February, 2025- It may be trite but everything does seem bigger in Texas. One example is the sprawling 1 million-square-foot manufacturing complex Priefert Manufacturing operates across 300 acres in Mount Pleasant, a rural community of 16,050 people. When you search Google Maps, up comes a photo of horses.
On a ranch, the owners and their employees must know how to perform a wide variety of tasks from mucking out stables to repairing tractors to, of course, managing cattle or other livestock. The same is true for the owners and employees of Priefert Manufacturing.
The company receives master coils and long products, produces tubing, performs roll forming, edging, slitting, sheet and tube laser cutting and makes custom parts for oilfield, wind and solar equipment, carports, farms and ranches, trailer manufacturers, service centers, job shops and others.
RODEO RIDING
“Our legacy business is ranch, rodeo and cattle handling equipment,” says Vice President Rocky Christenberry. “The first thing we created was the headgate, which restrains the cow for veterinary work.”
He says the first version was produced in 1964. “Marvin Priefert had a neighbor who brought home a headgate. Marvin looked at it and said, ‘I can build you a better one than that,’ and so he built two, one for the neighbor and one for himself. He saw a problem and offered a solution. That one product is now over 1,000 different SKUs. We create one solution at a time.”
Priefert Manufacturing starts out with master coils to make tubing and perform a host of processing services.
Sturdy steel-built ranch gates, chutes and fencing keeps livestock and people safe, even professional bull riders.
For example, Priefert was approached on many occasions about building rodeo equipment. Finally, in 2005, Eddie Priefert, after hearing from users, built his first set of bucking chutes. “Our owner was like, ‘oh, we will sell a couple of these a year.’ Well, word got out and in August of 2005, Priefert was asked to debut its new equipment at a Professional Bull Riders (PBR) event in Baton Rouge,” says Christenberry. “The event was a huge success. Everyone went crazy over the new equipment, and Priefert was immediately asked to sponsor the PBR finals event in Las Vegas the following November.
“We didn’t have prints, a finalized prototype or a jig, and we had only two months to have 14 truckloads of equipment ready for the finals of the PBR,” he recalls. It was nonetheless a success, he says. “After the national finals event, they made us the official PBR equipment sponsor. We have been that sponsor ever since.”
Meanwhile, the National Finals Rodeo closely watched the introduction of this equipment and made Priefert its official equipment sponsor the following year. “We took on the entire rodeo industry in one year and sales soared far beyond what we ever imagined,” says Christenberry.
HOLLYWOOD CALLS
Some time back, Priefert was contacted by someone in Hollywood about a Priefert squeeze chute to hold a velociraptor. “We thought it was a joke but then we found out it was legitimate. If you watch close,” Christenberry says, “you will see a Priefert squeeze chute holding a velociraptor in the movie ‘Jurassic World.’”
Some years later, a woman who worked on the set of that lm called and requested help with equipment for a new TV series. “It turns out the equipment was for ‘Yellowstone,’” a popular series on Paramount. “If you watch the series, you will see Priefert equipment all throughout [the sets], and Priefert is even mentioned by name on at least one occasion during one of the episodes,” he says.
“The show has created a whole movement, everyone putting on a cowboy hat and boots. I have more people calling and texting me about ‘Yellowstone’ than anything else we have ever been involved in,” he says. “That was huge for us,” in terms of marketing exposure.
TRANSITION
Over time, Priefert has gone beyond ranch and livestock equipment supplier to become a service center. “Because Priefert is a manufacturer, we understood what other manufacturers’ problems were.” For example, Christenberry explains, most companies don’t think twice about buying a standard length 20-foot-long tube and sawing three 6-foot sections from it, leaving 2 feet of waste.
“They reason that, by sawing it themselves, they saved money. What they fail to recognize is Priefert is producing tube from a master sheet coil that has thousands of feet in it, and can run the tube to the proper length to eliminate the waste entirely.
“Because of the wide breadth of products we manufacture, we can use 95 to 98 percent of the master coil into our many different types of products, and we can do so efficiently,” Christenberry says.
A flatbed trailer might hold blanks, tubing and subassemblies, depending on the customer’s needs.
Slitting, blanking, laser cutting, powder coating and custom part manufacturing are all part of the package.
VERTICAL INTEGRATION
Alongside the exciting outlets for steel products, Priefert does high-volume bulk processing and distribution.
“We are vertically integrated. We bring in raw master coil and transform it into all the products that we supply, including tubing, sheet, roll forming, laser, press braking, welding, and welded and painted assemblies.” The company even has its own powder coating capability. Christenberry says getting all these services under one roof is rare in the United States.
While most users are accustomed to having to purchase an entire truckload of tubing from a tubing company and a truckload of steel sheets from another company, Priefert will combine sheet, tube and painted product all in one delivery. By combining all these products, customers do not have to buy as much material, “and will get it all from one shop,” he says.
LABOR EQUATION
One expects that even a big company, with more than 950 employees at one location, might not find a sizable labor pool in northeast Texas. “One of the things about a rural area is there is a lot of hands-on labor available,” Christenberry says.
“We bring in people who like to use their hands, who are not necessarily looking for office work. With a concentration of labor this size on one campus, we are constantly looking for people, and we will relocate people here when the opportunity or need arises.
“We are a merit-based company,” he says. “I tell new hires that we are offering opportunities and it’s up to you to make the most of it. You can even win my job if you work hard and do a little bit more. You can be a leader in this brought home a headgate. Marvin looked at it and said, ‘I can build you a better one than that,’ and so he built two, one for the neighbor and one for himself. He saw a problem and offered a solution. That one product is now over 1,000 different SKUs. We create one solution at a time.”
Priefert Manufacturing will start up its fifth tube mill this year.
STRATEGIC DIRECTION
Priefert Manufacturing’s sales team is “constantly looking at intersecting segments,” according to Christenberry. “We have been in solar since 2019 and we are opening up other areas, too. We will go deeper into all energy related products the bright spot in the market today is on renewables and the energy infrastructure. The economy in these sectors is expanding and we want to be part of that,” he says.
This year, Priefert is ramping up its ft h tube mill. “We are pushing from the steel side as we gain a bigger foothold in the tubing market. We were at capacity there for a while, but now we can open our door to additional tubing sales.”
Christenberry says the potential of higher steel tariffs “could have a big impact but expects a positive outcome. We plan to be prepared for material shortages or the supply chain drying up for the customer and the timing of our new tube mills could not be better. If we already supply a customer, they know they can depend on us,” because Priefert has reliable domestic sources, he says. Priefert will also continue to grow its two other locations in Benton, Arkansas, and Fort Worth, Texas.
“Everyone wants steel made in the U.S., and consumers are expressing that this is what they want.”
Priefert Manufacturing, 800/527-8616, steel.priefert.com.
