About Mule City Feeds
Mule City Feeds: You Need It, We'll Make It
From: Page 14-The Daily Record, Dunn, N.C., Friday, Febuary 20, 1998 ---Update `98-Business
By NICOLE GABRIEL Of The Record Staff
Mule City Specialty Feeds owner Paul Dunn doesn't actually feed the crickets at Waylon Warren's cricket farm, but he makes their food at his milling business in Benson.
Cricket food? Yes, that's right. Cricket food. And a variety of other feeds that feed everything from horses and cows to worms and exotic birds. People might wonder how or why a business that's been a Benson landmark for more than 40 years would bother with exotic feeds for a cricket or a worm farm, but as Mr. Dunn said, that's exactly why the company has stayed in business so long. Most feed stores, Mr. Dunn said, make certain kinds of feed and stick to that. Mr. Dunn's feed store, however; remains ready, willing and able to make any type of feed no matter how unusual the request.
Special Requests
"We're willing to do any special request," Mr. Dunn said. "Our motto is: We'll do anything as long as it's not illegal and won't harm the animal." That willingness to pick up the slack where other feed stores fall behind, and an insight to keep up with a quickly changing market, Mr. Dunn said, kept Mule City Feeds in business since 1956 when his father Robie Dunn, started a mobile milling operation serving local farmers. Even then his father started the business on the premise of catering to the needs of his customers. Paul Dunn said his father put a feed mill on the back of a truck and drove around to the different farmers within a six-mile radius, milling grain or feed for the farmers. Today the milling operation remains stationary at its location off U.S. 301 and provides feed for Mr. Dunn's customers throughout eastern North Carolina. The mill employs 10 people and processes 10,000 tons of feed annually, he said. That's about 500 tractor-trailers of feed a year. He said people often ask him if he does most of his business around Benson's Mule Days celebration. To that, he has a very common-sense answer. "People don't feed their animals one day out of the year." No, they don't.
And some local farmers who managed to stay in the farming business still buy feed from him for their livestock, but his customer profile changed over the years, he said. Years ago most of his customers were the 55-year-old full-time farmer who lived near town. Now many women about age 35, who own 5-10 horses, drive pick-up trucks and may or may not participate in rodeos, frequent his store. His customers also include NC State University as well as those who require specialty feeds. But the mill store still serves North Carolina's No.1 farmer, Mr. Dunn said - Gov. Jim Hunt. "He comes in his own pickup truck and buys feed just like anybody else," Mr. Dunn said. "Our people will wait on him and we walk out and die laughing because they didn't recognize who he was." Despite all the special feeds and the VIP customers, 50 percent of the business is horses, he said. Another 25 percent is cattle, he said. The remaining 25 percent is other animal and specialty feeds. "Nine out of ten people in Benson don't realize they can buy a bag of dog food here," Mr. Dunn said.
Ask The Crickets
If anyone wonders about the quality of his product - just ask the crickets, or the state, he said. Mr. Dunn said he can rave about his feed quality because his mill consistently makes 100 percent scores on state quality inspection boards. Those quality boards and his success rate with his most picky eaters - the crickets -giving him bragging rights, he said. "If his (the cricket farmer) crickets aren't eating he'll know within 24 hours," Mr. Dunn said. "He'll call us and tell us." When that happens, he said, he tweaks the formula, making it a little bit drier or wetter the next time. "We aren't perfect," Mr. Dunn said. "But we do try. That's another reason we're still in business." Where other feed stores say "take it or leave it," Mr. Dunn says "you need it, we'll make it." Word of his product gets around, he said, and he gets many referrals from his steady customers. But finding creative marketing approaches and ways to attract customers always remains a challenge for Mr. Dunn. "We wouldn't be here today if we hadn't changed things and looked for a new market," Mr. Dunn said. One creative approach came this past hunting season he advertised "deer corn" for sale. He said hunters stopped buy throughout the season to buy corn from him. Whether it's making more specialty feeds, finding new ways to sell his product or finding a another customer base, that creative marketing will continue well into Mule City Feeds' future, he said.