Growing Our Transportation Services
Stutsman’s roots in transportation and trucking date back to the earliest times of our company. After starting a feed supply business in 1934, Eldon Stutsman received a loan from Hills Bank to purchase his first truck. This truck allowed Eldon to provide services in a new way he couldn’t before. As the feed business grew, so did the need for a fleet (albeit fairly small for many years) to distribute feed products to customers in Iowa and beyond. However, as Stutsmans grew and new opportunities arose, our transportation services also expanded to new avenues.
More Than Just Feed Ingredients
Constantly looking for new ways to be a little bit better than the day before, Eldon would find new ways to diversify and become more efficient in the late ’50s. When a handful of local livestock truckers got out of the business, Eldon capitalized on the opportunity. Not only was this another layer of diversification hauling livestock from the Hills, Iowa, buying station to Ottumwa, Iowa, and the Chicago stockyards, but it also provided backhaul opportunities. Cattle and hogs to the stockyards in Chicago — feed supplies (Morton Salt being a big one) back to Hills.
Trucking livestock would continue to be a viable part of the business until regional markets started to shudder in the ’80s and our primary livestock hauler, Milburn Nayadley, retired; at that time, the focus on dry van freight would intensify.
Roots in Trucking Circles Back
Although trucking was always a means to conduct the feed distribution business, we didn’t dabble much in for-hire trucking (outside of livestock hauling). In 1992, Stutsmans applied for a transportation authority to do just that. Looking for new ways to help diversify the business into somewhat non-agricultural sectors coming off the farm crisis, Larry Culver was instrumental in filing all the paperwork and completing the licensing for the new division; Stutsman Transportation was officially born. Not only did this bring diversification outside of agriculture, but it also provided a service benefiting other divisions.
The newly acquired transportation authority also allowed us to maximize our trip efficiency. Previously, it was a challenge to find back-haul opportunities after completing our feed route deliveries, but the authority allowed us to eliminate those dead-head miles.
The division started by hiring additional owner/operators to contract loads for the company. John Mast, who previously drove six years for Stutsmans, returned as the first owner/operator after a five-year venture of running his own truck. He placed the Stutsman logo on the side of his tractor and transported products all over the country for five years before moving to a dispatching role in 1997.
Early on, we started calling on feed vendors to see if they were interested in our new transportation service. Diamond V was one of the first companies we hauled for. As our trucking division expanded, we added nearly 17 owner/operators to our fleet. In 2003, with the leadership of John Mast, Vice President of Stutsman Transportation, the division became incorporated.
Our Transportation Services Today
Trucking has been a part of our DNA since day one and really held a special place in Eldon’s heart. We’ve come a long way from Eldon’s milk route, early feed route trucks, or even the days of livestock hauling. Today, we are running 19 feed route and 50 Stutsman Transportation over-the-road trucks, all company-owned; quite the difference from the 13 tractors we had in the early ’80s. Stutsman Transportation’s focus is predominantly dry freight west of the Mississippi, ranging from food products and kitty litter to furniture, maltodextrin and starch.
While the miles we cover, equipment and industries served have substantially increased since the early days of our involvement in transportation, our philosophy of knowing each of our drivers on an individual basis — not using truck numbers as a means of identification — has remained the same.
