STOUGHTON - A new business was born over a cup of coffee.
That was back in 2003 when Greg Goudy had a vision for a new business idea and took his idea to a group of others in the community.
Goudy and a group of friends spent a year talking with other feed companies and getting ideas.
At that time, this group saw a huge need for a feed processing plant, as the Pig Improvement Company was looking for a feed supplier with high biosecurity standards, and so Stoughton Feed Processing, located on the east side of Stoughton on Highway 13, was born.
The group had MNP do a business plan.
“We needed to raise the capital,” says Goudy. “The company is shareholder owned with approximately 140 shareholders.”
Goudy, who has farmed the majority of his life with both cattle and grain, explains that Stoughton Feed Processing started making feed in May 2004.
Other than PIC as one of their biggest customers for the past 18 years, they also serve Hypor and Topigs, providing high-quality product to genetic hog companies as hog feed is a large portion of their business.
Corn and soymeal as well as wheat, barley, peas, distiller's dried grains with solubles are used to make the feed for pigs.
All the genetic hog companies are specialized in high-tech and high-bio securities and require high-quality feed.
One of the biggest reasons why the group decided to build the processing plant is because these companies weren’t getting the specific product they were looking for elsewhere. Those customers are looking for high-bio security and high-quality feed and consistency in the product.
They haul product as far away as three to four hours to hog barns.
They also sell feed to cattle and bison farmers as bison is huge right now.
Stoughton Feed Processing offers made-to-order, on-site bulk feed options, as well as access to an extensive list of master feed products for all livestock and pets including dogs, cats, sheep and chickens, with salt blocks, lick tubs, mineral supplements, chicken starter and grower, and more.
“We’re mostly bulk feed which is the main part of our business,” explains Goudy “but we also make chicken feed, hog feed for locals and feed for cattle farmers and we do bring in milk replacer.”
“We have had people enquiring about horse minerals, and most recently, we have added Hoffman Horse products.”
Stoughton Feed Processing currently employs eight full-time and one part-time staff, but with the growth in demand, they may be looking to add a couple more employees.
The employees work in two eight-hour rotating shifts, operating from 7 a.m.-10 p.m. daily.
“The credit goes to the employees buying in to do extra work.”
“We have a very good working relationship with our customers. We are in constant communication with them.
“It’s been a struggle over the past five months being able to bring in the product we need. It’s hard to get the trucks with the reason being a combination of the pandemic among other factors.”
“As for product coming out of the States, freight has become a concern.”
There are still some bottle necks that will need to be addressed to become as efficient as possible.
At the moment, the office is open five days a week, although staff members are still busy making feed on Saturdays just to keep up with the demand.
Due to the drought, there has been an increase in demand for cattle pellets.
Goudy does all the grain buying so that alone is a full-time job, and the company is getting busier and busier as it grows.
Farming can be physically tiring on the body but now Goudy admits this position can be more mentally tiring.
“It’s kind of neat to watch the business grow from nothing, just from an idea,” says a proud Goudy.
“I always knew in my heart it would be a go and succeed.”
“It was because of all of the people involved in SFP from the start, including board members and previous GMs.”
Now that PIC is expanding with their new site at Carlyle, Stoughton Feed Processing is growing as well.
Stoughton Feed Processing begins their feeds with only quality feed, and mixes it with care and precision. They are committed to serving their highest quality feeds.
Their vision is to be “The First Choice of Livestock Producers”.
Their goals are to “Exceed our customer expectations by producing quality livestock feed that is durable, nutritionally excellent and meets regulatory standards.”
