Danville, KY - Driving south on U.S. Route 127 past Danville, it soon becomes clear that this scenic byway heads directly to the heart of rural America, but what lies beneath the pastoral exterior is the heart of an American industry.
In 1945, Tarter Gate was started by an enterprising woodworker, C.V. Tarter. His one-man operation turned out handmade wooden farm gates that found their way to the local countryside by way of word-of-mouth recommendations, repeat customers and door-to-door sales from the back of pick-up trucks.
Sixty-three years later, Tarter Farm and Ranch Equipment - which recently streamlined its multiple brands under the unified "Tarter" name - is at the top of its game. The company is the largest manufacturer of farm gates and animal management equipment in North America and serves as the official provider of equine and livestock management equipment for the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. The company also recently expanded operations to include a manufacturing and distribution facility in Utah that serves customers in the western United States.
It's the dream of many a family business owner that his or her entrepreneurial endeavor might one day be a great legacy for generations to come, but there are few who achieve this level of success in business and familial harmony. With a structure that defies the logic of corporate consultants - no titles and widely varying job descriptions for each of the relatives who continue to work with Tarter - it's a wonder to some how this small-town company grew to define an industry.
"We have structure, but nobody has titles," said Keith Tarter, a great-grandson of C.V. Tarter. Tarter lists among his job responsibilities pricing gas at the local convenience store, which also happens to be a part of the Tarter empire. "My dad (Donald Tarter) and his brother (David Tarter), they're the owners of the company and they're the ones who make the decisions. But Ö if we (the younger generation of Tarters) want to go out and make something new, we can go out and make something new."
Over the years, the pipe dreams of the younger generations have paved the way for astronomical growth and dominance in their field. Keith Tarter estimates that 75 percent of farms and ranches in the United States utilize at least one Tarter product. But it's not only about making a quality and dependable product. Tarter has found success by controlling the manufacturing process and supply chain for all their products, managing relationships and employing smart growth.
"We roll and control the process right here and in Utah from flat coil steel we purchase," said Keith Tarter, referring to the Tarter facilities that manipulate flat coil steel into the tubing used to make Tarter's signature farm gates. "And we have C-Ville Fabrication in Liberty, which does a lot of parts and pieces for the gates and seven or eight other plants."
A recent development in the production line of Tarter's gates is the high-tech finishing facility that uses powder coating and electric deposition techniques to coat products safely and with minimal environmental impact.
"That means instead of dipping or spraying, which is highly volatile and flammable and bad for the environment, all this stuff is water-based paint and has no VOC," said Keith Tarter. "It takes a DC current and throws the particles of paint on there at a certain thickness. No one has to apply it; it just goes in and out of an oven for eight minutes at 350 degrees and is baked on.
"A lot of (our competitors) contract stuff in and will contract stuff out," said Keith Tarter. "We'll paint it and have it done in three hours. A lot of people have to put it on a truck and haul it across town to get it painted, and it's a week before it gets back. Our guys will order it and it'll be to you tomorrow."
The coating facility provides a quick response time for custom orders as well as the ability to create specialty colors for the branded lines they manufacture for some of the farm supply companies with whom they contract, There are 5,000 stores across the country that sell Tarter products, and among those are big-name retailers like Tractor Supply, Southern States and Lowe's. Tarter also makes parts for John Deere, Bobcat and Coyote. Keith estimates that, across the country, there is a Tarter retailer from 10 to 60 miles from any customer, including smaller stores in the west.
But Tarter no longer supplies directly to customers, so another priority task is relationship management with their retailers, to whom they supply branded end-cap displays with full product catalogues, but not a lot of product.
"(The retailers) don't have to pull the stock in," said Keith Tarter. "It's not sitting in a building somewhere, whatever store it is. And if it's a rainy day and you want to shop, you don't want to go out there and kick the tires of something in the snow; you can look and see what all we have and the specs ... and be inside the store."
While the wait for delivery can always present an issue for consumers who are ready to make a decision and take product home, Tarter has a strategy for managing delivery as well.
"We got aggressive, the younger (generations), with pricing and distribution. We can deliver anything; we guarantee any of our products in any store in the United States in seven to 10 days. We don't have any backorders. There's no 'just in time'," said Keith. "Most people at this time of year, when the order comes in, will just build them, and it can be weeks before they get the product. And you know, if you want something, you want it. So that's, I think, where we shine: we keep so much inventory."
Tarter Gate manufactures product that the company anticipates to be popular and keeps it in stock and ready to go at the drop of an order. That presents challenges in terms of inventory control, but it also is one of the company's advantages, and why Tarter expanded to include its Utah manufacturing and distribution facility, which is run by another member of the Tarter clan, LuAnn.
"You have to really watch inventory," Keith Tarter said. "If we have one product, and say it's a six-foot green gate and it didn't sell, you better get the ball stopped quick. Because if you don't watch it, you'll have two years of supply sitting there that you have to get rid of."
In fact, Tarter does have a large supply of inventory available and waiting to ship from its multiple properties, and Keith Tarter notes that, like most companies in this economy, his business has taken hits.
"Compared to what it was two years ago, it's down 20 percent, but we're still going strong," Keith Tarter said. "We gained a lot of states and grew some business. We cut back like everybody, and we laid off a few employees, but we have good relationships with our vendors and our customers, so my dad always preaches relationships. Ö We know all our buyers real well, and I think that's the key."
Another key is the management of their human resources. Tarter estimates they employ 800 now, and that's down from their top estimated number of 850 a couple of years ago. It's no secret that the residents of Casey County are dependent on Tarter, and Tarter depends on the county as well.
"We influence a lot of people. There's a lot of payroll to go out to 800 people. I believe the unemployment in Casey County is less than some other parts (of Kentucky) because we've been still doing and trying to keep busy," said Keith Tarter. "We're diversifying and we can shift employees. If a certain gate plant is slow here, we can move them up to another plant that's busier, and that way you're not laying off as many people."
Even in the tight times, Tarter is finding ways to expand and diversify, sometimes returning to their roots but always keeping an eye to their primary customer. Counted among the company's assets is a sawmill that harkens back to Tarter's heritage. Though the company no longer produces wooden gates, the family kept the sawmill idea and utilized surrounding natural resources to produce pallets and hardwood flooring. Wood chips and sawdust that are normally counted as waste are sold to other customers for use as equine bedding, paper base or even fuel for clean energy initiatives at power plants.
"But," said Keith Tarter, "our big division is the hobby farmer, a person who has a job doing something else and on the weekend they want to get out and till the ground, have some horses. So they'll buy a gate, or they'll buy a three point to go on to the tractors."
Tarter manufactures three-point attachment pieces like rotary tillers, cutters and other accessories for subcompact tractors, and that area has been a boon for the company in terms of growth and name recognition, which can be a blessing and a curse.
"A lot of people will see our sticker on a product - our branding - and they'll call up and want some information," said Tarter. "We probably get 20 inquiries a day of people wanting to come and buy product, and what frustrates me is that they want products and they don't know where to find it. So that's a battle we fight every day: trying to get product to someone out west or wherever (they are)."
The company has addressed some of those issues by providing a wealth of direct-to-consumer information on its website, from store locators to video tutorials and downloads to help customers better understand and utilize their Tarter purchases.
It's unknown what the future holds for Tarter, but growth is on the menu and the leadership - the family, that is - is still going strong. Vivien Tarter, now 84, married C.V.'s son, Roger, and they purchased the business from C.V. You can still find her at her desk, hard at work starting at 6:05 a.m. and rarely leaving the office - or her desk - until 5:30 p.m.
Vivien, along with her sons, Donald and David, and her husband, began a visionary process of experimentation and production that first moved Tarter Gate from wood to galvanized steel gates and livestock management products. That has continued through what Donald's son, Keith, has referred to as "the youngers," who are pushing their ideas even now. Those ideas include making the landmark decision to sponsor the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games, which vaults Tarter to an international stage that extends beyond their current international market (Mexico and Canada).
"We hated for our competitor or anybody else to roll into our backdoor and sponsor the biggest horse show in the world," said Keith Tarter. "We anticipate that will open new doors, but there are challenges to consider.
"We've sent our product to Dubai. The Sheik saw some product he liked and we sent it over there," said Tarter, but he acknowledged the price to ship the product exceeded the price of the product, which may not be a problem for the Sheik of Dubai, but might present issues for the European hobby farmer.
"Our products are airy - there's a lot of air in it. So to get it to Europe, you've got to condense everything. You'd have to take the tubing and manufacture it over there."
The family-controlled structure of Tarter has been a strength so far; U.S. and North American operations have been manageable even with significant growth. However, with operations reaching toward international waters, it remains to be seen if Tarter will continue to expand or if the gates of their kingdom will be erected at North American borders.