About Us

LB Processors, LLC: Founded as a Farming Business

LB Processors, LLC was founded by Paul and Katy Binford who had been raising emus in the beautiful hills of Tennessee since early 1992. At the urging of a friend for whom we were marketing emu oil, Paul started rendering fat from our own birds.  After harvesting our birds, we would generally end up with the fat in our freezer.  Paul had thought there couldn’t be much to rendering emu fat. He realized very quickly that he was wrong.

There was no blueprint for this work.  There was no published research to study or best practices to follow.  No one had ever finely refined emu oil before.  For two years he worked diligently, researching the processing of oils learning every step of the way.  Progressing out of his cramped lab, Paul bought a small cooker and a filtration system and set up a larger lab by reconstructing our hatching facility.

In early 1995, the emu industry gained a USDA stamp of approval and we really jumped into helping the industry move ahead.  Selling meat to local markets by day and working to produce quality emu oil by night was no easy task. Paul used his experience in designing automated electrical and control systems for water treatment plants to develop a system to render the oil without separating. Finally, after years of sleepless nights, Paul had rendered oil with no smell, creamy and light in color, and that could be reproduced at will.

By August of 1996 we were starting to custom render for others. However, with no consistency in the fat that was being brought to us, Paul had to rethink the refining part of our business. He attended the first Texas A & M workshop for Ratite Oil and then joined the American Oil Chemist Society in January of 1997 to get the inside scoop of researching and processing in the oil industry. He also served as a board member of the American Emu Association from 1999 to 2003, where he was the head of oil research.

The knowledge of refining specialty oils that Paul gained through these associations and his years of experience inspired him to completely redesign and upgrade the refinery and every piece of equipment.  By 2003, LB Processors had become known around the world for the quality of emu oil they produce.  

Today, LB Processors is equipped to refine an unlimited number of vegetable and animal sourced specialty oils.  We have clients throughout the United States, Russia, Germany, Thailand, Israel, Chile, Sweden, Switzerland, Greece, England, Argentina, Australia, and Canada in the pharmaceutical, cosmetics, food product, and soap making industries.  We refine over 25,000 gallons of oil each year and have capacity to produce much more.  We are proud of our family-owned business, our employees, our humble beginnings, and our unwavering faith in God.