things (something my type A personality really likes to do).

Thursday was a little slower with traffic but it was also extremely hot. Not a breeze to be had either— just hot still air. Blech. The highlight of Thursday was the llamas from another booth. They came by to check out the fodder, and let me tell you, it is too funny watching an animal see sprouts for the first time. Too funny, indeed!

Aside from the fabulous display and show, I have to give a warm thank you to these three. They came to my rescue on Thursday when I upset an old knee injury and had to sit. All day. They kept me in ice packs and aspirin, offered to bring me lunch and even hailed down a golf cart when I needed to go back to my car. Without them I would have had to ARMY crawl out of that show. I don’t know how I would have done it. Whoever says chivalry is dead, I say pish posh my friend.

Thanks to them the Fodder-Pro display at the WI Farm Technology Days 2013 went off without a hitch. The trailer and display looked amazing and our customers were happy to see us there. What more could I ask for?

Where would you like to see us take the fodder trailer next?