Sharing personal experiences that they’ve had with products has helped Shoberts Feed Supplements of Hennessey, Oklahoma, excel as a DuraFerm® dealer. Chad and Amy Charmasson, owners of Shoberts also own Charmasson Club Lambs, where they run 200 ewes, and have had had a fantastic experience with the nutritional products from BioZyme. Their experiences combined with positive experiences of existing customers, helped propel them to the number two DuraFerm store front dealer in the company in 2020.
“The DuraFerm products have proven themselves over and over for us. It’s not hard to sell a product that has such great results from a production standpoint in terms of healthier ewes that are in good breeding shape. Our conception rates are better, and that helps make it easy for us to sell this product,” Charmasson said.
He added that not only does he talk about his own flock’s health and reproductive status to potential customers, but he also feeds off of the results that his customers have had with the DuraFerm products and shares those results. Potential customers want to hear about outcomes, especially when they might already be using a product and not be getting good results.
He said the majority of his customers are not new to a mineral program. They have simply used a competing program that doesn’t work.
“They are willing to try something new, and BioZyme® products have a good reputation based on consistency. It is extremely important to me that these products are backed by science. I like the idea that research trials have been conducted and nutritionists have formulated the products to benefit our industry,” Charmasson said.
He said the easiest product for him to show instant results on is the DuraFerm Sheep Concept•Aid® HEAT® mineral because regardless of the time of year, the sheep don’t stress much due to the hot temperatures when they are on the HEAT formula. However, he said the DuraFerm Sheep Concept•Aid Protein Tubs are probably the most popular product he sells as many producers choose to leave those out year-round, except for maybe right at weaning.
Charmasson advises that dealers that are acquiring new DuraFerm customers tell their customers to be patient and explain that since their sheep or goats are likely mineral deficient, they will consume a lot of the mineral at first. The animals are just regulating themselves, but once they even out, the DuraFerm program will be a cost-effective mineral program.
“Too often, the customers see their animals overconsume the DuraFerm mineral and think it is too expensive, but once they level out, the producers will actually spend less money on the DuraFerm products and have healthier ewes and does that are in better shape with higher conception rates than they were when the fed mineral from the competition,” he said.
Happy, healthy flocks and herds are made of nutritionally sound animals backed by the Amaferm® advantage. Thanks to dealers like Shoberts Feed Supplements, flocks and herds are being taken care of by the Charmasson family who show care that comes full circle!