This is a love story.<\/p>\n
Oh, it hasn\u2019t always been easy.\u00a0 There\u2019s been stress along the way.\u00a0 Both sides had to give a little to make it work.\u00a0 But in the end, they have always been there when I needed them.<\/p>\n
Of course, I\u2019m talking about my relationship with my implement dealer.\u00a0 Pam and I have been married 37 years.\u00a0 Miller Sellner Implement and I go back further than that, really as long as I can remember.<\/p>\n
Farmers know that we depend on businesses in town.\u00a0 In a long farming career, a long list has helped me: Westside Garage, Sleepy Eye Repair, Braun Oil, Davy Haala\u2019s welding shop, Donny Haala\u2019s welding shop, Hose\/McCabe\u2019s Hardware, some that are gone, and some I\u2019ve missed.<\/p>\n
For farmers, our focus is the soil and the plants we are growing.\u00a0 But it is our machines that get most of our attention.\u00a0 Those are the tools we use to work the soil and tend those plants.\u00a0 Keeping them running well is vital when timing is everything.\u00a0 That\u2019s where Miller Sellner comes in.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m a little mechanical, able to do basic maintenance.\u00a0 I\u2019ve surprised myself with what I can fix lying on my back in the dirt looking up at some machine with a flashlight, a Vice-Grip, and rain in the forecast.\u00a0 But a lot of my serious mechanical work has been done by the fellows at Miller Sellner.<\/p>\n
When our kids were young, Miller Sellner was the \u201cRed Tractor Store.\u201d\u00a0 Across Highway 4 was the \u201cGreen Tractor Store,\u201d aka Bruggeman Implement.\u00a0 I had friends at the Green Tractor Store and did some business there.\u00a0 But I grew up with International Harvester red. \u00a0John Deere green was like the National League: strange and a little exotic.<\/p>\n
My father Sylvester\u2019s relationship with Miller Sellner went back to its ancestral roots as Evan Implement.\u00a0 He told me about purchasing our Farmall Super H tractor before I was born.\u00a0 (We still have the H!)\u00a0 He and Art Miller were close on a deal but had to visit the Evan tavern to finalize it over several drinks.\u00a0 A different era for sure.<\/p>\n
My dad was one of the great hagglers of his time, always able to extract a final few dollars in any deal.\u00a0 I was not endowed with that skill.\u00a0 When making a purchase from a Miller Sellner salesman, I would ask near the end of bargaining, \u201cOkay, what\u2019s the price if I go and get my dad?\u201d\u00a0 Now I conclude with, \u201cIf Sylvester was living, what would the price be then?\u201d<\/p>\n
Evan Implement became Miller Sellner Implement in 1963 when the business moved to Sleepy Eye.\u00a0 The new store was owned by Art\u2019s son Bud Miller and Norb Sellner.\u00a0 We\u2019re now a couple generations of Millers and Sellners later, and the business has been added onto a few times.\u00a0 Now it\u2019s a goodly hike from the combine door to the sales offices. \u00a0Unfortunately if one is in a hurry, it\u2019s about five-conversations-long,<\/p>\n
When Norb passed away in 1978, his boys Jerry, Dave, and Vince took various roles.\u00a0 Jerry ran the parts department for years and still helps there.\u00a0 There was a time when Jerry knew instantly where every part was and its number.\u00a0 This was for a prodigious number of parts from a half-century\u2019s worth of equipment.\u00a0 \u201cJerry, I need a gas cap for the H.\u201d\u00a0 Even though they hadn\u2019t sold a gas cap for an H in ten years, Jerry would say, \u201cThat\u2019s a 647B39; it\u2019s over on the shelf by the wall.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dave managed the repair shop and has the same capacity to understand decades of machines.\u00a0 Repairmen specialize in certain types of implements.\u00a0 Dave specializes in everything near as I can tell.\u00a0 If I had anything odd to fix, I took it to Dave.\u00a0 I have gone to him with a chain saw, weed whipper, battery charger, Knipco heater, and a toaster.\u00a0 Okay, maybe not the toaster.<\/p>\n
Dave\u2019s wife Kathy just retired after manning the phones for years.\u00a0 \u201cHello, Miller Sellner, this is Kathy speaking.\u201d\u00a0 I would ask Kathy for a combine guy, a tractor guy, or a parts guy.\u00a0 She knew my voice and often the particular predicament I was in.\u00a0 When I called and didn\u2019t hear that reassuring voice, I think I was silent, basically dumbfounded.\u00a0 Julie doesn\u2019t know my voice, but once I\u2019ve worked through a crisis or two with her that\u2019ll probably change.<\/p>\n
Miller Sellner has been a constant in my career.\u00a0 But like Kathy retiring, things change.\u00a0 This spring I came in the shop door where three of the young mechanics were talking.\u00a0 I said to them, \u201cWhen did you all get so young?\u00a0 I thought all the mechanics were old when I started farming.\u00a0 What happened?\u201d<\/p>\n
You can count on Miller Sellner being open long hours in the spring and fall.\u00a0 Basically any time I needed something, they were open.\u00a0 I\u2019m pretty sure Jerry lived there.\u00a0 They still have long hours.\u00a0 But wanting their employees to sleep, they are a little more structured now.\u00a0 A few years ago, on a Sunday night during harvest, close to midnight, I drove there for some part.\u00a0 They were closed.\u00a0 I came home and told Pam I\u2019d seen something I\u2019d never seen before.<\/p>\n
Through the years, much good humor has flown about the parts counter. \u00a0Some of the funniest lines I\u2019ve heard have come from Jeff, Lloyd, Dan, et al.\u00a0 For us farmers who are all living and working in our own worlds, Miller Sellner becomes a gathering place.\u00a0 We\u2019re all doing the same work at the same time, often breaking the same things. The employees at Miller Sellner are part time therapists.\u00a0 It comes from dealing with hundreds of panicky farmers.\u00a0 The parts guys haven\u2019t had specific training in psychology, but they are skilled at talking hyperventilating farmers down from the ledge.<\/p>\n
Miller Sellner Implement has gotten lots of my dollars through the years.\u00a0 In exchange, they have had parts and did repairs when I needed them.\u00a0 Often someone helped well past normal business hours.\u00a0 But then, farming is not a normal business.\u00a0 There have been late nights, early mornings, and weekends when a mechanic and a parts guy raced to get me going.<\/p>\n
That service has often been exceptional.\u00a0 A large number of cousins, sons of cousins, and now sons of sons of cousins work there.\u00a0 But I\u2019m sure the same service is available to non-relatives.\u00a0 (I do have one secret to staying in the good graces of the Miller Sellner gang.\u00a0 Every November, at the end of harvest, I deliver several cases of beer as a thank you for services rendered.\u00a0 Keep that quiet, though.)<\/p>\n
I\u2019m hopeful this love story goes on for many more harvests.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This is a love story. Oh, it hasn\u2019t always been easy.\u00a0 There\u2019s been stress along the way.\u00a0 Both sides had to give a little to make it work.\u00a0 But in the end, they have always been there when I needed them. Of course, I\u2019m talking about my relationship with my implement dealer.\u00a0 Pam and I …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[162],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-107711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-weeds-by-randy-krzmarzick"],"aioseo_notices":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-22 19:07:56","action":"change-status","newStatus":"trash","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107711"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107711\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":107712,"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107711\/revisions\/107712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}