Still’s Ozark Service and SOS Supply
Owners: Gary and Sissy Still
Location: Wheaton, Mo.
Company History: “I tell people I’ve been in the poultry house service business for 53 years – it’s on my birth certificate, with my father listed as a poultry farmer. Actually, I started working construction on local poultry houses, and in 1993 went to work for Latco. I decided to return to construction work in 1999, but kept getting calls back from customers for servicing their poultry houses, so I gave up on full time construction and started running service on poultry houses full time. In 2003 my son started working for the company, and we also purchased a building to store our supplies. In 2005 that warehouse turned into a hardware supply store, and my wife started managing it. When customers would ask for an item, we’d buy one for the customer and one for stock. We started small, but just kept developing and building our business that way. Now we have three full-time employees in addition to my wife and son.”
Products and Services: “We run complete service for poultry houses, including plumbing, electric, general upkeep and repair, equipment replacement, retrofitting and upgrades that all the different poultry companies require, from ventilation to computer control systems. Our products include everything needed to operate poultry houses – feeders, waterers, curtains and more. Because we are independent, we can get a wide variety of new equipment and parts from all suppliers quickly. We also handle used equipment. On the hardware side of the store, we offer all the general staples farmers have to have to operate, as well as everything we need for our repair jobs. We’re also gearing up for spray foam insulation service.”
Any advice for the poultry farmer?
“Do your homework. With the economy the way it is, the independent contract poultry growers need to study their expenses, what their neighbors are doing, if the company they’re working with is profitable. A lot of them are struggling now. There are some costs you can’t control, but you can control the amount you save. ”
By Pam Artman
