| MCDC Client Big Sky Shavings Wins $250,000 Forest Service Grant |
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January 6, 2008 Big Sky Shavings is a new business in Hall Montana that makes wood shavings for horse bedding from small diameter timber. With the assistance of Craig Rawlings, of MCDC’s Smallwood Utilization Institute (SUN), the owners of Big Sky Shavings identified the nationwide shortage of wood shavings for animal bedding as a viable niche in the emerging wood product market. Working together, MCDC and Big Sky Shavings parlayed the local labor force, otherwise unmerchantable timber and a collection of mostly used timber machinery into the first wood shavings mill in Montana. The wood shavings are sold all over the West, to wholesalers, distributors and direct to retailers such as Quality Supply. Since producing the first product in November of 2007, Big Sky Shavings has increased its market share and currently runs two shifts, providing employment for eleven full-time employees. The employees and the excellence they bring to their jobs are what make Bob Lanford, one of Big Sky Shavings owner/managers most proud. That excellence is rewarded in the productivity bonuses awarded for outstanding shift performance. Last fall, MCDC’s SUN introduced and guided Big Sky Shavings through a highly competitive nationwide grant application process through the Forest Service. Big Sky Shavings received one of four $250,000 Woody Biomass grants awarded in the Country. The grant will pay for additional equipment and marketing which will double the production capacity of the mill, putting more rural Montanans to work. Recent News >> News Archive >> |