Parable
Word of the Year Dr. Doug Ford, Production Animal Consultation & Dr. Greg Quakenbush, Geissler Corp. The local John Deere dealership that my son and I sometimes frequent had a nice display of gun safes in their front lobby. I had not previously noticed that John Deere was in the safe business, but there was a great selection in all colors and sizes with variations of the famous John Deere logo across the front. As I expressed an interest in one of the safes, I asked the sales representative, “How much?” He quoted me what seemed to be a good price and then added what he thought would be a little extra incentive. He stated that he would list the safe on the invoice as an “air compressor” so that I could write the expense off my taxes. Though tempted, I looked at my young son and replied, “We would not be comfortable with the invoice not being truthful.” I thought it was important to include my son in the decision. The sales representative’s response was interesting in that he stated, “Everyone else does it. What’s the harm? We do it all the time.” It would have been so easy to take the bait and send my son the wrong message regarding integrity. Along a similar but more painful path, one of my clients recently bought a load of Holstein springers. As they began to calve, all of the offspring were bull calves. In that group of springing heifers, we also experienced an exceptionally high incidence of twins. The “invoice” in this instance stated that they were all checked, guaranteed bred and safe with calf. It was true that the heifers were checked pregnant, but an additional twist was that they were also sexed and checked for twins via ultrasound. Obviously the heifers were sorted, so guess which group arrived at the dairy? When confronted, the seller was very defensive and evasive.
