By SCBIZ Staff 

BAMBERG -- Kicking Horse LLC has announced plans to locate a manufacturing facility in Bamberg County, creating new jobs and a capital investment exceeding $2 million. 

Initially, the operation will hire 10 to 12 employees. Pre-manufacturing sales of the company’s equine bedding have exceeded initial goals causing the company to consider additional shifts, company President Steve Weavil said. Kicking Horse will operate in an existing building on U.S. Highway 78 between Bamberg and Denmark, located in the Bamberg County Airport Industrial Park.

“Mr. Weavil and the Kicking Horse team are a welcome addition to our growing wood products cluster of industries,” said Bamberg County Council Chairwoman Dot Tatum.  “They are also serving the growing upscale equine industry here in our region, across the Southeast, and abroad.  We appreciate the jobs they will create, and we’re committed to helping them prosper in Bamberg County.”

The company’s equine bedding product is comprised of premium, high-absorbency, low-dust wood shavings. The bedding will be offered in a 3 cubic-foot size bag, which expands to 7.5 cubic feet.  In addition to serving the horse industry, Kicking Horse will offer bulk truck loads for the poultry and turkey industries.

“Our manufacturing process produces no harmful byproducts, uses a renewable resource and uses no fossil fuels,” Weavil said.

Kicking Horse will introduce two new products under the "Kicking Horse Equine Products" logo in the near future and will market them through national distribution, he added.