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Knowing your numbers helps with success!

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Ty Thompson owns Thompson Ag services located on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation. Ty and our Senior Program Officer sat down to visit about the success of his operation and where he would like to see his business go over the next few years. Akiptan is honored to be able to support Thompson Ag services with our lending products and technical assistance.










Tell me about your history in agriculture? 

I grew up around ranching, my family; mom and dad, and everyone was ranching, and then I went to college for five years, got a degree at Dickinson State. I worked up in that area for another year in college and of course I had owned cattle in between all of that and eventually came back home to expand and that's what I’m doing today. 


What led you to applying with Akiptan?

I work at the sale barn and I'm very particular about feeding cattle; there's a lot more that goes into it than just feeding supplements and hay. At a certain point, I spoke with a nutritionist and after a while she asked me if I would like to become a feed dealer and at that time, interest rates were up and I had a plan, which is why I came to Akiptan and that's how I started to run the business I have. At first I thought I would sell some feed on the side to help the ranch, while feeding my cows at a good rate and it turned into a busier and bigger operation in the first full year as a dealer. 


“When you own a business you want to keep track of every penny and keep track of where the dollar goes. Of course you keep track of your trucking and fuel costs and sometimes a lot of the stuff [expenses] in the ranching business gets pushed to the side and I believe that you should run your ranch like a business.” 

Our nutritionist is south of us. She will get phone calls from people interested in her feed and then looking for a supplement and she refers them to me. Working in the industry helps my business. I wouldn’t sell anything I wouldn’t feed on my own. I knew what the feed could and couldn’t do. I actually don’t see myself as a salesman. 


What would you say about the Akiptan loan processes overall? 

The paperwork was pretty stress free, of course in these things, there is always a bit of paperwork involved. However, the benefit you get from it, far outweighs the bigger picture. If Melissa [loan officer] has to look at my numbers, she can. The quarterly checks in can kind of scare you at first, but she's very easy to work with and quarterly doesn’t mean every day, so that's not too tough to do. 


What sort of impact was made on your operation with this financing?

I wouldn’t be able to sell feed if it wasn’t for Akiptan, because if I had to go through a higher interest rate institution, my feed would be higher and I would have less people buying my feed because it would in turn need to be higher in price as well. Financing with Akiptan helps me to be competitive. If I were at a 10-12 percent interest rate, the feed I sell wouldn’t be as competitive for feed sales. 


Where do you see yourself and your operation in 5 years?

I’m hoping that my facilities grow and they are just on the borderline right now, I am juggling feed from different plants. I hope to grow bigger with a bigger cold storage to keep out of weather so that ranchers don't have to wait on anything. It's best to have what they need on hand, so when someone shows up, I want to be able to deliver what they need. And right now my storage is pretty tight and I'm hoping that the more people that I get as customers in five years, I hope to have more storage and kind of a warehouse type of deal. I hope to grow and gain more customers. When it comes to being a salesman, well I’m a rancher and I sell my calves in the fall and I suppose I'm a speed salesman and they kind of speak for themselves. And I'm hoping more people see that and possibly try that out or even just have a conversation about it. 


The region I serve is currently as far as west as Bison, SD; north of Hwy to Wanbli, SD;  south of Kadoka, SD; and east of  Faith, SD. If someone from an area calls me up I want to be able to help them out if I can. If there's a feed that I can't get, well I'm not going to sell them something they don’t need. Equine and cattle is my focus area. I'd rather stick with that area.


It is hard to juggle between ranching and your cattle, and then working the feed sales three or four days out of the week, it is sometimes nice to stay home. And in the future some day it would be nice to hire some help and be able to say to them “hey load up” and my team help me out in that way. It is nice that I can call Melissa at any time and ask what I have in that account or to let her know that I need this much more put in there and she's been great about that. And she can get in to see my numbers and if there is a problem, then she can ask this or that to help. When I first started, Melissa helped me to fill out my balance sheet and cost of gains, she gives you an idea and steers you in the right direction. And my wife was a big help in  keeping track of income, expenses and so on. It was mostly started because of Melissa, helping us make a report that shows everything that we are doing. Then come annual tax time, sending it off to the tax lady is a breeze. The equity grant allowed me to get a start for storage for my feed, without that I would have had additional expenses. 


Is there anything you’d like to say to fellow ranchers / farmers in the agriculture industry?


The only thing I'd say is, don’t be afraid of the paperwork because the benefits outweigh the papers, the financial benefits from Akiptan or the quarterly stuff, or the financial stuff. The benefits that you can gain from Akiptan are far better than anything and you’ll realize where your money actually goes. Which will help you to move forward successfully. 


To learn more about Akiptan's products and services, please visit our website at www.akiptan.org.

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28

Tribal Nations Reached

$30M

Loan Capital Committed

440

Number of Loans

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