McNess Livestock Nutrition
Location Manager: Webb Howerton
Location:
8401 Outer Road, Mtn. Grove, Mo.
Company History: "The Furst-McNess Company began in 1908 in Freeport, Ill. It began its first line of livestock nutritional supplements in 1958. It is a fourth-generation family business. I have worked for McNess for about 14 years."
Biggest Challenges: "It’s kind of a tough time right now with milk prices, beef prices and hog prices all down. It’s a big deal to stay on top of your accounts receivable. It’s hard for farmers to make all their payments. It’s gotten a lot harder to get trucks because there aren’t as many trucks running as there used to be, and a good percentage of our customers want walking floor trailers. I’ve been trying to encourage farmers lately to either take dump trailers or hopper bottoms, just for the fact they may need a load of feed and we can’t find a walking floor to haul it. It gives you more of a range to find them a truck. There are also some advantages to that for freight costs."
Products and Services: "At the Mtn. Grove location, we sell trailer loads of commodities directly to farmers who are mixing their own feed or to feed mills mixing feed. We also carry bagged dog feed. The company has Livestock Feed Consultants, who go out and work with the farmers to help them with rations, their needs for mineral and other things the farmer might need. McNess has Agribusiness and Mineral divisions, as well as merchandising by-products of distilleries. They also have a line of home products."
Maximizing Feed Efficiency: "Farmers nowadays have to be good managers. It’s no different than any other business. To succeed at it, they have to look at every aspect and be the most efficient at everything they possibly can. Sometimes farmers get focused on cost instead of what is the most benefit to their cattle. Many are compromising what’s nutritionally best for their cattle for the sake of cost. You have to feed to get the best gains for the least amount of money. You have to watch what you’re buying to make it all work. If an operation is big enough that a farmer can mix his own feed, that’s definitely the cheapest way to do it. I think it’s very important they work with somebody who can help them nutritionally with feed."
By Jane Kinser
