Laying the Track for Success

The silos sit upon a deep layer of solid limestone. “We drilled down 80 feet, looking for caverns, but it was all solid.” says Miller.

“The rock in that area is so hard that we could’ve founded the silos directly on bedrock, had there been a way to properly smooth out the surface. Of course, we did have to grade the rock and then pour some foundation, but the rock provided a perfect surface for the silo foundation. These conditions allowed us to build high rather than wide, which was helpful in this fairly narrow site,” explains Kobetz.

Future Growth

Although 2008 proved to be a rough year for poultry producers, VPGC is standing on solid ground. Mason remains hopeful for the future of the company. “We’ve had to cut production a bit because of the price of commodities, but the market will correct itself and whenever it does, we’ll still be here,” he says.

With that in mind, VPGC board members decided to purchase enough land to build a new feed mill on the same site that their unloading facility sits on. “We did that so we could build a full-scale feed mill if we ever wanted to walk away from our current mill, or if production went up high enough that we didn’t have the capacity in our current feed mill,” says Miller.

However, they do have plans for growth in the more immediate future. VPGC is in the process of working out deals with other local producers to begin selling their corn. Miller is anxious for this arrangement to begin. “It would not only mean more corn coming through the facility, but it would also help us pay for the facility so we’d have a faster return on investment,” says Miller.

VPGC is equipped to meet any customer’s transportation needs. They can load out onto a truck using a dynatek/manierre bulk loading system if they had a customer who wanted to purchase corn by truck.

VPGC has already made a name for itself in four short years. If past behavior is any indication of their future, VPGC will overcome whatever obstacles come their way.