Female Welder Pursues Her Passion

Female Welder Pursues Her Passion Marla Stegall-Hotsenpiller of Moberly, Mo., owns Stegall Fabrication & Engineering, LLC, a welding business that serves the livestock industry. “My parents moved to Missouri in 1983 and started a lawnmower sales and service business called A-1 Agri Sales & Service,” says Stegall-Hotsenpiller. “My father quickly realized lawnmower sales alone wouldn’t support our family through the winter months, so that fall he built the 2-in. cattle feeder that we still manufacture today.” Other equipment quickly joined the roster, including cattle chutes, panels, tubs and a portable cattle corral. By the late 1990s, the business had phased out mower sales and focused entirely on manufacturing. “I was first introduced to welding around three years old when my dad repaired equipment for our farm and neighboring farmers,” Stegall-Hotsenpiller says. “I was fascinated by the cool blue light reflecting off the bright white shop walls.” Because welding light is dangerous to unprotected eyes, Stegall-Hotsenpiller’s mom lined the band of a welding helmet with towels to make it fit properly. “I began arc welding (stick welding) at five,” Stegall-Hotsenpiller says. “‘A natural,’ my father always said. He jokes it’s due to women having steady hands and the ability to pay attention to details.” The family business received its first MIG welders in 1983, and Stegall-Hotsenpiller wanted to start right away. “My dad resisted. He said I needed to butt-weld two pieces of 14-ga. sheet metal together and seam it using a 7/32-in. 7018 rod without burning through. That took me until 13.”  Stegall-Hotsenpiller’s first paid welding job came during high school, working on seat brackets for the Moberly Speedway. She saw it as a hobby, not a career, but she continued helping the family business while attending accounting school. “At the time, my father didn’t have a written material list for cutting the portable cattle corral components. When I asked how I was supposed to help without knowing what to cut, he told me he had built several dozen from memory. We worked together to create a formal list, and I kept asking questions. After one too many, my dad suggested I go to engineering school.” She did just that, changing her major to mechanical engineering and graduating as one of three women in her class. “My first independent design was a tilt table for calves. It allows calves to be safely turned onto their side for procedures like ear tagging and castration.” Today, these tilt tables are primarily manufactured for sheep and goats and used for hoof trimming, vaccinations, ultrasounding, ear tagging, and other routine management tasks. “Our goal is to improve safety, reduce animal stress, and increase overall efficiency,” Stegall-Hotsenpiller says.  “We build both manual and hydraulic models. The big challenge is keeping the frame perfectly square through fabrication. If the main frame is even slightly out of square, the tilt mechanism won’t function properly.” Today, most Stegall Fabrication & Engineering equipment is custom-designed to meet individual customer needs, setting the company apart from manufacturers that produce only standard “cookie-cutter” products. Stegall-Hotsenpiller has worked on several large-scale projects, including sheep pens at the Missouri State Fair and the pens at the St. Louis Lambert International Airport Livestock Export Center. “We manufacture a complete line of small-animal equipment, cattle equipment, horse stalls, feeders for multiple species, and specialized equipment for elk and buffalo.” Other unique projects include constructing enclosures for lions and tigers and installing portable elk corrals in Alaska, complete with chutes and cube systems. “Whether the project is large or small, I take pride in every piece that leaves our shop. I’m continuing my father’s legacy while building one of my own.” Still, Stegall-Hotsenpiller is acutely aware of the challenges of working in a male-dominated field. “Women are capable of doing anything men can do, even when we have to work twice as hard to prove it.” She suggests that women stand their ground and fight for their goals. “There’ll be hurdles. It may take time to earn respect, but anything worth doing comes with challenges.” She’s quick to agree that the rewards of running a welding business make the challenges worth it. “I’m proud of every product we build,” Stegall-Hotsenpiller says. “My goal has always been to manufacture quality equipment at a reasonable price. And to this day, I still find welding therapeutic. I don’t have to think about it—I just weld.” Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Stegall Fabrication & Engineering, 1219 W. Outer Rd., Moberly, Mo. 65270 (ph 660-263-0390; stegallfab@outlook.com; www.stegallfab.com).

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