Russell Runs Mill In Rocky Comfort
Daniel Russell owns Bethlehem Feed Mill at Rocky Comfort, where he makes custom feed for many types of animals.
He has owned the business for three years, but it has been operating since the 1940s, he said. He purchased it from the Eastburn family in April of 2019. The mill makes feed for cattle, sheep, goats, horses, chickens and hogs.
“We own cattle, and that’s the biggest advantage of it,” he said.
The feed is made from only plant-based protein.
“Whether it’s a soy pellet, corn, gluten or oat pellet, there are no added ingredients,” he said.
The business is licensed as a custom feed mill, meaning it makes the feed when the customer arrives, and the customer can customize it — adding more or less of an ingredient, he said.
An inspector from the state told Russell he probably owns the last mill in the state that makes single-batch customized orders for each customer.
He said the business has grown considerably since he purchased it. When he took over, there were 36 bulk customers that the business delivered to. Now he has more than 200 customers.
“We haul in all of our ingredients now. Before it was all shipped to us,” he said.
In 2021, the total amount of feed produced was 10,658 tons.
“During four hours on a Saturday, we’ll bag 25 or 30 tons,” he said.
He has eight subcontractors that work with him, a lot of whom are family, he said.
Some of his customers have been purchasing their feed at the mill since the 1960s, and they help bag one another’s feed, he said.
With inflation at an all-time high, feed costs more than it has in a long time, he said.
“I know the input cost that everybody’s involved with. I’m in the same boat they are. I know what they’re going through because we own cattle too,” he said.
In addition to the mill, Russell has his cattle operation, Russell Land and Cattle, established in 2014. Before that, it was Russell Farms since 2004.
In 2008 as Russell Farms, he started running yearlings. By 2014 he was running 1,500 yearlings, receiving them at 250 pounds and keeping them until 800 pounds and then selling them. In 2015, the market dropped and he stopped running yearlings and changed to a cow-calf operation. Since then he has run 400 to 500 mama cows, predominantly Angus crossed on a continental breed. He keeps all his calves after he weans them and backgrounds them for 120 days and then sells them.
He is married to Leesa Russell, and they have four children: Natalee, 17; Allison, 15; Carter, 13; and Maggie, 11.