As it approaches its third month in operation, Sebree Fence Products is getting ready to expand its factory to pick up an anticipated greater demand for lath, the material used to make snow and sand fencing.

According to Sebree Fence Products Plant Manager Ed Payton, workers at the site have been focused primarily on logging wood used to make privacy fences, with current demand for about 230 loads. Payton said the plant’s output is about one load per day, and expects demand to increase as the winter season approaches.

Sebree Fence Products, which is owned by Kalinich Fence Company, is a 12,000 square foot facility located just outside Sebree on U.S. Hwy. 41-A.

Payton said the Kalinich family is pleased with the warm welcome they’ve received from the community, and Sebree Fence Products Vice-President Mike Kalinich, Jr., previously told The J-E the support of various economic development groups in Kentucky was one of the key factors in the company’s decision to locate in Webster County.

Right now, about 13 people work on site, logging and preparing loads of wood to be delivered for use in fence making. Payton said he expects that number to increase next month, once demand for other types of fences begins to grow. He pointed out the decision to provide wood for privacy fences is something that came after the local plant was built.

“There was a larger supply of pine here than first thought,” Payton said. “Now we’re making privacy fences. It’s something that’s always been in the back of their (Kalinich family’s) minds, and... since we’ve got the facility here, why don’t we see if we can make the privacy fences?”

Payton said after the demand sets in next month for lath to make snow fences, the Sebree plant will “rotate back and forth between (loads of) lath and pine boards.”

“This is really providing another market for the logger,” he said.

Payton, who lives in Madisonville, has worked in the logging industry for years, and has managed other sawmills, he said.

“They (the Kalinich family) needed somone with a knowledge of the industry, and... this was a good fit for me,” he said.