DSI staff left to right: Patti Stier, Amanda Price and Steve Armbrust.
Behind the Scene at UFC’s Feed Department By Steve LeBrun, Vice President of Feed
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very UFC business unit has many working parts in place to serve our patrons’ needs. In the Feed Department, some of these working parts are obvious—like our feed mills and our feed delivery trucks traveling throughout our market area. These working parts include our sales staff consulting and building rations for our patrons, and the production staff making feed in our mills. Behind the scenes, however, there are many other activities that need to happen daily to keep feed coming out the front door. One of the most critical is procuring ingredients at a competitive price and having them delivered on a timely basis to our mills. To address this, UFC’s Feed Department partnered with another cooperative in 1997 to start a small company called Direct Source Ingredients (DSI). Steve Armbrust, an experienced Commodity Trader, was hired to go out into the feed ingredient market, discover the best prices available and relay that information back to our company. After we use that information to make buying decisions, DSI finalizes the purchasing and delivery with the suppliers, on our behalf. The true value of DSI is having people who spend all their time in the feed ingredient market, talking to suppliers and understanding the external factors that will affect the supply or
cost of an ingredient going forward. Just as important, DSI provides the logistics of getting product to our mills when we need them—which ensures you get your feed when you need it. This information is so critical to making decisions that, soon after this company’s formation, we were approached by other feed organizations wanting to access the services of DSI. A decision was made to provide DSI services to others for a monthly fee. An office was established in Eagan, and as the business grew, so did the staff. It now includes Steve and two coworkers who are all UFC Feed Department employees. As of today, DSI has 23 clients in Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin who operate over 40 feed mills. DSI handles transactions for over 1 million tons of ingredients for these clients and UFC combined. This volume gives us the ability to negotiate pricing and terms with many of our suppliers. Direct Source Ingredients gives our patrons the opportunity to forward contract ingredients when it is advantageous. These contract prices are available by contacting our staff. When you do, we will provide all the details. This is just another part of your Feed Department’s efforts to honor and fulfill UFC’s mission: To supply our customers with technology, products and services in a manner that is extraordinary enough to add value to their lives. ●
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