But, he knew he needed help to do so.
“When we first started, I was looking for someone
to go into business with me,” Lavern recalls. “David
was willing to help find equipment, do bookwork.
We’ve been a good team together.”
Having grown up on a farm in Kentucky, David
later lived in North Carolina where his father had a
dairy farm.
“I consider myself a farmer,” David explains,
though he admits he hasn’t always been full-time in
the trade.
David has called Seymour home since 2004
and built log furniture prior to his partnership with
Shavings (top) are ready to be sold in bulk or bag form once a
shaker separates them from the fines. Bulk shavings (bottom)
are sold mostly to poultry farmers within a 200 mile radius of
Seymour. Melissa Ropp (left) handles much of the bagging duty
at Eagle Ridge Shavings. Lavern Ropp (right) said rice hulls can
be blended with the wood shavings to create a product that is
becoming popular with turkey farmers. The rice hulls (middle)
don’t pack and help the shavings remain dry and fluffy.
HEARTBEAT | WINTER 2017 7