4 minute read
Exceeding Expectations
Exceeding Expectations
by Lura Roti for Millborn Seeds
Photos courtesy Millborn Seeds
Millborn Seeds is service-oriented, conservation-minded & future-focused.
Founded in 1987, Millborn Seeds is rooted in the tradition of getting to know their customers’ land goals and exceeding them through quality products and professional guidance.
“Ultimately, we are not here to just sell products. Like the landowners we serve, we look at what we do with a long-term perspective. We provide our customers with the information and guidance they need to make decisions that will serve them well this growing season, next growing season and the next,” says Matt Fenske, Millborn Seeds President.
Focused on the end-user, Fenske, together with co-owner and CEO, Clint Johnson, fostered a forward-thinking culture and built a team of specialists who work to educate customers and facilitate success.
“We are where we are today because of our grower, end-user focus – providing customers with the right products, at the right time, quickly, with a consultative approach,” says Fenske as he reflects on the company’s growth, from four employees to a team of more than 40.
Team Millborn is made of mostly of Jackrabbits - graduates of South Dakota State University.
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- Justin Fruechte, Millborn Seeds
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In 2018, the Brookings-based business moved into a new headquarters featuring more than 50,000-square-feet of office and warehouse space.
Millborn Seeds headquarters located in Brookings, SD.
“We are a forward-thinking team, working with innovative customers. We are always thinking of ways we can better serve landowners,” Fenske explains.
“And we’re always available to serve them,” adds Justin Fruechte, Sales Team Lead. “Our team is made up of integrity-filled, hardworking, and service orientated people who believe in doing whatever we can for our customers.”
Like most of the Millborn Seeds’ team, Fruechte is a graduate of South Dakota State University. He began his career with the company in 2010 as a Forage and Cover Crop specialist. Fruechte applies the land and forage management practices he shares with customers, on his family’s farming operation near Pipestone, Minn., where he raises registered Katahdin sheep and Red Angus cattle.
“Field training for our team, literally means, in the field training,” Fruechte explains. “We hire knowledgeable individuals and provide them with in-field training throughout the year. It’s our goal to make sure we are on the forefront of new innovations and seed technologies that can be applied on our customers’ land and in their fields.”
In 2019, Millborn Seeds released the My SeedMix Web App, an easy-to-use tool to help producers create custom cover crop mixes. To provide more infield service to customers in the western region, Millborn Seeds opened a Rapid City location. According to Fenske, opening more locations to serve more customers is part of their future plans.
CONSERVATION-MINDED
Since the beginning, Millborn Seeds has worked to provide customers with information, resources, and products to enhance their soil health and conservation efforts.
“Conservation is naturally part of our focus on customers’ long-term success,” explains Fruechte. “Whatever we can do to support landowners in enhancing their soil health, we will do. Soil health is important to habitat, and it is critical to the long-term future of agriculture.”
Sturgis rancher, Britton Blair, 34, agrees. “What is good for conservation of our resources, is good for the range and that is good for our bottom line,” says Blair. Blair operates a Black Angus seedstock and commercial cow/calf operation with his dad, Rich, Uncle, Ed and cousin, Chad.
To manage the range for optimal health and grazing, the family implements a short-duration rotational grazing system. Beginning early spring, they move their cows every two to three days. “The range looks like a mown lawn when we get done, but the grass responds. It gives us an extra 30 days of grazing and allows us to increase our stocking rate by 50 percent,” Blair says. “My dad and uncle have been doing rotation since the late 80s. It really works. We have a lot of hardpan spots - the rotation helped those areas come back to grass. It’s amazing, even in drought years we found that we need to stick with the rotation because the grass responds.”
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- Britton Blair, Blair Bros. Angus
Blair Bros. Angus works with Millborn Seeds on grazing and range management.
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The family has been recognized with conservation awards for their range management efforts and were Leopold Conservation Award finalists in 2016 and 2017.
Although the family are experts in range management, when it comes to managing hay acres, they rely on Millborn Seeds. “I’ve never been much of a farmer, and I wanted to try no-till. Justin advised me on the equipment as well as the seed blend,” Blair says.
This summer, because of the extra moisture the Blairs received, they were able to chop some of the forage rye for silage and plant another rotation of cover crops. “It worked out great. I have a lack of knowledge of cover crops and planting times, so I depend on Millborn seeds for the right answers. They work to make sure I get what I need.”
“That’s what we do,” Justin says. “We want to help farmers and ranchers get it right – today and into the future.”
learn more - millbornseeds.com
September 2019
THE STOCKMAN | stockmanmag.com
