Bazooka-Farmstar is a small business with top-notch team

While the industry may not sound glamorous, Bazooka-Farmstar Inc. takes pride in the providing the best equipment and service that the liquid manure management industry has to offer.

“It’s a dirty business, but someone has to do it,” Managing Partner Eric Hahn said. “What we do, we truly believe is important, and it’s exciting to come out with new innovations and technologies that we can apply across the United States.”

The Washington company employs a team of around 100, but works with assets conventional for much larger businesses, like a dedicated on-staff engineering team, a full-service manufacturing facility that starts with raw steel, and a network of distributors spanning dozens of states.

Hahn said those capabilities were key to Bazooka’s top-tier products, in a sector where every buyer’s needs differ greatly.

“It’s a niche business, a very specialized business, and we offer a lot of products,” he said. “The products vary by the state and terrain, based not only on the lay of their land, but also just their state rules and regulations. So we have to offer a lot of different variations of our product to be successful. It’s not a one-fits-all business.”

Liquid waste transportation, in less discrete terms, involves the movement of manure from one place to another, usually for use as fertilizer.

While that’s hardly a new concept for ag producers, Hahn said the constantly improving technology was a pillar of sustainable farming.

“If you just spray the manure on the ground, you get runoff and you don’t get as much utilization of the nitrogen and phosphorous as putting it in the ground, by injecting it,” he said. “What we primarily focus on is the dragline part of the process of the manure injection. As hog barns and dairies continue to get larger, it’s needed across the United States.”

Using its in-house staff, the company often works with clients on engineering an answer to their specific problem. If that’s a common enough issue, the solution may become a more mainline product for other buyers.

Hahn said efficiency was always a top priority, given the incredibly narrow seasonal window of liquid waste application. The window of liquid waste injection totals around 60-90 days per year.

“Every day is critical, for uptime and efficiency,” he said. “As farms get bigger, there’s more gallons, so we need to find ways to do it that are not only safe, but more efficient and more effective so we can optimize the time before it freezes and before the crops go in.”

To accomplish that, the business relies on its people. Hahn said he had every team member to thank for Bazooka-Farmstar’s continued success.

“We have a great group of people that come to work and work extremely hard. Without them, we wouldn’t be where we are today. We’ve grown because everyone comes to work and tries to have as much fun as possible, while caring about the quality and the safety of others. I’m really proud of the team that we have.”

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com