This week on the Oakley Podcast, host Jeremy Kellett chats with Gregory Fallin, the Vice President of Feed Products & Service Company. The discussion centers on the history and operations of Feed Products, a key supplier of essential macro minerals for animal agriculture. Gregory shares insights into the company’s technological advancements, regulatory compliance, and strategic growth. The episode highlights the synergy between Feed Products and Oakley Trucking, emphasizing the importance of innovation, relationships, and family legacy in driving business success. You won’t want to miss this!
Key topics in today’s conversation include:
- Previewing Today’s Episode with Gregory Fallin (1:01)
- Upcoming Events and Company Party (3:23)
- Introduction of Gregory Fallin (6:32)
- History of Feed Products (9:45)
- Role of Feed Products in Animal Agriculture (12:27)
- Quality Control in Feed Products (14:03)
- Logistics and Distribution Model (16:25)
- Expansion and Capacity of Madison Facility (18:17)
- Firsts in the Industry (21:17)
- Collaboration with Oakley Trucking (23:28)
- Future Prospects (27:01)
- Family Legacy in Business (29:11)
- Final Thoughts and Takeaways (30:55)
Oakley Trucking is a family-owned and operated trucking company headquartered in North Little Rock, Arkansas. For more information, check out our show website: podcast.bruce oakley.com.
Transcription
Jeremy Kellett 00:12
Welcome to the Oakley Podcast, trucking, business and family. This show is brought to you by Oakley trucking, headquartered in North Little Rock, Arkansas. The purpose of this podcast is to communicate with Oakley owner operators and their families by giving them up to date information concerning Oakley trucking and the trucking industry, from business advice to safety updates to success stories, also to give an insight to outside truck drivers that might be interested in joining the Oakley family. Welcome to the Oakley podcast, trucking, business and family. My name’s Jeremy Kellett, and I’m director of recruiting here at Oakley trucking. I’m your host for this podcast that has been running for about four years now. We are up to two hundred episodes, and we try to bring you a brand new one every week. You know, the podcast is for owner operators. It’s for their families. It’s for the people, the employees, and it’s just information that we try to come up with that we think will help everybody understand Oakley a little bit more, maybe our values, our standards, things and you know, it’s not a it’s not a news podcast. It’s not something that we’re repeating. Everything that we hear. We just try to keep you up to date on things going and help me do that. I got Megan Cummins hanging out with me. What’s going on? Megan, that’s great. She’s been a big help helping me co host this podcast. I appreciate you doing that too. I know we kind of threw you in the fire there, but, oh, but I was
Megan Cummings 01:36
thinking about that the other day, and that was at the truck show.
01:39
Oh yeah,
Megan Cummings 01:40
first one
Jeremy Kellett 01:41
when you started there, well, that was in the fire,
Megan Cummings 01:45
you know, what? If it’s always gonna be like this, I think I’m good. Don’t worry about it.
Jeremy Kellett 01:49
But you’ve been a big help to me, so I appreciate it. Able to bounce stuff off of you. No problem. Every week, and this week, you know, I talk about the podcast helping employees too, you know, listen to things like we had Benny and Dennis at one time. We get people at different divisions a lot, so you can kind of understand the whole scope of Bruce Oakley. And this week, we had Gregory Fallon from feed products. And that is a company that we just bought, a feed products and service company, and they’re out in St Louis, Madison, Illinois, and he had, he’s the vice president of it, and he is just such a great guy. This acquisition that we’ve done is gonna benefit Oakley trucking so much, and they’ve got such a great story. I’m sorry I didn’t have you in there, Megan, but he ran through. We had to do it pretty quick, actually, but it’s just a great story. They are a third generation company like us, so his grandpa started it, his dad ran it, and now he’s doing it. Wow, is that a coincidence? Yeah, a little bit more, I think. Yeah. So it’s a great story, and it’s really, to me, like a unique little niche in the bulk business that they have that is going to help us a lot. And they’ve just, you know, he sits down, he sits down with me, and talks about their standards, what they’re doing, and how it’s going to help them. So it was a great episode. Good deal. Really good episode. What’s going on with you? Anything happening here at Oakley. Before we get started on episode, we need to know about this week
Megan Cummings 03:23
is a company party Saturday, so I’m sure you already have your calendars marked. Go back and watch last week’s episode for the full schedule. I think we’ve also got stuff on Facebook about that. Yeah,
Jeremy Kellett 03:35
We’ve got so many people coming in from all over the country and staying at the hotels around here, and we have shuttles set up. I’m sure y’all cover all that stuff, but yeah, you know, it’s a great opportunity for us to get some we’re gonna have some episodes of some of our other operators and their families sitting down with us. We’re gonna do some of those Friday. Yeah, so if somebody is listening to this, and you might want to record an episode with us, or you want to sit down with us? It will be a great time to do it. Absolutely
Megan Cummings 04:03
calling the office right now.
Jeremy Kellett 04:05
We might be working all weekend. Megan, yeah, well,
04:08
you got a mouse in your pocket.
Jeremy Kellett 04:10
What up? You said you were the one that said you wanted to set up out there at the party and have an open night. Really
Megan Cummings 04:16
good idea. And then Corey shot that down pretty quick, but we will be going. I did talk about it last week. We’ll be going around with some little mics, good and a phone. So recording, yes, so try to get some testimonials. Yeah, we Yes. I just wanted everyone to be aware of when you stick the microphone in their face there. And if you’re, you know, yeah, just try to keep it PG, you know, keep a kid friendly.
Jeremy Kellett 04:45
Well, that’s why we it
Megan Cummings 04:48
for the channel. But yeah, that’s something to look for. And then, of course, every year, on Friday, that’s my, one of my favorite days of the year, because we get all these people coming in from the truck show and they want to. Come in and talk, and there’s a lot of excitement, because you see the tent outside, and that’s when we do all the podcasts and stuff like that. So it’s a good time to come in and meet everybody and to do a podcast, because a lot of people don’t get to Little Rock, but once a year, yeah. So,
Jeremy Kellett 05:13
yeah, great opportunity, great weekend. Looking forward to it. It’s going to be super fun. So, but meanwhile, hey, listen to Gregory Fallon, and I just want to say to those feed products, employees, man, what a breath of fresh air. I mean, you guys are awesome. I met you. I went up there one time and met some of you, not all of you, of course, but looking forward to meeting you, because you got a great company there, and you got to look forward to doing business with you for years. So listen to it and let me know what you think about it. Give me some feedback on everything, and we appreciate everybody listening to the podcast. A
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Gregory Fallin 06:32
Now you go by Gregory. You go by Gregory, Gregory with my dad for so long, so Gregory Fallon Jr, or just Gregory, just Gregory found in second. So the second, yeah. GG, two as well is what they call me internally. Hey, that’s a good one. GT, I like that. Do I sound okay? Here? Yeah, it sounds good.
Jeremy Kellett 06:51
Can you hear yourself well? I
Gregory Fallin 06:52
I can hear myself, good. Yeah, yeah, it’s all good, man. So, oh, they’re my scratchy boys. That’s all good.
Jeremy Kellett 06:57
Are you about to get over that? Yeah?
Gregory Fallin 06:59
I think so, yeah, don’t crud or what? My wife, she’s down for the count. She thinks she’s had a strep, but not that. I
Jeremy Kellett 07:07
not coming home, honey.
Gregory Fallin 07:10
My youngest just had pneumonia, so that was a little freaky deal, too.
Jeremy Kellett 07:14
How old was it? Hey, 330. No kidding. Yeah.
Gregory Fallin 07:17
So at that age, you kind of get a little concerned about so
Jeremy Kellett 07:20
Let’s start there in the introduction, Gregory Falvin, the second vice president. I’m assuming that your official, Vice President of feed products and service company, that’s right. And I want to get into what feed products are, because it’s very interesting. I have to tell you, it’s something that I’ve been, you know, looking at your website and going over some stuff about it. But we’re gonna, in this episode, I want to cover what feed products are, what y’all do then I think it’s just a unique company that you have talked a little bit about the history of. I thought it was really good looking at some of that. And then, you know what? How this came about a little bit with the Oakley acquisition, you know, and us being you becoming part of the family, and feed products becoming part of the Oakley, Bruce Oakley family, I think it’s a unique story and how we fit together. So that’s kind of what you know, we’re going to talk about during this whole episode. Let’s start with the introduction, though, of Gregory Fallon. Sounds
Gregory Fallin 08:19
good. Gregory Fallon, feed products, born and raised in St Louis, Missouri, that’s where I reside today with my wonderful wife and two boys, Carter and Cooper. Carter’s my oldest. He’s six years old, and Cooper’s three. How long have you been married? About eight years. Okay, I better get that right, yeah, yeah.
Jeremy Kellett 08:38
You’ll be asked about your anniversary. You better know, let’s
Gregory Fallin 08:41
undo that
Jeremy Kellett 08:43
good. Finally, have you got hobbies you do outside of work? Yeah,
Gregory Fallin 08:47
I’m an outdoorsman from the Midwest, so I like to hunt fish and the occasional golf. My wife would probably say that I always find time for hunting and fishing, you know. I
Jeremy Kellett 08:59
I mean, that’s what we do when you’re outdoors. That’s what we do as men. You know, how can I get outside? Is there any hunting up there? And when you’re in St Louis, you’re in Cardinal country, you’re in Budweiser country. I mean, are there some places to hunt around there?
Gregory Fallin 09:14
There is up in St Charles where all the combine, where all the rivers come together. So it’s pretty good. We get it. It’s a natural flyaway, and hasn’t been so good the last couple seasons. But it can be some good duck hunting. That’s exactly right. So primarily waterfowl for us. Gotcha. Yeah, gotcha.
Jeremy Kellett 09:30
So let’s you know, I want to talk about this feed products and service company, I mean. And I think the best place to start Gregory is the history of it. Just reading on the website is your grandpa started this? This is your third generation in this company. Is that right? That’s exactly right. So how in the world did I get started with Grandfather back in the day?
Gregory Fallin 09:52
Yeah, Grandpa, you know he was, he was a special guy. He’s a chemical mechanical engineer. His name is Earl Fallon, and he started our company. He patented a process for Dicalcium feed phosphate back in 1945 Yeah. And through that, through his animal nutrition background and his chemical engineering, he became a pioneer in the industry, but patented his patent in the process, and we actually still use his trademark today, puro FOSS for our imported feed phosphates.
Jeremy Kellett 10:22
Okay, so grandpa, really, I mean, when he got the patent for the process, that’s what set it all in motion, I
Gregory Fallin 10:30
guess that’s exactly right. And he went to work with a lot of the big Florida phosphate producing or phosphate mining companies, and one of the biggest ones was international minerals and chemicals known as IMC, which is today known as mosaic. So he was a pioneer with those guys on calcium phosphate. And through that growth, he was able to become an agent for IMC for a period of time. And that’s before my father came along, and my father started with my taking over the reins in a year before I was born, so 1985 and he expanded on that on the feed phosphates, through other essential macro minerals for livestock and poultry feed, is grandpa still around? Grandpa’s not still around. He was very much involved in my life at an early age, but he passed it when I was about 10 or 11.
Jeremy Kellett 11:24
Well, some of the things you used to do with Grandpa, take you up there to the plant. Well, you know, at that time, he
Gregory Fallin 11:30
had a bad hip, so he couldn’t get around very well, so most of the time was just at his house and working out in the yard, doing landscaping type things. He was a hard worker. Had a lot of motivation. And, you know, that was a big segue to what brought me to the man I am
Jeremy Kellett 11:46
today. That’s something that he instilled in you. I mean, I guess him and your dad, hard work.
Gregory Fallin 11:50
That’s exactly right. Hard work. Treat people the way you would want to be treated. And, you know, I didn’t have that chemical engineering background, and so it skipped a couple generations. So had to work a little bit harder whether or not people were watching,
Jeremy Kellett 12:05
let’s, you know, before we get in the trenches, which kind of, you know, let’s talk our audience out here is probably about like me. A lot of this stuff is right over the head. You know, some of this stuff simplifies what feed products actually do, you know? And, yeah, I guess what you actually do the, you know, the purpose of the company, yeah, feed
Gregory Fallin 12:27
products. We’re a supplier of essential macro minerals that go into essential macro minerals that go into the feed industry and the animal agriculture, okay, animals, that’s
Jeremy Kellett 12:41
exactly, or anything from,
Gregory Fallin 12:43
I mean, all, pretty much, all species, for the most part, and especially from the phosphate side, which goes in the dairy, beef, cattle, livestock, poultry, pet food. And then those other complements, with the magnesium, the nitrogen, the buffers, those are all primarily big inclusions in new dairy diets, all essential, and there’s alternatives, but you have to have a certain level of each
Jeremy Kellett 13:06
for those in each day. So has it become even more specific the last five years? You know, it seems like, and I’m just going off of a pet food, you know, it’s this, like, that’s things exploded, you know. And people buying food, you know, that is expensive, that’s better for your animals. And, I mean, is that, like, is there you seeing that too, with dairy cows and everything else? Yeah.
Gregory Fallin 13:30
I mean, over the years, you know, we’ve seen, you know, new technology in place in helping bring more high quality ingredients to the food chain and through various quality schemes that the FDA regulates and making sure that we’re bringing quality nutrients to the food chain through and not focusing on bioterrorism and other things like that.
Jeremy Kellett 13:55
You say quality. I was looking on the website again and saw where you have a chemist, a lab that makes sure, what do they do?
Gregory Fallin 14:03
That’s right. That’s right. We have a lab on site in Madison, Illinois. That’s our big footprint, and we primarily are testing for reactivity and levels of mg, is for magnesium oxide as an example, and helping the dairyman understand at what rate they need to be using that that material, you know, and is how many and what type of impurities are in that. And so we test to understand what those impurities are, and say so they understand that you need to be using it on an as received basis, and taking that into consideration so they don’t have magnesium deficiencies as one example. And then we do a lot of screen size analysis, because it’s very critical the particle size that goes into each diet, you know, you want to have a certain concentration of each and if you have various bulk densities or particle sizes, you know, you could have a non consistent mixture. Let’s just
Jeremy Kellett 14:59
say. Yeah, man, you sound like a chemical engineer. I think you got, like you could pass for it, Gregor, because that’s definitely, it’s something else you know, that you don’t realize what all goes into that. And I think that’s the biggest thing is, you know, it’s trying to grasp what all goes into animal feed products and the testing and getting it right and making it better. And I mean, you play, I’ll play a vital role in that. And I guess, from how do you do it, from beginning to end, like, from where you get the product,
Gregory Fallin 15:29
yeah. So we, you know, we felt that we had some very solid relationships with some principal manufacturers here in North America, and it really helped us expand on none of their ingredients, and we were able to find lower cost alternatives, but higher in quality abroad, and utilize our import model with vessels from overseas to New Orleans and barge in it up to Mississippi and through the river, road and rail, import model and infrastructure,
Jeremy Kellett 16:04
and you’re able to do that from, I mean, across the country. I mean, you know enough people, you’ve done it long enough you can get that product right up to your facility, and then at your facility, you have the ability to, I mean, bulk or bag or what’s the what do you do there at the facility in Madison?
Gregory Fallin 16:25
That’s right. That’s right. And so when we’re sourcing, you know, we do have those relationships, and that’s kind of what’s got. Those supply relationships, through the longevity of our customer base, have helped us get to the next level. And sourcing from those manufacturers, you’re having to go and vet each production site, and that’s part of the new requirements under the FDA with the Food Safety Modernization Act. And so you have to more or less draft a hazard analysis at each production facility and determine if their product is qualified, not only with North America’s quality scheme, but also European and the other countries we sort with abroad. So we get the product, normally we’ll load it onto a vessel. We don’t take ownership of a big vessel, of course, but we’ll take ownership of a parcel or a hold on a vessel. When that vessel gets to New Orleans that holds off, loaded into multiple barges, shipped up to the Mississippi River, to our terminal in Madison, Illinois, and we’ll have our package in the 50 pound bags totes. We also have a great deal of customers that we ship bulk trucks out of, and then we do a lot of rail directs straight off the river as well. A big part of our model is being able to get all our material to one centralized location, and outreach from there, like a FedEx, yeah, so we also operate out of the eight date rail to truck, transload locations where we’ll send our private rail cars out, Stage them on site, offload directly into a customer truck in different states, in different states. So we’re servicing 35 plus states today. Oh, wow, yeah, all through Madison.
Jeremy Kellett 18:11
Oh, nice. Yeah. No. So how big is Madison? Man? How much material? And what do you do?
Gregory Fallin 18:17
We’re Madison, you know, it’s we’ve had quite a bit of an expansion over the years, and we’re doing just over 200,000 tons per year, and that’s Madison and a couple other small terminals, you know. And we’ll do quite a bit of bagging, so we run a first and second shift on the packaging line and work with a number of different distributors that require bags that are expert in band trucking more or less, gotcha, gotcha, hopefully something we can mold into the Oakley network. Yeah,
Jeremy Kellett 18:48
That’s what we’re looking for. That’s right. And I mean, because hopefully this little deal is going to help both of us. Is the plan for sure, for going to be a great acquisition for both of those plants?
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Jeremy Kellett 19:51
We covered technology a little bit. Is that? What role does that play in your every day to day deal?
Gregory Fallin 19:59
Yeah, and I’m. It on, you know, it’s really it’s the technology that’s helped our growth and expansion as a feed industry as a whole has primarily been through these new programs that the FDA regulates, and it’s the Food Safety Modernization Act, and it’s to keep bioterrorism and quality products from various countries around the world to bring into North America to the safe food supply chain. And we have to you know, as I alluded to, with these European quality schemes, which are GMP plus and family Qs, there are intense questionnaire supplier agreements that you have to go through to prove that your product’s qualified. And so it’s really helped us become a first at that because we are the largest importer of macro minerals in the country. You know, we’re the first to bring in feed phosphates to North America by bulk. We’re the first to bring in Brazilian and Australian magnesium oxide, the first to bring in sodium bicarbonate and sodium sesquicarbonate, and also a first in amino acids to bring over by break bulk vessel instead of paying high cost container freight. So all those first have really allowed us to separate ourselves in the industry and become a big importer in North America. I
Jeremy Kellett 21:27
I didn’t realize, until talking to you here, but how it clicked that man that is got to be a with all the federal guidelines that I mean you will make sure the product that you’re getting from another country doesn’t contaminate that’s, you know, is something bad. And then, I mean, that’s, I can see now where there’s got to be some heavy regulations. That’s
Gregory Fallin 21:50
right. And we found a way to find higher quality material and bring it in more competitively. And it was, you know, the dairyman and a lot of the integrators and the various customers we deal with, there’s only so many sources of these ingredients in North America. There’s plenty of reserves of phosphorus in sesquicarbonate and in buffer type products. But you know, at times, you know that we need, there needs to be a little bit pressure put on those producers, and I think we do a pretty good job in keeping their minds.
Jeremy Kellett 22:21
Yeah, it sounds like, and it just sounds like, having a business this long. You’ve got some long relationships, long standing relationships, with people. I mean, I’m assuming you do. You said it earlier. That’s how you kind of got to where you are. By having those relationships with it being trucking companies, I guess, and all kinds of stuff. What has your relationship been with Oakley trucking in the past versus what we think it’s going to be? Yeah,
Gregory Fallin 22:48
no, it’s a good question. You know, we’ve we know how caught you there’s not a better truck on our property, not a better looking truck. And the personality, the ownership that these drivers have when they pull on our property, it’s pretty special. You know, at first we never, we didn’t have the ability to really exercise our resources outside of our local carrier network. Because we grew so fast, we didn’t really know, you know, what quality alternatives there was, and that’s what’s most important in the feed world, is, yeah, there’s times where we’ll get short on inventories, but, you know, and maybe we have to load a half load instead of a full truck. And no matter what, we’re not letting that mill shut down. You know, we’re the animals that have to keep getting fed. And then we really showed how much reliability came into the play. And, you know, there’s not a more reliable outfit than the Oakley truck, and in our experience, it has been really good. And only a few weeks in on this acquisition here, we’re throwing the kitchen sink their way, you know. So it’s been wonderful working with them, and hope that we can continue to expand and help them service us out of our various locations,
Jeremy Kellett 23:55
coast to coast. Yeah, I think it’s, I think it’s gonna be great. I mean, already seeing the opportunity that’s right there. How did, and you don’t have to answer this, if you don’t want to, but how did this come about? You know? I mean, you know, because it sounds like third generation things are going you know, what made well, how
Gregory Fallin 24:13
Did the Oakley and feed products deal come about? Yeah, yeah. Well, you know, we would, in order for us to get competitive ocean vessel freight, we had to take large parcels, large shipments, and it became, you know, a cash flow. You know, it’s not only that, it’s, you know, working strategically with banking agreements and trying to find the right avenue to get product here. And, you know, being able to have more of the, you know, the ability to exercise those resources and not have to be so hand to mouth, it’s only going to provide more value to our customers. And so I just, you know, I think they’re not only that on the acquisitions or on the sorry, I’ll tell. What do you code there?
Jeremy Kellett 25:00
Yeah, I see, let’s get, you know, to, I see, kind of what you’re saying. You got Bruce Oakley. I mean, you saw Bruce Oakley as a benefit to feed products, if this thing went through, so it could help you with, I guess, the part of the, I don’t know if you’d say, the finances, but the money flow was what you said, or the cash flow, yeah, and
Gregory Fallin 25:22
it’s, and I don’t want to, you know, belabor that point, yeah, because it’s not just that, you know, we needed, we were just fortunate to find something to buddy like Justin and Dennis, to see the value. You know, as a family, we came together and we knew that in order for us to take the next step and take our business to the next level. We needed to be able to confide in somebody that was like minded in a similar mindset. And there you go. Saw the value, the hard working nature and working from the bottom up, you know, stacking bags, sweeping barges, you know, and that
Jeremy Kellett 25:56
that work ethic. And I guess you had known Bruce Oakley for a while, and that’s right, working with us in different areas, I guess that’s
Gregory Fallin 26:04
right. And so we’re, you know, we never, we didn’t get to utilize the terminals like we had hoped early, you know, before this came about. But we are very much diving right in. You know, we’re already talking. We have a few barges on the way up that we’re gonna divert towards. Muskogee. Denny and his crew are on their way up to check out our facility and also understand our products a little bit better. So we’re ready to rock and roll. So
Jeremy Kellett 26:29
you’re saying opportunity, that’s exactly right, yeah, that’s exactly and we are too. I mean, I know the trucking part is seeing opportunity too with it, so yeah, I like what you said about being like minded and how it just fits to be together. So I think it’s going to be great, man. Welcome. Welcome. Yeah, well, thank
Gregory Fallin 26:49
you very much. We couldn’t be more eager to see what the next chapter brings, yeah?
Jeremy Kellett 26:53
And, I mean, that was one of my questions, you know, what did the future look like for feed products? I mean,
Gregory Fallin 27:01
yeah, yeah, the future is great, you know, it’s, it’s, you know, it’s Oakley there. You couldn’t be more reputable. And so they’ve got, we’ve got a big role ahead of us to help grow this, you know, this business. And as the population grows and more animal units come along, it’s that much more important for us to be more efficient for the end users. And it’s certainly, you know, there’s a bright future ahead.
Jeremy Kellett 27:28
Yeah, yeah, I think so too. I mean, courses, you know, this company, thank goodness this keeps going, you know. And keeps, keeps thinking ahead, you know. Thank goodness with Dennis and Justin thinking ahead and not just sitting back and watching things go by. I mean, they’re planning and doing better for the company and getting people like you to join us. I mean, it’s a win for all of us. I’m excited about it for sure. Yeah. Likewise, likewise. What else is going on with feed products or Gregory Fallon or the two kids at home? I’m sure they’re ready for you. I know our listeners know he came down here for a couple days, and you had to go to Hot Springs and do some stuff, but you stopped in the office here and visited with us for a couple days. And now I guess you got to get back. Get ready for your duck hunting coming up. Get you blind, all covered up and all that.
Gregory Fallin 28:15
That’s exactly right. That’s exactly right. We got a little important thing, little work ahead of us there, but more more so on the business front. You know, it’s being able to, you know, we had only intended, and we were planning on getting early, earlier flight out of Little Rock this morning. But we have so many irons in the fire downstairs, with truckin ‘up here with the river terminal guys. And, you know, it’s being able to utilize their resources. And we’ve grew so rapidly that we, you know, maybe we didn’t have our hand on the pulse at all times. And through the barge network, and being able to talk to guys at Dr Jan, trans, Josh in the barge area, and helping us better understand, are we being treated fairly, you know, how? Why are our barges getting held up down there? Yeah, like, Well, did you mark him as hot? We didn’t know to do that. Yeah, that’s good. One thing I didn’t ask you before I let you go, is we covered a little bit about your grandpa. We didn’t talk much about your dad. Is he still playing a role in it? Yeah, very much. So and yeah. So after, you know my dad, he like he started on, you know, night, 1985 and as a graduate of the University of Missouri, Columbia animal agriculture. And you know, he made a leap of faith in a big way, and left two big distributions arms because he saw how value our footprint is in St Louis, no locks or dams. Rivers open year round, we have access to all the class one railroads, and so when we put our footprint up, his expansion through the other essential macro minerals was, of course, critical, but being able to put the bricks and mortar in place the rail track. We didn’t have one single rail customer, and we put over a mile of track space. In. And two years later, we had 35 rail cars going coast to coast. And so it was pretty neat. And he’s still very much involved on the relationships abroad, the operations, and he’s still a vital asset to them. He’s
Jeremy Kellett 30:15
over making sure you’re doing things. That’s what Dad. Better do it like I did it. So here’s how we do it. I
Gregory Fallin 30:22
can tell you hunting and fishing a lot more.
Jeremy Kellett 30:25
You get a few more days off. That’s right. Well, that’s awesome. That’s a great story. You know, great third generation company, man, I’m glad, glad we’re joining together and moving on forward with this deal. I appreciate you setting up here with me and doing this. I know you are a little hesitant there, which most people are, when it comes to doing a podcast, I ask you if this is his first podcast, you know, because I’m thinking he’s done four or five of them, Annabelle, but now it’s his first film. You did a good job. You did a good job too. And I appreciate you taking the time to visit with me well and telling our listeners, you know, I mean, we’ve got, you know, we got almost 50,000 subscribers on YouTube that tune in and watch us and want to hear more about Bruce Oakley and the whole package and what’s going on, and we like to inform them of new things that’s happening with us. So I appreciate you being with us. Man,
Gregory Fallin 31:11
Well, thank you very much. I enjoyed the time, Jeremy.
Jeremy Kellett 31:12
I appreciate everybody listening to the Oakley podcast, as you do every week. Man, we love your feedback and all your comments, and let us know what you want to hear next, and if you have any questions, about this, about feed products, hey, send me a message. I’ll shoot them to Gregory. He’ll be glad to answer your questions and get you some more information. So appreciate everybody listening. We’ll talk to you next week. Thanks. Thanks for listening to this episode with Oakley podcast, trucking, business and family. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to rate or review the show in the podcast platform of your choice and share it with a friend. We love hearing from our audience. So if you’ve got a question, comment or just want to say hello, head over to our website, theokely podcast.com, and click the leave a comment button. We’ll get you a response soon, and may even share some of the best ones here on the show. We’ll be back with a fresh episode very soon. Thanks for listening.