Struthers Inc.,

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ATTENTION!!!!!PLEASE READ<<Waukon Standard..

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http://waukonstandard.com

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Front Page...Waukon Standard Newspaper
ELITE VISIONS WILL BE SITE FOR MEAT DISTRIBUTION FACILITY
By:Elisha Marti September 20, 2000

Elite Visions, Waukon, will be host to a new meat distribution facility, and will serve as the sole distribution center for the Struthers, Inc., Tender Prime™ meat line.

Elite Visions, established in 1997, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Struthers, Inc., a company primarily involved in the marketing of technologies associated with hog herd genetics.

Struthers acquired the assets of Elite Visions in June 2000. In doing so, it acquired the patents to the Gourley Scope, a device developed by a team of local individuals to eliminate the need for surgery in artificial insemination of sheep. The device has since been modified for use in the animal husbandry arenas of swine, deer, and other farm raised and exotic animals.
Struthers uses the device to breed and finish hogs for meat distribution.

According to Traci McGraw, manager of Elite Visions and of the new distribution facility, hogs finished for Struthers are processed at a meat packing plant in Cannon Falls, MN. The plant, Lorentz Meats, was, until recently, charged with processing the pork, packaging the meat, then shipping the product to Struthers shareholders who provided the sole customer base.

With the construction of the new meat distribution facility, Struthers hopes to expand the retail customer base by providing ordering capability over the Internet, and by marketing to institutional customers such as hotels, restaurants, and grocery stores.

To meet the greater demand, the freezer built at the Elite Visions site is capable of stocking in excess of 30,000 pounds of packaged pork per week. The company plans to ship 1.5 million pounds of the product annually.
"The freezer is 28 feet by 20 feet and will be maintained at a temperature of 20 below zero at all times," said McGraw. "The freezer was turned on Wednesday night (Sept. 13) in preparation for its first incoming shipment Friday morning."

According to McGraw, Lorentz has shipped to Waukon a small quantity of product it was storing in Cannon Falls. The first full shipment is expected in mid-October.
Lorentz Meats, said McGraw, will continue to process the hogs and package the product. The pork will then be shipped to the Waukon distribution site where it will be forwarded to retail customers.

McGraw pointed out the full circle of events that led to the newly established meat distribution facility, citing Struthers initial interest in Elite Visions' Gourley Scope for artificial breeding of swine, the use of the instrument to breed superior livestock, and the distribution of the resulting pork product from the Elite Visions site.

Struthers, Inc., also owns Muller AI, LLC, of Sioux Falls, SD, a leading Midwest distributor of artificial insemination and veterinary supplies and equipment, and Legred Struthers Genetics, Inc., specialists in animal reproductive biotechnology.

The company has also formed alliances with major hog producing facilities, including A-B Duroc of Minnesota and Fairmont Finishers of Independence. Producer alliance herds must follow strict health protocols, whereas boars, sows, gilts, and finished swine are never fed animal protein in their growth diet. Great care must also be taken to prevent the introduction of any harmful chemicals and unnecessary antibiotic products.

In late-August, Struthers opened a boar stud facility, the semen from which will be supplied to new and existing customers, alliance herds, foreign markets, and research farms. In early-September, the company purchased a sow breeding facility and farrow-to-finish operation in Traverse County, MN. The facility will be used for the expansion of the company's elite great-grandparent herd and can finish up to 5,000 animals at a time.

Of the growing company's decision to open a meat distribution facility in Waukon, McGraw said: "The care taken in raising and finishing the hogs is really fascinating, and it's exciting that Waukon will be the sole, centralized site to distribute the end product."
McGraw further pointed out that the meat is USDA-approved and will be shipped initially by the quarter hog, packaged and frozen.