How It Started
The feedyard was originally built in 1967 by D. H. Byrd, and it was the fourth confined feeding operation that he built in the area. At the time, there were large packing plants located in Dallas, and he created a state-of-the-art facility with a complete feed mill, well drained pens with covered feed alleys and bunks, shades in many pens, two deep wells, and numerous other amenities. The mill had two steam flakers, a flake drying system, a roughage barn with conveyor, and thirty-two million pounds of grain storage. The yard operated as Meat Producers until the mid 1980’s when it was closed. In 1989, Mark Quinn and partners opened it up as Stoney Point AgriCorp.
Melissa Feeders LLC. formally known as Stoney Point AgriCorp., Inc. has been built on a strong foundation of agricultural history. Combining the expertise of years of beef feeding and dairy management, the team has developed unique management systems for growing beef and dairy animals. The family of companies started in 1988 with a partnership between Mark Quinn, DVM and his father, John Quinn at a facility in Rio Vista, Texas known as Owl Livestock, to raise Holstein calves for the beef market and the dairy heifers for surrounding dairies. In 1989, the Quinn family partnered with several other industry people to expand their capabilities by leasing the present day feedyard in Melissa, Texas. A key partner was Clark Willingham from Dallas. In 1990 the Quinn family, along with Clark Willingham, joined to purchase all other partner’s stock.
In 1994 the 330 acres and 96 pens of Stoney Point Feedyard were purchased, bringing the entire company to 2 facilities and 15 employees. In 1996 Stoney Point began custom raising Holstein Heifers for dairy replacements. The heifers would go to Owl Livestock as soon as they were ready to leave their dairy of birth, where they would be cared for until they were large enough to be moved to Stoney Point Feedyard. Owl Livestock was utilizing a state-of-the-art technique for feeding return milk from the present Oak Farms facility in Dallas. By using dairy products processed for human consumption, Owl Livestock was able to ensure the heifers were getting 100% of the nutrients required by the heifers, while the milk plants were able to reduce their waste management costs. Once the heifers were at Stoney Point Feedyard, they were grown to the custom specifications given by their owners, bred, and returned to the dairies pregnant and in top notch condition.
Advancing Agriculture Through Innovation
Melissa Feeders, as Stoney Point AgriCorp., Inc., was recognized in 2003 for outstanding dairy beef management when the US Grains Council invited the team to participate in building and training the first Holstein feedyard and heifer development program in Morocco. COPAG Project Genesis (French for "Heifer Project") kicked off with a beautiful grand opening in March of 2005 and continues to lead the country in beef and heifer development. Along with John George, P.E. and Dave Hutcheson, PhD., we assisted in project design, specifications, and provided on site management during the first eighteen months of operation. The operation still uses out date milk, and citrus processing waste as part of their feeding systems.
In 2006 Melissa Feeders (then Stoney Point) joined a team of Americans - Western Cattle Company in developing a Holstein calf ranch and feedlot in Inner Mongolia, China. The Melissa Feeders team continues to pursue international projects to benefit the beef producers of the world and looks forward to bringing knowledge and experience to countries in need.
Melissa Feeders has also hosted teams from Spain, China, Japan, Korea, Argentina, Mexico and Brazil to demonstrate how the family of companies succeeds, while Dr. Quinn spent time in Canada, Mexico, and Panama to give presentations and evaluate potential beef projects.
In 2009, Bill Kruse became an owner/partner in all of the operations and continues today as a valuable active partner. Bill has a long history with several farming operations, and other feeding entities, and has provided valuable assistance through the years of growth in the last decade.
In 2013, Caleb Quinn joined the team after graduating from Oklahoma State with a Masters degree in International Agriculture. Caleb was instrumental in developing many of the management practices used today to handle the high-risk sale barn calves that we purchase. Caleb became a partner in 2015, and he has gradually taken over all of the day to day operations of the entities and allowed Mark Quinn to focus on administration duties, and take some time off traveling and spending some time with Grandkids.
In 2015, Matt Quinn, PhD joined the team as our nutritionist and soon to become partner. Matt earned his BS degree in Animal Science from Texas A&M, his Masters degree in Nutrition from Kansas State, and his PhD. from Texas Tech. Matt works full time for Tellus Agriculture Consultants while taking an active part in helping the entities provide state of the art management for the cattle.
In 2021, the partners purchased a nearby small Arena on 221 acres. We have spent the last three years building what has become WES (Western Equine Sports) Arena.
It has become a major cutting horse event producer with partner Dave Costello, of Outback Cuttings, and is now expanding to other types of events. See the WES Arena website for more details.
On the remaining acres, we have developed a large number of grass traps that we use for the high-risk calves sale barn calves in getting them preconditioned.
In 2022, the partners bought a 291 acre ranch at Leonard, Texas twenty-two miles from the feedyard site. We are developing this location into more grass traps that can expand our capability to handle the sale barn calves for use at WES Arena, and then various grazing programs.