Southern States News

Park City feed plant named Feed Mill of the Year (04/04/08)

State and local dignitaries and livestock feed industry representatives joined employees and family members of a Park City, Ky., operation Thursday (March 27, 2008) for a ceremony presenting the facility with a national award.

Receiving recognition as Feed Mill of the Year for 2007 was the Park City feed mill of Southern States Cooperative, Inc.  The award was announced earlier this year by the American Feed Industry Association (AFIA) and Feed Management magazine, sponsors of the nationwide competition. 

Some 100 people were on hand for the official award presentation held at the Park City mill.  In winning the award, the Southern States operation bested nearly 80 other feed mills that submitted entries and underwent a detailed evaluation process of factors that included production efficiency, quality, safety and community involvement.

Keith Epperson, AFIA’s vice president of manufacturing and training, presented the award plaque to Gary Huddleston, plant manager. In his comments, Epperson said the level of teamwork and the can-do attitude exhibited by the Park City employee group were especially notable. 

Huddleston also paid tribute to the mill’s 26 employees, thanking them “for what you do and the way you care.”  The manager then introduced each member of the mill’s employee roster. 

Adding official congratulations and recognition for the mill’s award were Mac Stone, director of the Kentucky Department of Agriculture’s division of value-added plant production, and William B. McCloskey III, director of financial services in the governor’s office of agricultural policy. 

State offices of U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell and Rep. Ron Lewis also were represented at the event.

Jim Moore, vice president of the Southern States feed division, led a group from the cooperative’s Richmond, Va., corporate office attending the presentation.  Moore, who formerly managed the Park City operation, applauded the mill’s employees for their achievement and the high standards they had set. 

Serving as master of ceremonies was Bill Monroe, Southern States manager of feed operations.

The mill manufactures some 67,000 tons of feed annually, with approximately 75 percent sold in bulk to farmers and other livestock operations in western and south central Kentucky. 

The 2007 award is the second Feed Mill of the Year recognition Southern States has received in the 23 years the national competition has been held.  A mill the cooperative operates in North Carolina achieved the recognition in 1996.

Southern States’ mills regularly have placed high in the annual program, as well as in another related competition that measures feed mill truck fleets.  Park City earned the “Most Improved Truck Fleet” award a year ago and a number of years earlier was honored as having the nation’s top truck fleet.

The awards programs are designed to be a tool that feed mills can use to determine how they match up against other top facilities and where they can improve. 

Southern States News Release

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