J.D. Heiskell history

One of John Heiskell's two daughters, Patricia, married Dale W. Hillman in 1953, and he joined the family firm two years later.

John's younger sister, Elizabeth, successfully ran the business during World War I, and served as secretary and office manager until her death in 1958.

The next round of growth for J.D. Heiskell & Co. began in 1989 with the construction of two miles of railroad track and six 100-foot concrete silos at our Tulare facility - this "unit train" unloading venue enabled us to become a volume buyer and shipper of Midwest grains.

Since 1991, Scot Hillman, the fourth generation of family leadership, has energetically grown the company through innovative partnerships and acquisitions.

In 2000, J.D. Heiskell & Co. bought five dairy-focused mills in Washington, Idaho and California, contributing to a 300% growth in volume and vaulting the firm into the top five American feed manufacturing companies.

In 2003, the company sold its facilities in Washington state to Cargill, Inc. and focused its attention and resources on growing into new markets.

In 2004, J.D. Heiskell & Co. formed a joint venture with J.R. Simplot Land & Livestock to build the world's largest grain rolling facility, the Double J Milling Co. in Mountain Home, Idaho.

On December 31, 2009, J.D. Heiskell & Co. and Land O'Lakes consummated another business transaction when Heiskell purchased the Idaho feed production assets of LOL in Idaho, comprised of a feed mill in Gooding, Idaho and a smaller feed mill in Twin Falls, Idaho.

In August of 2010, J.D. Heiskell & Co. partnered with Land O'Lakes Purina Feed on a joint venture in California known as Golden State Feed & Grain.

On January 14, 2011, J.D. Heiskell & Co. purchased Hawkeye Gold, a marketer of ethanol and ethanol co-products based in Ames, Iowa.

J.D. Heiskell & Co. grew into new states as well during 2012, through a joint venture with Kent Nutrition Group in New York, Vermont, and Maine to form Gold Star Feed & Grain.

In March of 2013, the Hawkeye Gold office in Ames, Iowa relocated to nearby Ankeny, Iowa.

In 2014, Heiskell bought out Kent Nutrition Group’s share of the Gold Star Feed & Grain joint venture, and also purchased the former English Feed Yard in Wiggins, Colorado, and constructed a grain rolling operation on that site that it named Colorado Flaking.

In 2015, the company purchased the Stoneham, Colorado elevator outright and added it to its local asset base.

In 2017, the company, in partnership with two other closely-held family businesses, Fagen, Inc. and Van Diest Supply Company, began construction of a 140-million-gallon-per-year ethanol production facility in Atlantic Iowa.