|
Nebraska Men Make Market for
Feed in Costa Rica
By Lori Potter, Nebraska Hub
Staff Writer
Miguel Obando of San José, who
markets and distributes Oxbow
Hay Co. products for Miller and
Buescher, said he’s often heard
the story that “20 years ago,
someone overfed the horse, and
they didn’t want it (alfalfa) no
more.”
Miller brought years of
experience into the new
business. His Murdock-based
Oxbow Pet Products sells pellets
of processed alfalfa and other
forages for small animals.
Today, 80 percent of his markets
are domestic and 20 percent are
international.
Miller and Obando became friends
after meeting in Nebraska.
Obando was looking for a job,
and Miller needed workers for
his pet food packaging facility.
Those ties provided the first
critical component required to
sell new products into a foreign
market — having a trustworthy
local representative. “You
really need to have a good
relationship with someone in the
country to fight those
(regulatory) battles for you.
You can’t do it yourself,”
Miller said.
His other business tips include
making sure he’ll get paid and
setting a selling price that
will be competitive in a
country’s market. “It’s probably
wise to try to sell something
unique,” he added.
Then, it’s important to build a
good demand base of people who
appreciate the products, Miller
said, “so they will continue to
buy as the price goes up.”
It’s been a struggle to develop
a solid market in Costa Rica.
“It’s just difficult to change a
mentality,” Obando said.
He said the initial focus was on
pet products that could help
grow the meat rabbit industry as
a rural economic development
enterprise.
“We had hoped to transition that
into larger animals,” Miller
said, “but we also had hoped the
rabbit business would take off.”
That didn’t happen, but Oxbow
moved ahead with a marketing
strategy focused on getting the
products used by some of Costa
Rica’s most highly respected
horse and cattle owners. When
they see the benefits of
high-quality alfalfa-based feed,
they can influence other
livestock producers.
The hay processed into pellets,
1Ľ-inch cubes and 65-pound,
double-compressed, long-stemmed
alfalfa bales comes from Idaho
and Nevada. Miller likes to use
Nebraska-grown products when
possible, but some types of hay
needed in the pet and livestock
feeds — timothy grass, orchard
grass, oat hay — aren’t grown in
the volume required.
He said the keys to doing
business in another country are
providing a consistent supply of
products and finding good
shipping rates. An Idaho company
that already ships a lot of hay
to foreign markets processes
Oxbow’s Costa Rica-bound
products.
Containers holding 25 metric
tons of hay products are trucked
from Idaho to Salt Lake City,
taken by rail to Oakland, and
shipped down the Pacific Coast
and through the Panama Canal to
Port Limón on the Caribbean Sea
side of Costa Rica.
During a Feb. 9 tour of the port
of Caldera on the Pacific Coast,
Miller was surprised to see
containers from Oxbow’s shipping
company being unloaded. He had
been told by shipping company
representatives that they
couldn’t unload on the Pacific
side of Costa Rica.
“It would be closer to San José
by a couple of hours and save on
freight,” Buescher said, if they
could use the Caldera port.
The Oxbow products that arrive
at Port Limón are trucked to a
San José warehouse. Obando then
uses a pickup to make deliveries
to about 250 customers.
Most are “fancy” horse and
cattle owners, but Buescher said
they’re working to do more
business with dairies. Some
members of the large Dos Pinos
dairy cooperative are testing
Oxbow feeds.
Miller and Buescher have made
themselves available to the
cooperative and other potential
customers to talk about alfalfa,
hay and livestock nutrition.
They also contract with
livestock nutrition specialist
Guillermo Hernandez to work with
Obando and Oxbow’s Costa Rican
customers.
Oxbow C.A. LLC was formed in
June 2005 to do business only in
Costa Rica. Miller said they
might consider sales in other
countries, if Oxbow grows into a
solid business in Costa Rica.
Buescher, a Deweese farmer whose
main crop is alfalfa, said it
was his friendship with Miller
since college, their Nebraska
LEAD Program experiences more
than 20 years ago and an
interest in travel that sparked
an interest in ag production for
niche markets.
He brings to the Oxbow
partnership an outgoing
personality that blends with
Miller’s more quiet demeanor,
plus experience in the
high-management world of alfalfa
marketing. Buescher sold 90
percent of his 2006 alfalfa to
drought-stricken areas of Texas.
“I was looking at other avenues
for income,” he said. He knew
there always is a domestic
demand somewhere for
high-quality hay and expected
that a similar interest could be
cultivated in Costa Rica.
The first step leading to
creation of Oxbow Hay Co. was in
February 2004, Buescher said,
when Miller said, “We need to go
see Miguel.”
They rented a van, and Obando
drove them around Costa Rica to
meet people who were curious
about alfalfa as livestock feed.
Buescher explained that the soil
there is too rocky and too
acidic to grow alfalfa.
The Nebraskans said they enjoy
the travel and even the work
involved in launching their new
business. Buescher estimated
that 80 percent of his interest
in Oxbow is “the fun factor.”
“It’s fun to be looking outside
the box to see what might happen
... Well, not so much when
things don’t work right,” he
joked.
It’s fun, but is the alfalfa
business profitable?
“The pet food is and,
eventually, this will be,”
Miller said.
“There are so many opportunities
in the world,” he said. “It’s
fun to get out and see it, and
see how you might fit into it.”
|
|
