IN THE MASTER’S HANDS
Our History
Family owned and operated from the start, MasterHand Milling has been producing 100% dried distillers products since 2014. It all began with owner Dusty Turner growing up on a ranch in the Oklahoma panhandle running a cake and grass cattle operation. After college, Turner took his first job in a feedyard and started down the road that would eventually, with a little divine intervention, lead him to develop an entirely new way of feeding cattle.
In his early career, Turner worked for other well-known feedyards including Golden Belt Feeders and Supreme Cattle Feeders, where he managed the 75,000 head custom cattle operation in southwest Kansas. In early 2006, the ethanol industry began to see substantial growth, and Turner, along with many others in the beef industry, soon realized the distillers grain co-products out of the ethanol plants could serve as a beneficial feed product.
In an effort to reduce the freight costs of shipping product from distant plants, Turner approached the city of Liberal, Kansas about building a local ethanol plant that would benefit both the feedyards and area farmers. A team was assembled and Turner co-founded Conestoga Energy Partners, LLC, building a 55-million-gallon ethanol plant in Garden City, Kansas. A short time later, a 110-million-gallon plant was added in Liberal.
After spending some time selling co-products of the Conestoga plants to area feedyards, Turner realized an opportunity existed to apply the same theories about feeding cattle in the yard to cattle on grass. Distillers was now the leading protein supplement used in feedlots, but the loose product was not conducive for feeding on the ground. Again, Turner assembled a team and said a few prayers, and found himself and his wife Amy, at the helm of a new feed company – MasterHand Milling.
“We put the Master in our company’s name because we knew if we were going to do this, we would need the Master’s hand in it,” Turner says.
In 2014, Turner founded the company with it’s manufacturing facility in Lexington, Nebraska. Using unique extrusion machines, MHM compresses dried distillers grains into consistent, compact cubes and pellets that offer a superior standard of protein and energy for use on the ranch. Through a network of retailers and distributors, MHM services customers throughout the Midwest.
In his early career, Turner worked for other well-known feedyards including Golden Belt Feeders and Supreme Cattle Feeders, where he managed the 75,000 head custom cattle operation in southwest Kansas. In early 2006, the ethanol industry began to see substantial growth, and Turner, along with many others in the beef industry, soon realized the distillers grain co-products out of the ethanol plants could serve as a beneficial feed product.
In an effort to reduce the freight costs of shipping product from distant plants, Turner approached the city of Liberal, Kansas about building a local ethanol plant that would benefit both the feedyards and area farmers. A team was assembled and Turner co-founded Conestoga Energy Partners, LLC, building a 55-million-gallon ethanol plant in Garden City, Kansas. A short time later, a 110-million-gallon plant was added in Liberal.
After spending some time selling co-products of the Conestoga plants to area feedyards, Turner realized an opportunity existed to apply the same theories about feeding cattle in the yard to cattle on grass. Distillers was now the leading protein supplement used in feedlots, but the loose product was not conducive for feeding on the ground. Again, Turner assembled a team and said a few prayers, and found himself and his wife Amy, at the helm of a new feed company – MasterHand Milling.
“We put the Master in our company’s name because we knew if we were going to do this, we would need the Master’s hand in it,” Turner says.
In 2014, Turner founded the company with it’s manufacturing facility in Lexington, Nebraska. Using unique extrusion machines, MHM compresses dried distillers grains into consistent, compact cubes and pellets that offer a superior standard of protein and energy for use on the ranch. Through a network of retailers and distributors, MHM services customers throughout the Midwest.
Traditional Values, Revolutionary Feed
Since 2014, the Turner family has been building a team of cattlemen who share their passion for the ranching industry and are willing to challenge convention in favor of innovation. Our team stands firm on traditional values, but we’re blazing a trail with revolutionary feed products and programs.
