So he refused to make one.
That Thursday in August, he called the AGCO dealership in Pratt, approximately thirty miles west.
He asked for Tom Selby.
Leonard had met Selby three years earlier at a soil conservation seminar.
Tom had given a presentation involving Fendt Vario tractors and power management under variable field loads.
What Leonard remembered was not the machines.
It was Tom refusing to exaggerate.
A farmer asked whether one tractor would save twenty percent on fuel.
Tom replied:
“Maybe for somebody. I wouldn’t put twenty percent into your budget without your own field numbers.”
That answer impressed Leonard more than a glossy brochure would have.
Tom picked up.
“Selby.”
“Tom, Leonard Bower.”
There was a pause.
“Kingman County?”
“That’s me.”
“Been a while.”
“Three years.”
“What can I do for you?”
Leonard opened his notebook.
“I’m not asking for a tractor price.”
“All right.”
“I want to know how you stock parts.”
Tom became quiet.
Leonard continued.
“I run about 3,100 acres.”
“Grain sorghum, wheat, some rotation.”
“I need to know what you keep locally for the machines you sell, what your actual lead times have been for critical field-stopping parts, and what happens when the system fails during planting.”
Tom did not answer immediately.
Then:
“That’s the right question.”
Leonard wrote the phrase down.
Tom explained his inventory strategy.
Critical wear items received deeper local stocking.
Common hydraulic seals.
Sensors.
Drive components.
Filters.
Frequently observed failure items.
Less common components relied on regional AGCO distribution.
During peak windows, urgent orders received priority routing where available.
Leonard interrupted several times.
“What percentage do you actually fill locally?”
Tom gave an estimate but immediately qualified it.
“I’d rather show you records than make that number sound cleaner than it is.”
Leonard stopped writing.
“You have records?”
“Two years.”
“Parts arrival times?”
“Yes.”
“Including misses?”
“Yes.”
“Bring them.”
Tom laughed.
“You want me to drive to your farm with two years of service logs?”
“Customer identifying information removed.”
“Of course.”
“Tuesday?”
“I can do Tuesday.”
Tom arrived with a brown folder.
No demo tractor.
No salesman.
No branded jacket.
Just a pickup and paperwork.
Leonard noticed that.
They sat at the kitchen table.
Tom placed the folder between them.
“Customer names and private billing data are redacted.”
“Everything else is here.”
Leonard opened it.
Order number.
Part number.
Machine type.
Date requested.
Priority classification.
Arrival date.
Repair completion.
Loaner provided if applicable.
Leonard read.
Tom drank coffee.
Forty minutes passed with little conversation.
Leonard marked several entries.
“This one.”
Tom looked.
“Eight days.”
“Why?”
“Electronic module.”
“Regional warehouse had none.”
“What did you do?”
“Loaner went out day five.”
“You lost money?”
Tom shrugged.
“Probably.”
“Why day five if your stated target is seventy-two hours?”
“Because the seventy-two-hour clause applies to certain agreements.”
“That customer didn’t have it.”
“No.”
“So you still sent the machine.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Tom looked at him.
“Because his planter wasn’t moving.”
Leonard continued reading.
The average lead time across the file for critical Fendt tractor components was approximately 4.3 days.