August 21, 2024 • 43 mins
What drives a family to persist and thrive in farming for a hundred years? Discover the remarkable history behind Kreher Farms as Hal Kreher shares his family’s century-long journey in transforming 18 acres of land into a flourishing farmstead. From his grandfather's initial purchase in 1924 and the bold expansion to a 1,200-bird flock by 1930, to overcoming the Great Depression and the establishment of innovative barn designs in the '60s, Hal takes us through the farm's evolution and the pivotal roles played by each family member.
Organic farming isn't just a trend; it's a way of life at Kreher Farms. Hal sheds light on the myriad challenges and triumphs encountered while shifting towards more sustainable practices. Learn about the critical processes of waste product management, the creation of valuable compost, and the labor implications of de-intensification. Hal’s personal journey—from engineering back to farming—highlights the efficiencies gained through innovative barn designs and the irreplaceable value of family involvement.
Building a legacy in family farming involves countless triumphs and challenges. Hal opens up about the significance of succession planning, the acquisition of a large egg farm, and the importance of strong family relationships in maintaining a successful business. With heartfelt anecdotes, Hal underscores the deep connection employees have with Kreher Farms, their dedication during crises, and the strong community ties that continue to grow stronger with each passing generation. Join us as we celebrate 100 years of Kreher Farms’ rich history, unwavering values, and lasting impact.
Hosted by Brandon Mulnix - Director of Commercial Accounts - Prism Controls
The Poultry Leadership Podcast is only possible because of its sponsor, Prism Controls
Find out more about them at www.prismcontrols.com
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Brandon Mulnix (00:26):
Welcome to the Poultry Leadership Podcast.
I'm your host, brandon Molnixfrom Prism Controls, and today
we have a very special show.
We are going to get to hear allabout a hundred years of career
farms.
We may not cover all thedetails today, but we're going
to get a very good overview froma great individual who's grew
(00:51):
up on the Ha.
, .
I'm going to let Hal tell you alittle bit more about his
history, but before we get toofar into that, I do need to stop
and talk about our sponsor,Prism Controls.
This show would not be possiblewithout Prism Controls.
As I introduced myself, I dowork there, but we work hard to
(01:13):
provide technology for theindustry and in this case, today
, this is providing history tothe industry, a great
representation of what thisindustry is all about.
So if you can go ahead andcheck out Prism Controls online,
they've got some great productand would love to help you out
there.
But as we get started, hal,welcome to the Poultry
Leadership Podcast.
(01:33):
Well, thank you.
Hal Kreher (01:35):
It's nice to be here and hey, we use Prism Controls
on our farm.
We are replacing some of ourother control systems with Prism
Wow, so we're rolling one foryou.
Brandon Mulnix (01:46):
Thank you, Hal.
I really appreciate that.
So, Hal, it sounds like youguys have a birthday coming up.
Can you tell me a little bitabout what this 100-year
celebration is all about?
Hal Kreher (01:58):
Yeah, well, 100 years ago, in 1924, my
grandfather bought some 18 acresof land in Amherst, New York.
You couldn't tell now that itwas a farm.
It was his beginning farm andthere was no electricity or gas
at the farm and the road was notreally in good condition.
(02:18):
I think he had to ride a horsethe last mile sometimes because
the road was bad.
But he bought that land.
Grandpa was a machinist andworked at all over gear.
He was, I was told he cut wormgears.
It would turn turrets andbattleships and in 1924 he had
54 white lighters that he cameout from the city with to his
(02:41):
new farm and gradually built upthe flock to 1,200 birds by 1930
.
And at that time he decided toquit his job in 1930.
I can't imagine him quittinghis job with the Great
Depression going on.
He was the highest paid guy inthe machine shop but decided he
(03:01):
liked farming more, I guess.
So that's how it started andthen so I have some very good
articles that I found where theyhad a good interview with
Grandpa.
He died in 1955, I believe 57.
So that was a few years beforeI was born, so I never met him.
But I have his words in thesearticles, so that's pretty nice.
(03:23):
So it gives some good historyof how they built stuff up with
their incubators.
They got into breeding andselling chicks.
And let's see by 1943, he had a20,000 egg capacity incubator
at his farm and would hatch over75,000 birds a year and that's
how he got started.
(03:44):
He had some farm and wouldhatch over 75,000 birds a year,
and that's how he got started.
Brandon Mulnix (03:46):
He had some contract blocks.
Hal Kreher (03:48):
I have a letter from 1946 where he's urging people
to get their chick orders inbecause they ran out the
previous year, and it describeshow he was working with some
different other growers toproduce more eggs, to produce
more chicks other growers toproduce more eggs, to produce
more chicks.
Brandon Mulnix (04:13):
So your grandfather quit a very high
paying job that was very stableduring the Great Depression to
follow his dreams of being afarmer.
Hal Kreher (04:17):
Yeah, isn't that crazy.
Brandon Mulnix (04:19):
It's inspiring.
I mean, he didn't know what theGreat Depression, I don't know
the time frame around the GreatDepression in that area, but my
goodness, what an inspiration.
Hal Kreher (04:30):
So then in 1950, my dad and mom got married and my
aunt and uncle and the four ofthem well, the farm purchased
the land that were our mainoffices now here in Clarence in
1950 and the four of them movedinto the farmhouse which you
know just grandpa moved out tothe no electric and no gas and
(04:51):
stuff.
They moved into a house with noindoor plumbing in 1950.
I think they want to at least ayear with no indoor plumbing,
so that women rebelled againsttheir husbands.
Brandon Mulnix (05:03):
Of course they were doing all the work too.
Hal Kreher (05:04):
They convinced the husbands they had to put in some
bathrooms.
Brandon Mulnix (05:07):
Then they got their indoor plumbing.
But you know so, Mom and.
Hal Kreher (05:10):
Aunt Margie.
They were both instrumental inthe farm.
They would do the egg gradingand produce a lot of the workers
, me and my cousins and you know, so they helped out great
greatly and were a part you knowa big part of the success of
the farm.
So dad and uncle don, they were.
You know, nowadays they'd behitster farmers.
(05:32):
They had birds out on the range, a couple farms going this
business.
It was turning instead of beinga pullet producing business
into an ag business.
When the hybrid birds came out,they just couldn't compete with
their you know, single strainline anymore.
They had their own strain ofbirds that they had bred over
(05:52):
the years but it just couldn'tcompete with the new, newer
hybrids.
Brandon Mulnix (05:55):
They did produce .
Hal Kreher (05:56):
for one of the I think it was decal for a while
and then the hatchery, just youknow, didn't make sense.
So we got more into eggproduction in the late, probably
early 60s, I would say, is whenI started more into egg
production.
Brandon Mulnix (06:13):
Okay, so how many?
Let's say early 60s, how manyeggs were being produced?
Or how many birds was yourUncle Don and your dad
responsible for?
Responsible?
Hal Kreher (06:24):
for, oh, we may have had like 75,000 at that point,
something like that between ourown farm and some contract farms
.
The farm that they bought in1950, it built and they had an
old dairy barn, you know,gambrel roof barn with a hay mow
.
Well then, uncle Don and myUncle John, they added two more
(06:46):
floors to us.
It had four floors to it.
The first floor, you know, allthe way up and an elevator shaft
to haul eggs up and down.
They didn't have to carry themup the stairs.
A stairwell included a littlefeeding area.
They added on a two-floorenlargement to it for birds, and
(07:07):
these were all floor birds, ofcourse, and you know this.
What I remember, remember wasthe four-story barn and what we
called the new barn.
It was a floor barn with slatsdown the center and the eggnest
on the wall and a trolley totake down the length of the barn
and put, you know, hand, gatherthe eggs out of the nest and
put them on flasks, put theflasks on the trolley and roll
(07:27):
them out to the front.
There were 10,000 birds in thatbarn but you know, my early
memories are that barn, becausethat was built in 1960, I was
born in 1963, and the old, whatwe call the old barn, the
four-story barn, and you know wehad different things.
I can remember being a littlekid being warned about the
feeder keep your fingers out ofthe feeder.
(07:49):
And you know it was probablyjust a who knows how old I was.
You know four or five.
You know walking through thebarns I'm sure I was in there
even younger, because you knowthat's what people do they take
your kids in when you're doingsomething.
And that's what we did.
You know we had floor birds andit was.
(08:09):
There were issues we had withthe drinker.
Technology wasn't was very poor, like we had trough feet trough
drinkers and so one of thosewould tip over and make a
horrible mess.
The feeding was automated.
Again, we had to hand gatherthe eggs.
Growing up, we always had thoseeggs we had to hand gather, and
(08:32):
these were nests on the wallthat had a what we call a
mailbox across the pump wherethe eggs would roll out of the
nest into a tray that had a lidand a nest stick on top, where
the birds would land and thenwalk into the nest.
Well, when you came through andgathered the eggs in the
afternoon, you didn't want thechickens to sleep in the nest,
(08:52):
so we put that nest stick up infront of the nest, so the
chickens didn't have access tothe nest and you know most of
the eggs are laid in the morning, so it wasn't a problem with
making four eggs at that point.
Brandon Mulnix (09:05):
You just did that to keep the chickens out,
so had to do that for a few.
Hal Kreher (09:10):
I don't know, maybe a month, the first month, to
train the chickens and go in atnight and pick the chickens off
the floor and put them up on theslats Again to keep most of the
manure up in one area.
So it was the kids' jobs, to goout at night and put the nest
eggs back down, and that's abonding experience when you're
doing that with your brothers,and so sometimes it would get to
(09:32):
be a race.
I was usually the little, theyounger one.
I'm the fourth out of five sons.
I also have two sisters, so theonly brother that I have, and
so the bigger kids could runfaster and stuff like that, so
we'd go through and put the nesteggs down and then it was a run
back to the house in the darkand you know so.
That's terrifying for a littlekid.
(09:54):
It was uphill, but that's howthey learn to run fast.
So it's some fun stuff Lookingback on it.
Brandon Mulnix (10:01):
So it's interesting Some of the
technologies now that work toclose the nest that work to
automate all of those processes.
You guys were way before yourtime, before the birds you know
started going into more of theconventional housing it's.
I go back to the numbers.
You know your, your grandfather, left, and you know kind of
(10:23):
left on his own and started thisbarn at, you know, 12, 12,000
birds.
And then you're 1,200.
Hal Kreher (10:30):
Got to 1,200.
1,200, not 12,000.
Okay.
Brandon Mulnix (10:33):
So that's when he jumped out, and then your dad
and your uncle got it up to75,000.
Hal Kreher (10:39):
Well, they retired in.
It was 1993.
And so by that point weprobably had 400,000.
Brandon Mulnix (10:54):
and so by that point we probably had 400,000,
400,000, okay, so 75 400,000,and then today, how many birds
you guys care for we have.
Hal Kreher (10:59):
In November we'll have two and a half million.
We have a building going upright now.
It's a fast growth when youlook at it that way, isn't it is
?
Brandon Mulnix (11:08):
it's just impressive.
So, looking back, you had yourolder siblings and your aunt and
uncle lived with your mom anddad, which is just, you know,
crazy to think.
You know, with a year withoutno indoor plumbing heck, I've
had a bathroom project going forthe last month and a half and I
think all of my family areready to kick me out because
they don't have one part of theplumbing or another.
(11:29):
And to think, you know, a yearwithout any indoor plumbing Wow,
that's crazy.
Hal Kreher (11:36):
You know, and then they lived in the same house
until there were eight or ninekids between the two of them.
Uncle Don and Aunt Marty livedon the second floor.
Her mom and dad lived on thefirst floor.
Brandon Mulnix (11:48):
I can't imagine.
That either.
It's all about family.
At that point, you'reco-raising kids while
everybody's out expecting towork, because it's not only did
you guys have chickens, but youalso started working the crop
farm.
Is that correct?
Hal Kreher (12:04):
Yeah, so all along we had some cropland not too big
, probably grew.
In the 70s we bought a farmdown the street and so we had
maybe 500 acres.
We were farming something likethat, and it was to get rid of
the manure.
You had to have somewhere to gowith it.
The manure got to be a bigproblem, though.
(12:25):
We had liquid manure, and Idon't know if you've had
experience with that, but liquidmanure smells a lot worse than
the dry manure.
It just has anaerobic decay andproduces some very nasty ores
compounds that really take a lotof dilution until you can't
smell them anymore, and so it'spretty bad.
(12:48):
We had that until 1994, when weswitched over to composting.
We did have some issues withthe neighbors.
When we were doing that liquidmanure that hindered our growth
until we had something different.
Brandon Mulnix (13:02):
Okay.
Hal Kreher (13:02):
When we came up with the composting, then we were
able to see okay, we can keepfarming wherever we are.
We're pretty.
We're the first farm to get tocoming east out of Buffalo on
Route 5.
It's one of the major routes.
You know, before the Thruwaywent in it was a major route and
you know there's a lot ofhouses here and we had to figure
(13:23):
that out.
But we went to composting in1994.
It had a lot of benefits to us.
It made the manure so the fliesweren't interested in it.
I mean before that we hadhigh-rise buildings where you
know the chickens were on thesecond floor, manure was on the
first floor and clean it outonce or twice a year and between
(13:44):
those cleanouts the flies canget pretty bad, the mice can get
pretty bad.
It's just not a great system.
So we switched to the compostand weren't storing manure in
the chicken house anymore,taking it to a compost building
Within a day or two, the fliesaren't interested in it anymore.
It doesn't attract flies once itstarts composting and it's too
(14:07):
hot for rodents to live in, andso you know, there's a big
change for us and something thatreally allowed us to go to the
next you know.
Take the next steps and youknow, we started producing
compost and selling that toother farms, and we found the
market for that was with organicfarms.
Brandon Mulnix (14:26):
So there's a large organic farmer down near
Pennian New York, his name isKlaus Martens and we started
talking to him and he said well,you guys make this stuff?
Hal Kreher (14:36):
How come you're not farming your crops?
Brandon Mulnix (14:39):
organically and you've got the fertilizer for it
.
Hal Kreher (14:42):
We looked at what that would entail and made the
jump in 1999 into organiccropping and at the time I think
, corn was $2.35 a bushel andorganic corn was $5 a bushel,
and so that helped.
And that's you know, organicfarming is very tough.
It's the crop farming.
You have to do it just rightand the timing is essential.
(15:04):
On weed control and stuff likethat, it's very hard and so
we've been doing that since thenfor 24 years.
We've cut back recently alittle bit on it Some of the
ground.
We've had some weeds come inthat just couldn't control with
tillage so we had to switch backon some of that.
But then so the composting thatled us to sack cages.
Brandon Mulnix (15:27):
Well, sack cages kind of led us to the compost
thing that happened at the sametime.
So then, you know, we just,expanded that as we remodeled
our complex over to the stackcages, added another compost
building and took it from therethat got us into like 2000,
2001.
, you mentioned the whole manurewhere you probably couldn't
(15:47):
even get rid of it before, andthen you made it into a product
that actually is very helpful tothe other farmers, especially
the organic ones.
What other big changes have youseen?
Similar situations, possiblylike that or in other areas of
the farm?
Hal Kreher (16:03):
Well, this is an interesting question.
Brandon Mulnix (16:07):
I don't know.
Hal Kreher (16:07):
That was a real game changer, because we were taking
a waste product and turning itinto something we could sell.
Brandon Mulnix (16:13):
I can't think of anything else where we took a.
Hal Kreher (16:15):
You know, I guess we used to dump liquid ag out on a
field and found somebody thatwould take that away.
Brandon Mulnix (16:22):
That was a switch from something like that,
but not nearly to the samescale or anything.
I don't know that's a goodquestion well, it goes along,
the sustainability, as thattopic has really come to focus
and across the industry.
What's the sustainability story?
Hal Kreher (16:41):
and you know sustainability is a great thing
to talk about you.
You know, for farming it's beenall about sustainability for a
long time, although it's reallybeen focused on productivity and
efficiency.
And I'll tell you, productivitygoes a long way towards meeting
your sustainability goals,because you can.
Brandon Mulnix (17:02):
You know hardly any inputs.
But if you don't have anyoutputs, what good is it right?
Any?
Hal Kreher (17:06):
inputs.
But if you don't have anyoutputs, what good is it right
Really for agriculture?
I think intensive agriculturehas made some of the agriculture
more sustainable.
I know people assume that byhaving you know 100,000 chickens
in a building.
Brandon Mulnix (17:20):
That, oh my gosh .
Hal Kreher (17:22):
You must be sick all the time because that's what
happens to my little kid when hegoes to school time, because
that's what happens to my littlekid when he goes to school.
Brandon Mulnix (17:30):
But it's not like that at all.
It's the exact opposite.
Hal Kreher (17:31):
It's a hundred thousand chickens and in a
building where the disease iskept out and the vaccinations
and different things you cangive them in there nutritionally
, you know, is what keeps thebirds healthy and you know, I
tell people that no, wevaccinate for different diseases
(17:51):
.
Brandon Mulnix (17:51):
We've gotten rid of different things in the
poultry sector by usingbiosecurity to our advantage and
it's a huge thing.
Hal Kreher (18:00):
And I don't know how we produce as many eggs.
As you know, it would take alot more people to produce the
eggs.
Brandon Mulnix (18:07):
The other way, I know it just does so.
Hal Kreher (18:12):
we are.
You know, thede-intensification that we're
going through to cage-free istaking more people.
It's taking more labor.
Nobody talks about that, theimpact of that, you know, I
haven't seen the impact of thaton the sustainability of it.
Brandon Mulnix (18:26):
Well, as a farmer whose family went from
floor raised birds to four-storybarns, which I have to chuckle,
because we see these four-storybarns now and they hold a few
more chickens than the one thatyou guys had there on your farm
yeah, because that one did it.
Hal Kreher (18:42):
Have, you know, 500 chickens on the fourth floor?
I don't know you guys were.
Brandon Mulnix (18:48):
We're ahead of your time, though, and it showed
the value of efficiency andhaving four instead of four
barns one barn with, you know,four levels.
You guys were well before yourtime.
So, Hal, looking back at you,you mentioned, you know, some of
your earlier memories were youand your brothers and sisters
and shutting the nest.
What are?
What is your story on the farmand how did you get to where you
and your brothers and sistersand shut in the nest?
(19:08):
What is your story on the farmand how did you get to where you
got today?
Hal Kreher (19:11):
Well, growing up on the farm, you don't know what
you have.
Brandon Mulnix (19:16):
Well, sorry, Brandon, I get a little
emotional sometimes.
No, that's fine, you knowgrowing up on the farm.
Hal Kreher (19:22):
you know I had to work hard and stuff and when I
went away to college I decidedto go to engineering school so I
could get a regular job likeother people and my friend's
parents, you know, and who hadweekends off and stuff like that
, vacations, yeah, and so I wentto engineering school and went
to Cornell and when I got out Igot a job working for the Navy
(19:46):
down in New Jersey and workeddown there for a few years.
But by then, you know, I had metthis.
That's a good name.
By then I had met my wife,karen, who you know actually she
went to school for poultry, andso she knew more about chickens
than I did.
So she came in and got a jobworking at the farm one summer.
And that's how we met.
(20:07):
That's a whole other storywhich I don't get into, I guess.
Brandon Mulnix (20:14):
And so she knows more about chicken and signage.
Hal Kreher (20:16):
I'll reiterate that, but anyhow.
So I moved out of New Jersey towork for the Navy and then, in
1989, my brother called me andsaid hey, hal, we're looking at
doing something a littledifferent and we're looking at
doing something a littledifferent and we're looking at
maybe distributing this beverage.
Our egg trucks, to you know,help lower our distribution
costs, but we need somebody torun that, and would you be
(20:38):
interested in coming back?
And so I said yeah, sure I'd beinterested in coming back, and
I didn't really consult Karen,but I made the decision to quit
my job and come back anddistribute Snapple.
Brandon Mulnix (20:51):
Oh, and so the first thing I did was you know,
go to the store and I'd neverheard of Snapple before.
Hal Kreher (20:56):
But I went down to the local convenience store and
got a couple bottles of Snappleand they had this one tangerine
seltzer and I thought well, thatsounds good, but you know I
wasn't used to alternativebeverages.
So we opened it up and andtasted it and it was exactly
what it said was seltzer,watered with some tangerine
(21:16):
flavoring, no sweetener oranything I was like oh my gosh,
what have I done?
You know, but anyhow we movedback and we started distributing
Snapple in 1989.
That business grew very rapidly.
By 1994, we were selling overhalf a million cases a year.
Brandon Mulnix (21:37):
So it grew really rapidly.
Hal Kreher (21:39):
The business had to grow crazy to deal with that.
And now, instead of having eggtrucks with some Snapple on it,
we had Snapple trucks with someeggs on them.
In 1995, we sold off thedistribution rights.
In Rochester we had a contractfor a large area and had sold
off all their pieces.
And so we sold off theRochester distribution rights
(22:01):
and just had Erie County andErie and Niagara County, which
is Buffalo and Niagara Falls.
Brandon Mulnix (22:07):
And it just didn't make sense anymore.
Hal Kreher (22:09):
So by 97, we got out of that part of the business
and then we started a pelletmill to pelletize the composted
poultry manure and again, it wassomething we didn't have any
experience doing and they kindof gave it to me as a project.
Here's this equipment that wehad gotten from another company
and we've got to figure outwhere we're going to put this
together and see how it works.
(22:31):
And so we took a look at thedifferent buildings on the farm
and we had an old building downthe street, an old barn, that we
were able to fit this palletmill in and we put it in there
with all this used equipment andgot that up and running, and so
that was another business thatwe got into.
Brandon Mulnix (22:48):
That was fertilizer business, and so that
has been a pretty good businessfor us.
Hal Kreher (22:53):
It's not a huge thing but it's been okay.
And so then that was in 97 andwe built the second one in 20.
That one started up in 2021, sothat one started during covid
it that one.
That was a very challengingproject, so the building took a
long time to build.
There was, you know, duringCOVID.
(23:15):
It was a complicated buildingbecause of the compost building
and the pellet mill, a lot ofelectrical conduits in the floor
, wires, you know, goingeverywhere which way to
different distribution boxes,and then you know then the once
the building was built, we hadto assemble the equipment and
then get that up and running andstarting up equipment for the
(23:36):
first time we didn't have anyvendors on site.
because it was during COVID, itwas a real struggle.
And it was one of those timeswhen thing after thing was wrong
, and you know you just feellike oh, I'm trying to do this
and it goes, that thing breaks.
And then I'm trying to do thatand that thing breaks.
And so one of the guys wasreally getting down and he was
(23:59):
like, oh man, I just can't.
You know, this is another thingbroke.
It's just.
I can't deal with it hey youknow, look, and we've overcome
all of that.
Every time something breaks, wefix it and figure it out and,
you know, make it a littlebetter and we move on.
You know, it's just how it'sgoing to go.
(24:19):
And I think he understood that,but he was getting kind of down
because of the number of thingsthat were going wrong and just
you know, wasn't seeing thelight at the end of the tunnel,
and it's hard to see thatsometimes.
And seeing the light at the endof the tunnel, it's hard to see
that sometimes, but you know.
You just got to give it someperspective and know that you've
gotten through.
You know the different thingsthat have been thrown at you.
(24:40):
You get through this one too,and it might just take some time
.
Brandon Mulnix (24:45):
Hal, as you mentioned, like your college
education, you got intoengineering, you went on to work
for the Navy.
Have you thought of of likeyour grandfather through that?
Because, as you shared hisstory and his intelligence level
and what he was producingduring the great depression and
where you're at today, I mean somany similarities and stories.
(25:08):
It's yeah, it's one of thosethings where I picked up on that
really quickly that man thatyou've got a very smart family
and now you're talking, you're ahundred years and you're now
starting to transition to thenext generation.
Can you tell me about the nextgeneration of Kreher farms?
Hal Kreher (25:32):
well, I didn't talk about my generation too much
myself and my four brothers cool, he's, the oldest, can help us
say that and you know he's been.
He was the CEO.
He retired a couple years ago,but he was like the main leader
in the business.
He came back in 1978.
Then my.
(25:53):
I'll go through my family.
First my brother, scott.
He did work on sales.
He's also retired but he ranthe snapple business with me
because it got to be a big.
You know, every night we'd haveto put the roots together of
where the trucks were going thenext day and it wasn't on a
computer there weren't anycomputers.
We we had I guess we had acomputer to print out the
invoices, but then we had tosort them by hand and throw them
(26:16):
out on the floor or on the mapand rearrange them into the
routes.
It was something.
And then the next one up for me, neil.
He's three years older than I,am Neil's the engineer and
really was responsible formaking a lot of stuff work and
keeping it working over theyears Myself and then my younger
(26:36):
brother, brett.
Brett does mostly administrativestuff with insurance and he's
worked a lot with the cropsdepartment.
Also, my cousin Don that's myuncle's son, obviously Don Jr.
He ran the crops departmentwhile he was here and helped me.
You know he and I built thepellet mill.
Brandon Mulnix (26:54):
I almost said help me.
I helped him, I guess.
Hal Kreher (26:57):
But together we and with another, with two other
guys we built the pellet milland Cousin Dave runs the egg
packing operation in Clarencehere and also does like the
purchasing of commodities.
Kurt worked with him on thatuntil he retired, but nowadays
he's been working on that, Ithink, pretty much alone.
So then in the next generationwe have Don's daughter, jeanette
(27:22):
, and Jeanette works with the HRdepartment, mostly Kurt's two
boys, mike and Brian.
Mike runs the crops departmentand Brian runs the egg business.
And then Scott's daughter,natalie, and she is running the
fertilizer business now I'vekind of pulled them back as I
(27:43):
get ready to retire, so she'srunning that part and also does
the sales on the egg side.
And then my son Nate, who'salso in the compost and
fertilizer part of it.
There's other family membersthat work in the business also.
He's supportable.
So cousin jim is engineer butworks here, but he's not an
(28:03):
owner, but we're sure.
My son erin works in the female.
Again he's not one of the ownersbut he's, we're sure and I have
uh just the other day, a coupleweeks ago, one of the guys who
works in maintenance out at ourorganic farm, he uh said to me
hey, I'm related to you guys andI had seen his name on
ancestrycom but I thought it wasa kind of a common name so
(28:25):
maybe it wasn't him.
But then he got me his familytree and I found out he's my
third cousin twice removed.
Brandon Mulnix (28:31):
So, as the next generation takes over Hal, I
want you to take a minute andlook back.
What is one of your proudestaccomplishments as a farmer in
your generation?
Hal Kreher (28:49):
Well, brandon, in 2017, we bought another egg farm
from Wegmans and the closingwas on the day my dad died.
It's a farm that's twice aslarge as our home farm, so it
was a huge leap for us, but itworked out really well.
(29:12):
Wegmans is a great customer forus.
Brandon Mulnix (29:16):
They wanted to have organic eggs.
Hal Kreher (29:18):
So we decided we would build an organic farm and
produce organic eggs, so theywould have organic eggs to sell.
So we did that starting in 2009.
That was a very excitingproject and you know got mostly
built out to plans really prettyrapidly.
I mean, we put it in the firsttwo, first three buildings in a
(29:40):
pull house and the next threewent out pretty fast.
We have 11 buildings now there,but it that was a really kind
of fun project.
Brandon Mulnix (29:50):
And what about?
It really just makes you stickyour chest out and be proud of
it.
Hal Kreher (29:58):
Well, it's something we had to come up with our own
design.
We had looked at other farmsand how they were doing things,
but it was something where wehad to come up with our own
design, and it's not like wehired an architect and an
engineer firm to oversee thewhole thing.
We just laid it out how wethought made sense and then
(30:22):
worked with a few vendors to getit built, and I think it looks
almost exactly like how wethought it was going to look.
They changed some of the rulesso we had to change some of the
buildings, but if it hadn'thappened, it would have looked
exactly how we thought it wouldlook.
Brandon Mulnix (30:38):
That's something to be proud of is just growing,
not knowing, not having theexperience of doing it, but just
making it all work.
And when I think of farmers, Ithink of exactly what you and
your generation did is figuredit out think of exactly what you
and your generation did isfigured it out.
Hal Kreher (30:57):
Well, some of the challenges.
There's been times when we'vegone to, you know, too small,
because you know it's alwaysbeen a challenge of resources.
Right, you can never build thebuilding as the size you want,
but it's always a compromise andyou put an electric line in the
wrong place or something, andyou have to move it later.
(31:18):
You know there's been some timeswhen we've done stuff like that
and I'll tell you it's a realchallenge to see the future and
you know what are yourelectrical needs going to be the
next time you expand or add onto it.
And some of that stuff justtakes years in advance to get it
done.
If you need more power than theelectric company has coming to
(31:39):
your plant that takes years toget them to do something.
It's not something where hey, Iwant to build this next month.
Let's get going.
And it's hard to get used tosometimes when you're more used
to.
Hey, let's plan it out and justpull the trigger on something.
Brandon Mulnix (31:57):
How do you pass that experience and that
knowledge on to the nextgeneration?
Pal.
Hal Kreher (32:05):
Well, fortunately there's a bit of an overlap.
Of course, the kids have workedin different areas of the
business and you know so.
They've gotten experience andyou can tell people a lot of
stuff.
But some of the times you gotto do it on their own and you
know that's part of them, partof it.
They got to have the freedom tofail and so they learn.
Brandon Mulnix (32:25):
That's really good advice.
So, looking back, you'veovercome a lot, you've
experienced a lot.
What was one of the greatestthings that?
Hal Kreher (32:39):
you overcame in your career, you know, I would say
the startup of that power mill.
That was a real challenge.
I lost like 15 pounds.
You know it's two hours awayfrom where I live, so it was a
few weeks of every day drivingit.
You know, it was just it was abig challenge.
Brandon Mulnix (32:55):
So what did you learn from that event then that
you can pass on to?
Hal Kreher (33:00):
I think it was just that, hey, you got to just keep
working through your problemsand realize that look at all
you've overcome in the past.
You didn't just make it here.
You didn't just start there,wherever you are.
You made it through a lot ofstuff and you just got to
realize every obstacle thatcomes your way, clamber over it
and get on to the next one,that's all I can say but you
(33:25):
know something that's moreimportant is being able to get
along with people and knowingyou know how to deal with it
when you're wrong and how todeal with it when you're right.
You know sometimes you need toapologize for something you've
done, and you know say you'resorry and you know it's best to
(33:46):
learn how to do that.
And then, if you're right, yougot to to learn how to deal with
that too, because nobody likesto make it right all the time.
Brandon Mulnix (33:59):
I imagine there's been a few times that
you've been wrong over yourcareer and had to apologize, and
a few less times that you wereprobably right and got away to
gloat about it.
Right?
Hal Kreher (34:10):
Oh yeah, oh yeah, but you know this is one of the
things my family is so fortunate.
We all get along with eachother, and it's not that we all
agree with each other all thetime there.
So of course there'sdisagreements and sometimes it
gets heated, but you gotta, youcan't let it get too far.
And then you also gotta be ableto say you're sorry if you were
(34:30):
wrong and understand that youmight be passionate about
something, but you know, yougotta what's more important to
you.
Yeah, and you know mostly therelationship is more important
than being right and sosometimes even when you're wrong
, you gotta.
Or when you're right, you oh.
(34:51):
The relationship is moreimportant than me being right.
I got to just back off here alittle bit and see how it goes.
I've been in that situation,you know.
So getting along, I'd saythat's been my family's greatest
strength.
Brandon Mulnix (35:09):
It's amazing.
When you're working as a family, it's you know you can't really
get away from each otherbecause you're going to see each
other at Christmas.
But, it's so important becausewhen you work at a place you
spend more time with the peopleyou work with than your own
family and getting along.
You have to have that respectfor each other, that ability to
(35:35):
understand each other, becauseas a family you probably you
knew how each other grew up.
You knew the morals, the values.
But when you start expandingthat network it gets a little
bit more challenging.
And what are some of thebiggest things that you've seen
as a change in the industrysince you started?
Well, you know.
Hal Kreher (35:55):
I'm just going to step back and say, hey, one of
the best things we ever did waswe came up with a list of our
shared values and at the time Ithought we were spending a lot
of time on this, but I've had somany people comment to me on
hey, because we got them postedup.
These are our shared values andit's integrity do the right
(36:17):
thing, do things right, be agood neighbor, caring, teamwork,
sharing work, ethic,forgiveness and gratitude.
And you know we try and livethat.
And the people that work herethey know we try and live that
and they try to live that.
And the people that work herethey know we try and live that
and they try to live that.
And I've had people come in fora job interview and say, well,
(36:38):
the reason I'm in here isbecause they saw your shared
values and I thought that was.
It was interesting thatsomething I didn't.
At the time we were doing.
I didn't realize again theimpact it would make, but it's
been a really important thingfor us and it's been a really
important thing for us and it'sbeen part of.
You know that was done as partof our generational transition,
(36:59):
just to how to pass this along.
Brandon Mulnix (37:03):
I'm glad that you guys did that exercise.
You post them and then you livethem.
Because that's the key is, youcan have all the values written
down you want, but you got tolive them.
Hal Kreher (37:10):
Yeah.
Sounds like you guys live themout.
Who wants to work for somebodythat makes their living ripping
people off or something likethat?
I don't know.
I can't imagine how, whenyou're working at a farm, it's
somewhat fulfilling.
You're producing food forsomebody else, you know you're
taking care of these animals andyou know there's just a lot of
(37:32):
parts that are fulfilling.
You know, when you get aproject done.
I know we didn't realize howimportant, you know, the
business was to our employeesfor a long time until it was
shortly after I came back in theearly 90s.
One of the women that had workedfor us for years and years in
our backpacking room didn't comeshow up for work one morning,
(37:55):
and so my cousin went over toher house and she had passed
away and so we went to herfuneral and her family.
You know this was a woman whoreally, while she was at work,
really didn't have the nicething to say to us, but her
family was like oh, she talkedabout the farm all the time and
you know the different peoplethat work there.
(38:16):
You know I can feel like I knowyou guys and it was like wow,
you know here's somebody whodidn't really seem like they
were having a good time, but youknow their job was extremely
important to them and you knowso.
Then you know, really openedour eyes to that, and you know,
once you realize it, well, ofcourse it makes sense and you
(38:37):
know we have people who haveworked here for their entire
careers and it's very fulfillingwhen you have someone who works
here a long time gets to retire.
We've had people that haveworked here a few years and then
, for whatever reason, they moveon to something else and then
we've come back.
You know stuff like that.
One of our complex managers isa guy who started here in high
(38:58):
school and now he's a complexmanager.
Brandon Mulnix (39:01):
It says a lot about your company.
If people are willing to comeback after leaving, that always
says a really good thing.
And then to look out in yourcommunity and to see the lives
that your farm has been able toaffect with houses and families
and the community that you'repart of, and that's truly what
(39:22):
to me to me business is about.
It's not necessarily about theproduct but about the lives that
you're investing in byproviding them an income and
then seeing how that affectsgenerations oh, and then you
know you get some true friends,some people.
Hal Kreher (39:38):
They'd walk through fire for you, anything like guys
I know I could call in themiddle of the night and ask them
to do anything and they'd do it.
One year we had what theycalled the October Surprise
Storm.
It was October 13th I think itwas maybe 2006, something like
that where it was October 13thand we got three feet of snow
(40:01):
and the leaves were still on thetrees, so all the trees broke
and you couldn't drive down theroad me 45 minutes to get here,
what normally takes me seven.
And I had to drive over downwires and not take the backtrack
and take a different route andall sorts of crazy stuff and
show up at the farm.
(40:23):
And here's a bunch of people arehere Even though they're facing
a disaster at their own home.
One guy's got a branch throughhis window at home, he threw up
some plywood and got to work.
All these people showed up atwork for that day even though
they were experiencing their owndisaster.
It was really amazing.
(40:43):
Says a lot.
You know the guy who was thefirst day of work.
He showed up.
That's funny.
Brandon Mulnix (40:53):
Hal, is there anything else you want to share
with our listening audienceabout the career story and just
whether it's the future or someof your favorite memories?
Hal Kreher (41:04):
Another early memory I had is we used to sell eggs
right out of the house.
There's a little room on theside of the house where
customers could walk right intothe house and there was a cooler
out there with eggs in it andthe door was rigged up so the
bell would ring if somebody camein.
And you know somebody would runout there and oh, what do you
want?
And make the change or whatever, and people would take their
(41:28):
eggs and go and that's what Ihad to do.
You know, I did that as alittle kid and you know, when
you're a little kid it's like agame kind of thing and you learn
how to make change at a veryearly age.
You know that was kind of a funthing and there was one guy who
would come, usually like wherewe'd still be eating dinner or
(41:50):
right after dinner, and he was aplainclothes policeman.
I hope he would pull aside hisjacket to show me his pistol,
not in a threatening manner butjust as something cool to show a
little kid it was kind of body.
Brandon Mulnix (42:06):
I'm sure you've got a hundred more stories that
of over the years of whetherit's the business or the family
has made a difference in yourlife as well.
As you know, you've probablygot great stories to share about
things, and maybe they'restories that you just never will
share because they're yourprivate ways of helping your
communities.
Hal, I really appreciate yourtime today and sharing your
(42:28):
stories with the listeners here.
Those are the real stories thatpeople actually want to hear
about the industry.
It's not about the number ofeggs you produce, it's not about
the number of birds, it's notabout the style you use.
It's really important is thepeople, the families, the
personalities and the legacythat is behind farms like Career
(42:48):
Farms.
Well, poultry Leadership Podcastlisteners, I hope that you've
enjoyed this walk down memorylane for Kreher Farms and the
fact that it's 100 years thatthey have been providing their
community with one of the mostincredible products in not only
eggs, but in other products aswell over the years, and so I
(43:10):
appreciate Hal for joining ustoday and as we go, as I end
this podcast, I'd really likeyou to share this story with
other listeners throughsubscribing to the podcast, by
sharing it on your social media.
Get the word out about KreherFarms in 100 years.
It's not just about the PoultryLeadership Podcast, but this is
a true farm story that needs tobe shared with others.
(43:31):
So thank you, listeners, and Ilook forward to our next time we
get together.
Have a good day.
Welcome to the Poultry Leadership Podcast.
I'm your host, brandon Molnixfrom Prism Controls, and today
we have a very special show.
We are going to get to hear allabout a hundred years of career
farms.
We may not cover all thedetails today, but we're going
to get a very good overview froma great individual who's grew
(00:51):
up on the Ha.
, .
I'm going to let Hal tell you alittle bit more about his
history, but before we get toofar into that, I do need to stop
and talk about our sponsor,Prism Controls.
This show would not be possiblewithout Prism Controls.
As I introduced myself, I dowork there, but we work hard to
(01:13):
provide technology for theindustry and in this case, today
, this is providing history tothe industry, a great
representation of what thisindustry is all about.
So if you can go ahead andcheck out Prism Controls online,
they've got some great productand would love to help you out
there.
But as we get started, hal,welcome to the Poultry
Leadership Podcast.
(01:33):
Well, thank you.
Hal Kreher (01:35):
It's nice to be here and hey, we use Prism Controls
on our farm.
We are replacing some of ourother control systems with Prism
Wow, so we're rolling one foryou.
Brandon Mulnix (01:46):
Thank you, Hal.
I really appreciate that.
So, Hal, it sounds like youguys have a birthday coming up.
Can you tell me a little bitabout what this 100-year
celebration is all about?
Hal Kreher (01:58):
Yeah, well, 100 years ago, in 1924, my
grandfather bought some 18 acresof land in Amherst, New York.
You couldn't tell now that itwas a farm.
It was his beginning farm andthere was no electricity or gas
at the farm and the road was notreally in good condition.
(02:18):
I think he had to ride a horsethe last mile sometimes because
the road was bad.
But he bought that land.
Grandpa was a machinist andworked at all over gear.
He was, I was told he cut wormgears.
It would turn turrets andbattleships and in 1924 he had
54 white lighters that he cameout from the city with to his
(02:41):
new farm and gradually built upthe flock to 1,200 birds by 1930
.
And at that time he decided toquit his job in 1930.
I can't imagine him quittinghis job with the Great
Depression going on.
He was the highest paid guy inthe machine shop but decided he
(03:01):
liked farming more, I guess.
So that's how it started andthen so I have some very good
articles that I found where theyhad a good interview with
Grandpa.
He died in 1955, I believe 57.
So that was a few years beforeI was born, so I never met him.
But I have his words in thesearticles, so that's pretty nice.
(03:23):
So it gives some good historyof how they built stuff up with
their incubators.
They got into breeding andselling chicks.
And let's see by 1943, he had a20,000 egg capacity incubator
at his farm and would hatch over75,000 birds a year and that's
how he got started.
(03:44):
He had some farm and wouldhatch over 75,000 birds a year,
and that's how he got started.
Brandon Mulnix (03:46):
He had some contract blocks.
Hal Kreher (03:48):
I have a letter from 1946 where he's urging people
to get their chick orders inbecause they ran out the
previous year, and it describeshow he was working with some
different other growers toproduce more eggs, to produce
more chicks other growers toproduce more eggs, to produce
more chicks.
Brandon Mulnix (04:13):
So your grandfather quit a very high
paying job that was very stableduring the Great Depression to
follow his dreams of being afarmer.
Hal Kreher (04:17):
Yeah, isn't that crazy.
Brandon Mulnix (04:19):
It's inspiring.
I mean, he didn't know what theGreat Depression, I don't know
the time frame around the GreatDepression in that area, but my
goodness, what an inspiration.
Hal Kreher (04:30):
So then in 1950, my dad and mom got married and my
aunt and uncle and the four ofthem well, the farm purchased
the land that were our mainoffices now here in Clarence in
1950 and the four of them movedinto the farmhouse which you
know just grandpa moved out tothe no electric and no gas and
(04:51):
stuff.
They moved into a house with noindoor plumbing in 1950.
I think they want to at least ayear with no indoor plumbing,
so that women rebelled againsttheir husbands.
Brandon Mulnix (05:03):
Of course they were doing all the work too.
Hal Kreher (05:04):
They convinced the husbands they had to put in some
bathrooms.
Brandon Mulnix (05:07):
Then they got their indoor plumbing.
But you know so, Mom and.
Hal Kreher (05:10):
Aunt Margie.
They were both instrumental inthe farm.
They would do the egg gradingand produce a lot of the workers
, me and my cousins and you know, so they helped out great
greatly and were a part you knowa big part of the success of
the farm.
So dad and uncle don, they were.
You know, nowadays they'd behitster farmers.
(05:32):
They had birds out on the range, a couple farms going this
business.
It was turning instead of beinga pullet producing business
into an ag business.
When the hybrid birds came out,they just couldn't compete with
their you know, single strainline anymore.
They had their own strain ofbirds that they had bred over
(05:52):
the years but it just couldn'tcompete with the new, newer
hybrids.
Brandon Mulnix (05:55):
They did produce .
Hal Kreher (05:56):
for one of the I think it was decal for a while
and then the hatchery, just youknow, didn't make sense.
So we got more into eggproduction in the late, probably
early 60s, I would say, is whenI started more into egg
production.
Brandon Mulnix (06:13):
Okay, so how many?
Let's say early 60s, how manyeggs were being produced?
Or how many birds was yourUncle Don and your dad
responsible for?
Responsible?
Hal Kreher (06:24):
for, oh, we may have had like 75,000 at that point,
something like that between ourown farm and some contract farms
.
The farm that they bought in1950, it built and they had an
old dairy barn, you know,gambrel roof barn with a hay mow
.
Well then, uncle Don and myUncle John, they added two more
(06:46):
floors to us.
It had four floors to it.
The first floor, you know, allthe way up and an elevator shaft
to haul eggs up and down.
They didn't have to carry themup the stairs.
A stairwell included a littlefeeding area.
They added on a two-floorenlargement to it for birds, and
(07:07):
these were all floor birds, ofcourse, and you know this.
What I remember, remember wasthe four-story barn and what we
called the new barn.
It was a floor barn with slatsdown the center and the eggnest
on the wall and a trolley totake down the length of the barn
and put, you know, hand, gatherthe eggs out of the nest and
put them on flasks, put theflasks on the trolley and roll
(07:27):
them out to the front.
There were 10,000 birds in thatbarn but you know, my early
memories are that barn, becausethat was built in 1960, I was
born in 1963, and the old, whatwe call the old barn, the
four-story barn, and you know wehad different things.
I can remember being a littlekid being warned about the
feeder keep your fingers out ofthe feeder.
(07:49):
And you know it was probablyjust a who knows how old I was.
You know four or five.
You know walking through thebarns I'm sure I was in there
even younger, because you knowthat's what people do they take
your kids in when you're doingsomething.
And that's what we did.
You know we had floor birds andit was.
(08:09):
There were issues we had withthe drinker.
Technology wasn't was very poor, like we had trough feet trough
drinkers and so one of thosewould tip over and make a
horrible mess.
The feeding was automated.
Again, we had to hand gatherthe eggs.
Growing up, we always had thoseeggs we had to hand gather, and
(08:32):
these were nests on the wallthat had a what we call a
mailbox across the pump wherethe eggs would roll out of the
nest into a tray that had a lidand a nest stick on top, where
the birds would land and thenwalk into the nest.
Well, when you came through andgathered the eggs in the
afternoon, you didn't want thechickens to sleep in the nest,
(08:52):
so we put that nest stick up infront of the nest, so the
chickens didn't have access tothe nest and you know most of
the eggs are laid in the morning, so it wasn't a problem with
making four eggs at that point.
Brandon Mulnix (09:05):
You just did that to keep the chickens out,
so had to do that for a few.
Hal Kreher (09:10):
I don't know, maybe a month, the first month, to
train the chickens and go in atnight and pick the chickens off
the floor and put them up on theslats Again to keep most of the
manure up in one area.
So it was the kids' jobs, to goout at night and put the nest
eggs back down, and that's abonding experience when you're
doing that with your brothers,and so sometimes it would get to
(09:32):
be a race.
I was usually the little, theyounger one.
I'm the fourth out of five sons.
I also have two sisters, so theonly brother that I have, and
so the bigger kids could runfaster and stuff like that, so
we'd go through and put the nesteggs down and then it was a run
back to the house in the darkand you know so.
That's terrifying for a littlekid.
(09:54):
It was uphill, but that's howthey learn to run fast.
So it's some fun stuff Lookingback on it.
Brandon Mulnix (10:01):
So it's interesting Some of the
technologies now that work toclose the nest that work to
automate all of those processes.
You guys were way before yourtime, before the birds you know
started going into more of theconventional housing it's.
I go back to the numbers.
You know your, your grandfather, left, and you know kind of
(10:23):
left on his own and started thisbarn at, you know, 12, 12,000
birds.
And then you're 1,200.
Hal Kreher (10:30):
Got to 1,200.
1,200, not 12,000.
Okay.
Brandon Mulnix (10:33):
So that's when he jumped out, and then your dad
and your uncle got it up to75,000.
Hal Kreher (10:39):
Well, they retired in.
It was 1993.
And so by that point weprobably had 400,000.
Brandon Mulnix (10:54):
and so by that point we probably had 400,000,
400,000, okay, so 75 400,000,and then today, how many birds
you guys care for we have.
Hal Kreher (10:59):
In November we'll have two and a half million.
We have a building going upright now.
It's a fast growth when youlook at it that way, isn't it is
?
Brandon Mulnix (11:08):
it's just impressive.
So, looking back, you had yourolder siblings and your aunt and
uncle lived with your mom anddad, which is just, you know,
crazy to think.
You know, with a year withoutno indoor plumbing heck, I've
had a bathroom project going forthe last month and a half and I
think all of my family areready to kick me out because
they don't have one part of theplumbing or another.
(11:29):
And to think, you know, a yearwithout any indoor plumbing Wow,
that's crazy.
Hal Kreher (11:36):
You know, and then they lived in the same house
until there were eight or ninekids between the two of them.
Uncle Don and Aunt Marty livedon the second floor.
Her mom and dad lived on thefirst floor.
Brandon Mulnix (11:48):
I can't imagine.
That either.
It's all about family.
At that point, you'reco-raising kids while
everybody's out expecting towork, because it's not only did
you guys have chickens, but youalso started working the crop
farm.
Is that correct?
Hal Kreher (12:04):
Yeah, so all along we had some cropland not too big
, probably grew.
In the 70s we bought a farmdown the street and so we had
maybe 500 acres.
We were farming something likethat, and it was to get rid of
the manure.
You had to have somewhere to gowith it.
The manure got to be a bigproblem, though.
(12:25):
We had liquid manure, and Idon't know if you've had
experience with that, but liquidmanure smells a lot worse than
the dry manure.
It just has anaerobic decay andproduces some very nasty ores
compounds that really take a lotof dilution until you can't
smell them anymore, and so it'spretty bad.
(12:48):
We had that until 1994, when weswitched over to composting.
We did have some issues withthe neighbors.
When we were doing that liquidmanure that hindered our growth
until we had something different.
Brandon Mulnix (13:02):
Okay.
Hal Kreher (13:02):
When we came up with the composting, then we were
able to see okay, we can keepfarming wherever we are.
We're pretty.
We're the first farm to get tocoming east out of Buffalo on
Route 5.
It's one of the major routes.
You know, before the Thruwaywent in it was a major route and
you know there's a lot ofhouses here and we had to figure
(13:23):
that out.
But we went to composting in1994.
It had a lot of benefits to us.
It made the manure so the fliesweren't interested in it.
I mean before that we hadhigh-rise buildings where you
know the chickens were on thesecond floor, manure was on the
first floor and clean it outonce or twice a year and between
(13:44):
those cleanouts the flies canget pretty bad, the mice can get
pretty bad.
It's just not a great system.
So we switched to the compostand weren't storing manure in
the chicken house anymore,taking it to a compost building
Within a day or two, the fliesaren't interested in it anymore.
It doesn't attract flies once itstarts composting and it's too
(14:07):
hot for rodents to live in, andso you know, there's a big
change for us and something thatreally allowed us to go to the
next you know.
Take the next steps and youknow, we started producing
compost and selling that toother farms, and we found the
market for that was with organicfarms.
Brandon Mulnix (14:26):
So there's a large organic farmer down near
Pennian New York, his name isKlaus Martens and we started
talking to him and he said well,you guys make this stuff?
Hal Kreher (14:36):
How come you're not farming your crops?
Brandon Mulnix (14:39):
organically and you've got the fertilizer for it
.
Hal Kreher (14:42):
We looked at what that would entail and made the
jump in 1999 into organiccropping and at the time I think
, corn was $2.35 a bushel andorganic corn was $5 a bushel,
and so that helped.
And that's you know, organicfarming is very tough.
It's the crop farming.
You have to do it just rightand the timing is essential.
(15:04):
On weed control and stuff likethat, it's very hard and so
we've been doing that since thenfor 24 years.
We've cut back recently alittle bit on it Some of the
ground.
We've had some weeds come inthat just couldn't control with
tillage so we had to switch backon some of that.
But then so the composting thatled us to sack cages.
Brandon Mulnix (15:27):
Well, sack cages kind of led us to the compost
thing that happened at the sametime.
So then, you know, we just,expanded that as we remodeled
our complex over to the stackcages, added another compost
building and took it from therethat got us into like 2000,
2001.
, you mentioned the whole manurewhere you probably couldn't
(15:47):
even get rid of it before, andthen you made it into a product
that actually is very helpful tothe other farmers, especially
the organic ones.
What other big changes have youseen?
Similar situations, possiblylike that or in other areas of
the farm?
Hal Kreher (16:03):
Well, this is an interesting question.
Brandon Mulnix (16:07):
I don't know.
Hal Kreher (16:07):
That was a real game changer, because we were taking
a waste product and turning itinto something we could sell.
Brandon Mulnix (16:13):
I can't think of anything else where we took a.
Hal Kreher (16:15):
You know, I guess we used to dump liquid ag out on a
field and found somebody thatwould take that away.
Brandon Mulnix (16:22):
That was a switch from something like that,
but not nearly to the samescale or anything.
I don't know that's a goodquestion well, it goes along,
the sustainability, as thattopic has really come to focus
and across the industry.
What's the sustainability story?
Hal Kreher (16:41):
and you know sustainability is a great thing
to talk about you.
You know, for farming it's beenall about sustainability for a
long time, although it's reallybeen focused on productivity and
efficiency.
And I'll tell you, productivitygoes a long way towards meeting
your sustainability goals,because you can.
Brandon Mulnix (17:02):
You know hardly any inputs.
But if you don't have anyoutputs, what good is it right?
Any?
Hal Kreher (17:06):
inputs.
But if you don't have anyoutputs, what good is it right
Really for agriculture?
I think intensive agriculturehas made some of the agriculture
more sustainable.
I know people assume that byhaving you know 100,000 chickens
in a building.
Brandon Mulnix (17:20):
That, oh my gosh .
Hal Kreher (17:22):
You must be sick all the time because that's what
happens to my little kid when hegoes to school time, because
that's what happens to my littlekid when he goes to school.
Brandon Mulnix (17:30):
But it's not like that at all.
It's the exact opposite.
Hal Kreher (17:31):
It's a hundred thousand chickens and in a
building where the disease iskept out and the vaccinations
and different things you cangive them in there nutritionally
, you know, is what keeps thebirds healthy and you know, I
tell people that no, wevaccinate for different diseases
(17:51):
.
Brandon Mulnix (17:51):
We've gotten rid of different things in the
poultry sector by usingbiosecurity to our advantage and
it's a huge thing.
Hal Kreher (18:00):
And I don't know how we produce as many eggs.
As you know, it would take alot more people to produce the
eggs.
Brandon Mulnix (18:07):
The other way, I know it just does so.
Hal Kreher (18:12):
we are.
You know, thede-intensification that we're
going through to cage-free istaking more people.
It's taking more labor.
Nobody talks about that, theimpact of that, you know, I
haven't seen the impact of thaton the sustainability of it.
Brandon Mulnix (18:26):
Well, as a farmer whose family went from
floor raised birds to four-storybarns, which I have to chuckle,
because we see these four-storybarns now and they hold a few
more chickens than the one thatyou guys had there on your farm
yeah, because that one did it.
Hal Kreher (18:42):
Have, you know, 500 chickens on the fourth floor?
I don't know you guys were.
Brandon Mulnix (18:48):
We're ahead of your time, though, and it showed
the value of efficiency andhaving four instead of four
barns one barn with, you know,four levels.
You guys were well before yourtime.
So, Hal, looking back at you,you mentioned, you know, some of
your earlier memories were youand your brothers and sisters
and shutting the nest.
What are?
What is your story on the farmand how did you get to where you
and your brothers and sistersand shut in the nest?
(19:08):
What is your story on the farmand how did you get to where you
got today?
Hal Kreher (19:11):
Well, growing up on the farm, you don't know what
you have.
Brandon Mulnix (19:16):
Well, sorry, Brandon, I get a little
emotional sometimes.
No, that's fine, you knowgrowing up on the farm.
Hal Kreher (19:22):
you know I had to work hard and stuff and when I
went away to college I decidedto go to engineering school so I
could get a regular job likeother people and my friend's
parents, you know, and who hadweekends off and stuff like that
, vacations, yeah, and so I wentto engineering school and went
to Cornell and when I got out Igot a job working for the Navy
(19:46):
down in New Jersey and workeddown there for a few years.
But by then, you know, I had metthis.
That's a good name.
By then I had met my wife,karen, who you know actually she
went to school for poultry, andso she knew more about chickens
than I did.
So she came in and got a jobworking at the farm one summer.
And that's how we met.
(20:07):
That's a whole other storywhich I don't get into, I guess.
Brandon Mulnix (20:14):
And so she knows more about chicken and signage.
Hal Kreher (20:16):
I'll reiterate that, but anyhow.
So I moved out of New Jersey towork for the Navy and then, in
1989, my brother called me andsaid hey, hal, we're looking at
doing something a littledifferent and we're looking at
doing something a littledifferent and we're looking at
maybe distributing this beverage.
Our egg trucks, to you know,help lower our distribution
costs, but we need somebody torun that, and would you be
(20:38):
interested in coming back?
And so I said yeah, sure I'd beinterested in coming back, and
I didn't really consult Karen,but I made the decision to quit
my job and come back anddistribute Snapple.
Brandon Mulnix (20:51):
Oh, and so the first thing I did was you know,
go to the store and I'd neverheard of Snapple before.
Hal Kreher (20:56):
But I went down to the local convenience store and
got a couple bottles of Snappleand they had this one tangerine
seltzer and I thought well, thatsounds good, but you know I
wasn't used to alternativebeverages.
So we opened it up and andtasted it and it was exactly
what it said was seltzer,watered with some tangerine
(21:16):
flavoring, no sweetener oranything I was like oh my gosh,
what have I done?
You know, but anyhow we movedback and we started distributing
Snapple in 1989.
That business grew very rapidly.
By 1994, we were selling overhalf a million cases a year.
Brandon Mulnix (21:37):
So it grew really rapidly.
Hal Kreher (21:39):
The business had to grow crazy to deal with that.
And now, instead of having eggtrucks with some Snapple on it,
we had Snapple trucks with someeggs on them.
In 1995, we sold off thedistribution rights.
In Rochester we had a contractfor a large area and had sold
off all their pieces.
And so we sold off theRochester distribution rights
(22:01):
and just had Erie County andErie and Niagara County, which
is Buffalo and Niagara Falls.
Brandon Mulnix (22:07):
And it just didn't make sense anymore.
Hal Kreher (22:09):
So by 97, we got out of that part of the business
and then we started a pelletmill to pelletize the composted
poultry manure and again, it wassomething we didn't have any
experience doing and they kindof gave it to me as a project.
Here's this equipment that wehad gotten from another company
and we've got to figure outwhere we're going to put this
together and see how it works.
(22:31):
And so we took a look at thedifferent buildings on the farm
and we had an old building downthe street, an old barn, that we
were able to fit this palletmill in and we put it in there
with all this used equipment andgot that up and running, and so
that was another business thatwe got into.
Brandon Mulnix (22:48):
That was fertilizer business, and so that
has been a pretty good businessfor us.
Hal Kreher (22:53):
It's not a huge thing but it's been okay.
And so then that was in 97 andwe built the second one in 20.
That one started up in 2021, sothat one started during covid
it that one.
That was a very challengingproject, so the building took a
long time to build.
There was, you know, duringCOVID.
(23:15):
It was a complicated buildingbecause of the compost building
and the pellet mill, a lot ofelectrical conduits in the floor
, wires, you know, goingeverywhere which way to
different distribution boxes,and then you know then the once
the building was built, we hadto assemble the equipment and
then get that up and running andstarting up equipment for the
(23:36):
first time we didn't have anyvendors on site.
because it was during COVID, itwas a real struggle.
And it was one of those timeswhen thing after thing was wrong
, and you know you just feellike oh, I'm trying to do this
and it goes, that thing breaks.
And then I'm trying to do thatand that thing breaks.
And so one of the guys wasreally getting down and he was
(23:59):
like, oh man, I just can't.
You know, this is another thingbroke.
It's just.
I can't deal with it hey youknow, look, and we've overcome
all of that.
Every time something breaks, wefix it and figure it out and,
you know, make it a littlebetter and we move on.
You know, it's just how it'sgoing to go.
(24:19):
And I think he understood that,but he was getting kind of down
because of the number of thingsthat were going wrong and just
you know, wasn't seeing thelight at the end of the tunnel,
and it's hard to see thatsometimes.
And seeing the light at the endof the tunnel, it's hard to see
that sometimes, but you know.
You just got to give it someperspective and know that you've
gotten through.
You know the different thingsthat have been thrown at you.
(24:40):
You get through this one too,and it might just take some time
.
Brandon Mulnix (24:45):
Hal, as you mentioned, like your college
education, you got intoengineering, you went on to work
for the Navy.
Have you thought of of likeyour grandfather through that?
Because, as you shared hisstory and his intelligence level
and what he was producingduring the great depression and
where you're at today, I mean somany similarities and stories.
(25:08):
It's yeah, it's one of thosethings where I picked up on that
really quickly that man thatyou've got a very smart family
and now you're talking, you're ahundred years and you're now
starting to transition to thenext generation.
Can you tell me about the nextgeneration of Kreher farms?
Hal Kreher (25:32):
well, I didn't talk about my generation too much
myself and my four brothers cool, he's, the oldest, can help us
say that and you know he's been.
He was the CEO.
He retired a couple years ago,but he was like the main leader
in the business.
He came back in 1978.
Then my.
(25:53):
I'll go through my family.
First my brother, scott.
He did work on sales.
He's also retired but he ranthe snapple business with me
because it got to be a big.
You know, every night we'd haveto put the roots together of
where the trucks were going thenext day and it wasn't on a
computer there weren't anycomputers.
We we had I guess we had acomputer to print out the
invoices, but then we had tosort them by hand and throw them
(26:16):
out on the floor or on the mapand rearrange them into the
routes.
It was something.
And then the next one up for me, neil.
He's three years older than I,am Neil's the engineer and
really was responsible formaking a lot of stuff work and
keeping it working over theyears Myself and then my younger
(26:36):
brother, brett.
Brett does mostly administrativestuff with insurance and he's
worked a lot with the cropsdepartment.
Also, my cousin Don that's myuncle's son, obviously Don Jr.
He ran the crops departmentwhile he was here and helped me.
You know he and I built thepellet mill.
Brandon Mulnix (26:54):
I almost said help me.
I helped him, I guess.
Hal Kreher (26:57):
But together we and with another, with two other
guys we built the pellet milland Cousin Dave runs the egg
packing operation in Clarencehere and also does like the
purchasing of commodities.
Kurt worked with him on thatuntil he retired, but nowadays
he's been working on that, Ithink, pretty much alone.
So then in the next generationwe have Don's daughter, jeanette
(27:22):
, and Jeanette works with the HRdepartment, mostly Kurt's two
boys, mike and Brian.
Mike runs the crops departmentand Brian runs the egg business.
And then Scott's daughter,natalie, and she is running the
fertilizer business now I'vekind of pulled them back as I
(27:43):
get ready to retire, so she'srunning that part and also does
the sales on the egg side.
And then my son Nate, who'salso in the compost and
fertilizer part of it.
There's other family membersthat work in the business also.
He's supportable.
So cousin jim is engineer butworks here, but he's not an
(28:03):
owner, but we're sure.
My son erin works in the female.
Again he's not one of the ownersbut he's, we're sure and I have
uh just the other day, a coupleweeks ago, one of the guys who
works in maintenance out at ourorganic farm, he uh said to me
hey, I'm related to you guys andI had seen his name on
ancestrycom but I thought it wasa kind of a common name so
(28:25):
maybe it wasn't him.
But then he got me his familytree and I found out he's my
third cousin twice removed.
Brandon Mulnix (28:31):
So, as the next generation takes over Hal, I
want you to take a minute andlook back.
What is one of your proudestaccomplishments as a farmer in
your generation?
Hal Kreher (28:49):
Well, brandon, in 2017, we bought another egg farm
from Wegmans and the closingwas on the day my dad died.
It's a farm that's twice aslarge as our home farm, so it
was a huge leap for us, but itworked out really well.
(29:12):
Wegmans is a great customer forus.
Brandon Mulnix (29:16):
They wanted to have organic eggs.
Hal Kreher (29:18):
So we decided we would build an organic farm and
produce organic eggs, so theywould have organic eggs to sell.
So we did that starting in 2009.
That was a very excitingproject and you know got mostly
built out to plans really prettyrapidly.
I mean, we put it in the firsttwo, first three buildings in a
(29:40):
pull house and the next threewent out pretty fast.
We have 11 buildings now there,but it that was a really kind
of fun project.
Brandon Mulnix (29:50):
And what about?
It really just makes you stickyour chest out and be proud of
it.
Hal Kreher (29:58):
Well, it's something we had to come up with our own
design.
We had looked at other farmsand how they were doing things,
but it was something where wehad to come up with our own
design, and it's not like wehired an architect and an
engineer firm to oversee thewhole thing.
We just laid it out how wethought made sense and then
(30:22):
worked with a few vendors to getit built, and I think it looks
almost exactly like how wethought it was going to look.
They changed some of the rulesso we had to change some of the
buildings, but if it hadn'thappened, it would have looked
exactly how we thought it wouldlook.
Brandon Mulnix (30:38):
That's something to be proud of is just growing,
not knowing, not having theexperience of doing it, but just
making it all work.
And when I think of farmers, Ithink of exactly what you and
your generation did is figuredit out think of exactly what you
and your generation did isfigured it out.
Hal Kreher (30:57):
Well, some of the challenges.
There's been times when we'vegone to, you know, too small,
because you know it's alwaysbeen a challenge of resources.
Right, you can never build thebuilding as the size you want,
but it's always a compromise andyou put an electric line in the
wrong place or something, andyou have to move it later.
(31:18):
You know there's been some timeswhen we've done stuff like that
and I'll tell you it's a realchallenge to see the future and
you know what are yourelectrical needs going to be the
next time you expand or add onto it.
And some of that stuff justtakes years in advance to get it
done.
If you need more power than theelectric company has coming to
(31:39):
your plant that takes years toget them to do something.
It's not something where hey, Iwant to build this next month.
Let's get going.
And it's hard to get used tosometimes when you're more used
to.
Hey, let's plan it out and justpull the trigger on something.
Brandon Mulnix (31:57):
How do you pass that experience and that
knowledge on to the nextgeneration?
Pal.
Hal Kreher (32:05):
Well, fortunately there's a bit of an overlap.
Of course, the kids have workedin different areas of the
business and you know so.
They've gotten experience andyou can tell people a lot of
stuff.
But some of the times you gotto do it on their own and you
know that's part of them, partof it.
They got to have the freedom tofail and so they learn.
Brandon Mulnix (32:25):
That's really good advice.
So, looking back, you'veovercome a lot, you've
experienced a lot.
What was one of the greatestthings that?
Hal Kreher (32:39):
you overcame in your career, you know, I would say
the startup of that power mill.
That was a real challenge.
I lost like 15 pounds.
You know it's two hours awayfrom where I live, so it was a
few weeks of every day drivingit.
You know, it was just it was abig challenge.
Brandon Mulnix (32:55):
So what did you learn from that event then that
you can pass on to?
Hal Kreher (33:00):
I think it was just that, hey, you got to just keep
working through your problemsand realize that look at all
you've overcome in the past.
You didn't just make it here.
You didn't just start there,wherever you are.
You made it through a lot ofstuff and you just got to
realize every obstacle thatcomes your way, clamber over it
and get on to the next one,that's all I can say but you
(33:25):
know something that's moreimportant is being able to get
along with people and knowingyou know how to deal with it
when you're wrong and how todeal with it when you're right.
You know sometimes you need toapologize for something you've
done, and you know say you'resorry and you know it's best to
(33:46):
learn how to do that.
And then, if you're right, yougot to to learn how to deal with
that too, because nobody likesto make it right all the time.
Brandon Mulnix (33:59):
I imagine there's been a few times that
you've been wrong over yourcareer and had to apologize, and
a few less times that you wereprobably right and got away to
gloat about it.
Right?
Hal Kreher (34:10):
Oh yeah, oh yeah, but you know this is one of the
things my family is so fortunate.
We all get along with eachother, and it's not that we all
agree with each other all thetime there.
So of course there'sdisagreements and sometimes it
gets heated, but you gotta, youcan't let it get too far.
And then you also gotta be ableto say you're sorry if you were
(34:30):
wrong and understand that youmight be passionate about
something, but you know, yougotta what's more important to
you.
Yeah, and you know mostly therelationship is more important
than being right and sosometimes even when you're wrong
, you gotta.
Or when you're right, you oh.
(34:51):
The relationship is moreimportant than me being right.
I got to just back off here alittle bit and see how it goes.
I've been in that situation,you know.
So getting along, I'd saythat's been my family's greatest
strength.
Brandon Mulnix (35:09):
It's amazing.
When you're working as a family, it's you know you can't really
get away from each otherbecause you're going to see each
other at Christmas.
But, it's so important becausewhen you work at a place you
spend more time with the peopleyou work with than your own
family and getting along.
You have to have that respectfor each other, that ability to
(35:35):
understand each other, becauseas a family you probably you
knew how each other grew up.
You knew the morals, the values.
But when you start expandingthat network it gets a little
bit more challenging.
And what are some of thebiggest things that you've seen
as a change in the industrysince you started?
Well, you know.
Hal Kreher (35:55):
I'm just going to step back and say, hey, one of
the best things we ever did waswe came up with a list of our
shared values and at the time Ithought we were spending a lot
of time on this, but I've had somany people comment to me on
hey, because we got them postedup.
These are our shared values andit's integrity do the right
(36:17):
thing, do things right, be agood neighbor, caring, teamwork,
sharing work, ethic,forgiveness and gratitude.
And you know we try and livethat.
And the people that work herethey know we try and live that
and they try to live that.
And the people that work herethey know we try and live that
and they try to live that.
And I've had people come in fora job interview and say, well,
(36:38):
the reason I'm in here isbecause they saw your shared
values and I thought that was.
It was interesting thatsomething I didn't.
At the time we were doing.
I didn't realize again theimpact it would make, but it's
been a really important thingfor us and it's been a really
important thing for us and it'sbeen part of.
You know that was done as partof our generational transition,
(36:59):
just to how to pass this along.
Brandon Mulnix (37:03):
I'm glad that you guys did that exercise.
You post them and then you livethem.
Because that's the key is, youcan have all the values written
down you want, but you got tolive them.
Hal Kreher (37:10):
Yeah.
Sounds like you guys live themout.
Who wants to work for somebodythat makes their living ripping
people off or something likethat?
I don't know.
I can't imagine how, whenyou're working at a farm, it's
somewhat fulfilling.
You're producing food forsomebody else, you know you're
taking care of these animals andyou know there's just a lot of
(37:32):
parts that are fulfilling.
You know, when you get aproject done.
I know we didn't realize howimportant, you know, the
business was to our employeesfor a long time until it was
shortly after I came back in theearly 90s.
One of the women that had workedfor us for years and years in
our backpacking room didn't comeshow up for work one morning,
(37:55):
and so my cousin went over toher house and she had passed
away and so we went to herfuneral and her family.
You know this was a woman whoreally, while she was at work,
really didn't have the nicething to say to us, but her
family was like oh, she talkedabout the farm all the time and
you know the different peoplethat work there.
(38:16):
You know I can feel like I knowyou guys and it was like wow,
you know here's somebody whodidn't really seem like they
were having a good time, but youknow their job was extremely
important to them and you knowso.
Then you know, really openedour eyes to that, and you know,
once you realize it, well, ofcourse it makes sense and you
(38:37):
know we have people who haveworked here for their entire
careers and it's very fulfillingwhen you have someone who works
here a long time gets to retire.
We've had people that haveworked here a few years and then
, for whatever reason, they moveon to something else and then
we've come back.
You know stuff like that.
One of our complex managers isa guy who started here in high
(38:58):
school and now he's a complexmanager.
Brandon Mulnix (39:01):
It says a lot about your company.
If people are willing to comeback after leaving, that always
says a really good thing.
And then to look out in yourcommunity and to see the lives
that your farm has been able toaffect with houses and families
and the community that you'repart of, and that's truly what
(39:22):
to me to me business is about.
It's not necessarily about theproduct but about the lives that
you're investing in byproviding them an income and
then seeing how that affectsgenerations oh, and then you
know you get some true friends,some people.
Hal Kreher (39:38):
They'd walk through fire for you, anything like guys
I know I could call in themiddle of the night and ask them
to do anything and they'd do it.
One year we had what theycalled the October Surprise
Storm.
It was October 13th I think itwas maybe 2006, something like
that where it was October 13thand we got three feet of snow
(40:01):
and the leaves were still on thetrees, so all the trees broke
and you couldn't drive down theroad me 45 minutes to get here,
what normally takes me seven.
And I had to drive over downwires and not take the backtrack
and take a different route andall sorts of crazy stuff and
show up at the farm.
(40:23):
And here's a bunch of people arehere Even though they're facing
a disaster at their own home.
One guy's got a branch throughhis window at home, he threw up
some plywood and got to work.
All these people showed up atwork for that day even though
they were experiencing their owndisaster.
It was really amazing.
(40:43):
Says a lot.
You know the guy who was thefirst day of work.
He showed up.
That's funny.
Brandon Mulnix (40:53):
Hal, is there anything else you want to share
with our listening audienceabout the career story and just
whether it's the future or someof your favorite memories?
Hal Kreher (41:04):
Another early memory I had is we used to sell eggs
right out of the house.
There's a little room on theside of the house where
customers could walk right intothe house and there was a cooler
out there with eggs in it andthe door was rigged up so the
bell would ring if somebody camein.
And you know somebody would runout there and oh, what do you
want?
And make the change or whatever, and people would take their
(41:28):
eggs and go and that's what Ihad to do.
You know, I did that as alittle kid and you know, when
you're a little kid it's like agame kind of thing and you learn
how to make change at a veryearly age.
You know that was kind of a funthing and there was one guy who
would come, usually like wherewe'd still be eating dinner or
(41:50):
right after dinner, and he was aplainclothes policeman.
I hope he would pull aside hisjacket to show me his pistol,
not in a threatening manner butjust as something cool to show a
little kid it was kind of body.
Brandon Mulnix (42:06):
I'm sure you've got a hundred more stories that
of over the years of whetherit's the business or the family
has made a difference in yourlife as well.
As you know, you've probablygot great stories to share about
things, and maybe they'restories that you just never will
share because they're yourprivate ways of helping your
communities.
Hal, I really appreciate yourtime today and sharing your
(42:28):
stories with the listeners here.
Those are the real stories thatpeople actually want to hear
about the industry.
It's not about the number ofeggs you produce, it's not about
the number of birds, it's notabout the style you use.
It's really important is thepeople, the families, the
personalities and the legacythat is behind farms like Career
(42:48):
Farms.
Well, poultry Leadership Podcastlisteners, I hope that you've
enjoyed this walk down memorylane for Kreher Farms and the
fact that it's 100 years thatthey have been providing their
community with one of the mostincredible products in not only
eggs, but in other products aswell over the years, and so I
(43:10):
appreciate Hal for joining ustoday and as we go, as I end
this podcast, I'd really likeyou to share this story with
other listeners throughsubscribing to the podcast, by
sharing it on your social media.
Get the word out about KreherFarms in 100 years.
It's not just about the PoultryLeadership Podcast, but this is
a true farm story that needs tobe shared with others.
(43:31):
So thank you, listeners, and Ilook forward to our next time we
get together.
Have a good day.
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