Location: Butler, Mo.
Owners: Matt Briegel (pictured) and Nathan Yoder
History: Vit-A-Zine was established in Butler, Mo., in 1960 by founder George Ross. Rusty Ross, son of George Ross, continued the business until Matt Briegel and Nathan Yoder purchased the business a little over a year ago.
“Rusty was getting to retirement age and no one in the family was interested in taking the business over, so they looked for someone to buy it. Nathan is from the area and his family had fed Vit-A-Zine for 35 years. He and I were college classmates and pretty good friends and ended up buying the company.”
The longevity of the company, Matt said, also attracted the partners to the business.
Products and Services: “Vit-A-Zine has traditionally offered what I call a pasture supplement that is a balance of proteins and/or amino acids, trance minerals and vitamins all in one bag. Lately, we have expanded the product line to where we are offering more what I would called duplicate minerals that are 4-ounce minerals, straight salt mineral products like some of the things other big names offer. We offer some texture feed, some deer feed, but 95 percent of our business is mineral for cattle.”
Vit-A-Zine has recently purchased a feed store in Garden City, Mo., in an effort to expand. Vit-A-Zine Farm Supply will offer all of the Vit-A-Zine products, as well as other brands.
Vit-A-Zine serves an eight-state region, reaching southern Iowa, southeast Nebraska, all of Kansas and Missouri, northeast Oklahoma, northern Arkansas, Texas and Colorado.
Vit-A-Zine offers custom blends for individual producers to fill their needs. All ingredients are mixed at the Butler store, then delivered to customers.
“Maybe a producer already feeds some protein and he’s a little less concerned about that, but wants more concentration of calcium and phosphorus,” Matt explained. “Maybe his conception rate is a little lower than he likes, so we can add some chelated trace mineral or additional solumium, whatever the case may be; we can customize that.”
Future: “I anticipate that we will continue to gain a market share in the Midwest,” Matt said. “We’re reaching a little further than we have ever reached. We hope to have a few other retail fronts in the future. With a brand that is a little lesser know, it can be tough to get people excited about it, so we felt like if we owned the retail, we can control the products on the floor. A lot of things that are common in our operation are common in a feed store. We would eventually like to have another mill somewhere in central Oklahoma to expand our reach a little further; that will help our growth and expansion.”
