MORONI FEED COMPANY

 Saga of the Sanpitch

Ida O. Donaldson

Professional Honorable Mention Historical Essay

Moroni Feed Company, Sanpete's largest employer, in 1998

celebrates the 60th anniversary of its incorporation. Gross sales of

the company are in excess of $125 million. In addition to the

independent growers and their employees, Moroni Feed has 850

employees, with an annual payroll of over $13 million.

Moroni Feed is a fully-integrated co-operative, including a

feed mill, hatchery, processing plant, breeder farms, propane gas, a

service station and convenience store, a further-processing plant, a

Nutrimulch plant, and a hardware store. The feed mill mixes and

delivers over 150,000 tons of feed per year. The hatchery hatches

over 5 million turkey eggs annually. The processing plant

processes 75 million pounds of Norbest turkey products annually.

The breeder division includes six breeder farms located in Sanpete,

Juab, Sevier, and Washington Counties, as well as in Orosi,

California.

A service station was added in 1940. An all-new service

station and convenience store were opened last October. Included is

the propane business which provides propane to the growers. 

The Nutrimulch division produces and sells over 45,000 yards per year

of nutrient-rich soil conditioner made from recycled turkey litter.

Jolley, Joseph Prestwich, Ray Seely, Jake Anderson, George Faux,

Leo Morley, Dan L. Olsen, John M. Olsen, Wilford B. Olson, and

William Prestwich. These men formed the association and worked

out an agreement with Bent Monson, a Moroni flour miller, for the

grinding and mixing of their turkey mash on a cooperative basis.

The first mill was located in the Pioneer Opera House, which still

stands on Moroni's Main Street. Later, the abandoned People's

Sugar Company plant, located two miles south of town was

purchased and the feed division was moved there in 1940.

Moroni Feed Company was officially incorporated under

the cooperative statutes of Utah on January 20, 1938.

The first officers and directors were Leo Morley, president;

Ray Seely, vice president; and Marion Jolley, secretary-treasurer.

W.L. Morley was the buyer, a position he held for twenty years.

Sherman Christensen was hired as a bookkeeper. Marlin Cloward

was hired to take his equipment to the hay fields in Leamington and

Lyndell to chop hay. Albert Cloward worked with Marlin. As

more men were interested in becoming members, they were charged

a $1 membership fee.

Royce Johnson, daughter of W.L. Morley remembers as a

young child, that her father raised twenty to twenty-five turkeys.

About the middle of November, the turkeys were killed, dry-picked

and hung in an empty house next door. The heads and feet were

washed and left on the bird. 

The weather was cold this time of year, so they were preserved

 till they could be sold. 

Independent buyers would go around to the growers and buy their birds.

After incorporation, W.L. Morley was able to raise 500

turkeys. "This became a family affair," Royce said. "All feeding

and watering were done by hand. When the night began to fall, the

entire family would go in to the coop and get the turkeys to bed

Sitting on their roosts, we put turkeys beside us so as to encourage

other turkeys to jump up and take a place. When it was dark and all

the roosts were full, we would tip-toe out of the coop!"

Don Prestwich, son of Joseph Prestwich, also remembers

the early days. "We put a rack on a wagon and, with a shovel,

tossed grain from one side to the other as a way of mixing it. Each

poult was taken by hand and its beak was dipped into water or milk

to help it learn to drink. Now, the poults are just dumped out in the

coop. We used to feed the turkeys twice a day. Now, everything is

automated and feeders are filled once or twice a week according to

the age of the turkeys. At noon we used to pour water on the

mash and feed the turkeys wet mash thinking it would help them eat

more. We used to slip in barrels of buttermilk and feed the turkeys,

as well as ship in blocks of whey from the dairy processing

places. We used to run our turkeys alongside the river and they

waded and drank in the river. I remember dipping water out of the

river in fifty-gallon drums and hauling it to the turkeys in an old

Model T which held three or four barrels."