My local feed mill

[38 Sears Roebuck]

Any of you still have an old fashioned feed mill nearby? Mine is just a few miles away and has been there since the early 1900s some time, the Grasston coop feed mill.

View attachment 5306


Hasn't changed get much over the years other than a few steel bins. There used to be a creamery as well, but that was gone by the early 70s.
The office has most anything you need from boots and gloves to medicine.


That table is where all the older farmers sit Tuesday mornings drinking coffee and eating doughnuts. I can remember being there the day they switched out the cooler on the right and removed the upright that had the glass bottles yu pulled out. Back then you got a bottle of soda for a dime and could return the bottle for a nickle. Was a big deal to get to go with dad to the mill because many times he would get us a soda.

The whole mill still has the wooden floors.

View attachment 5312

The floors are well worn and shiny.

View attachment 5315

I wonder how many tons of feed have been rolled over those floors.

They even have the hoist in the pit used to dump trucks and wagons with no hoist an they still use it some times.
View attachment 5316

Every time I go there it brings back memories of going with dad.

We still have a few around here in Lancaster PA. I always enjoy a trip to my local mill to pick up corn to feed wild critters that visit my back yard.

 

[DoubleR]

One by one they have all closed in my area over the years. There use to be one about 5 miles from my house. I now have to travel about 45 miles to one in Millington Mi. I actually worked at one bagging and loading feed in Fenton Mi. for a year in 1970. I buy my feed supplements and usually buy about a 1000 bu. of corn a year in Millington Mi. now. Its a old style mill that still grinds and mixes feed, looks allot like the one in your pictures.

 

[J Hamilton]

The one close to me closed many years ago and sat empty for many more before finally getting rescued/repurposed into a restaurant. Luckily it hadn't been vandalized and the building was in pretty decent shape for as long as it was vacant, but it was also covered in brush and vines so it was well preserved. It was kept as original or restored to original as possible and still meet health codes for food service. Pretty neat place with great food too!

 

[jwal10]

Ours. The Old Mill....James

dallas feed store - Google Search

 

[onefarmer]

Westphalia, Fowler and Carson City MI all have one.

I go to Westphalia all the time. It's only 8 miles straight west of me. Ovid has one too.

 

[Jim in LA]

The one close to me closed many years ago and sat empty for many more before finally getting rescued/repurposed into a restaurant. Luckily it hadn't been vandalized and the building was in pretty decent shape for as long as it was vacant, but it was also covered in brush and vines so it was well preserved. It was kept as original or restored to original as possible and still meet health codes for food service. Pretty neat place with great food too! View attachment 5345View attachment 5346View attachment 5347View attachment 5348View attachment 5350

The one close to me closed many years ago and sat empty for many more before finally getting rescued/repurposed into a restaurant. Luckily it hadn't been vandalized and the building was in pretty decent shape for as long as it was vacant, but it was also covered in brush and vines so it was well preserved. It was kept as original or restored to original as possible and still meet health codes for food service. Pretty neat place with great food too! View attachment 5345View attachment 5346View attachment 5347View attachment 5348View attachment 5350

A community I used to live near had a nice restaurant that was once the seed house for the old cotton gin there. They even had a full bale of cotton hanging from the rafters. It would seat about thirty people and they later added a screened in dining room on the back side of it which was about twenty feet from a small swamp.

 

[Bruce from Can.]

Any of you still have an old fashioned feed mill nearby? Mine is just a few miles away and has been there since the early 1900s some time, the Grasston coop feed mill.

View attachment 5306


Hasn't changed get much over the years other than a few steel bins. There used to be a creamery as well, but that was gone by the early 70s.
The office has most anything you need from boots and gloves to medicine.


That table is where all the older farmers sit Tuesday mornings drinking coffee and eating doughnuts. I can remember being there the day they switched out the cooler on the right and removed the upright that had the glass bottles yu pulled out. Back then you got a bottle of soda for a dime and could return the bottle for a nickle. Was a big deal to get to go with dad to the mill because many times he would get us a soda.

The whole mill still has the wooden floors.

View attachment 5312

The floors are well worn and shiny.

View attachment 5315

I wonder how many tons of feed have been rolled over those floors.

They even have the hoist in the pit used to dump trucks and wagons with no hoist an they still use it some times.
View attachment 5316

Every time I go there it brings back memories of going with dad.

Our Co-op still operates an old style feed mill. I have been a member of this Co-op for many years, and have been in the board of directors, and currently serving as Secretary.

Our feed mill started life as both a feed mill and a grain elevator and had its own railway siding to ship grain from. Rail Road tracks have been gone now for many years. This Co-op still mills textured feed and sells in bulk , bag or tote. Also co-packs for several other feed stores. We have 4 locations, at this location we mill feed, ave a nice farm store and a card-lock gasoline bar, where co-op members can get gas or diesel 24 hours a day.

We also have a newly constructed fertilizer plant, farm store and grain terminal with two dryers ant another site, that offers complete agronomy services, including fertilizer sales, custom application of fertilizer and herbicide, another farm store and complete grain handling, forward contracting services.
Our next location is a tank farm/fuel division, we have a cardlock gas bar, bulk storage tanks, offices and yard to store 5 propane delivery trucks and 3 bulk fuel delivery trucks. And our final location has a farm store,selling feed and farm needs as well as a small tank farm with a DEF delivery truck, which delivers bulk DEF to farmers, and trucking fleets as well as construction sites within 100 mile radius. First picture is the feed mill, second is the new fertilizer plant.
Our fertilizer plant can store 6,50 metric tons of fertilizer, and can unload a tractor trailer of fertilizer in 10 minutes, We bag fertilizer during winter, and can ship out as much as 1,000 metric tons of bulk fertilizer in a day.
This Co-op is a member owned independent Co-op, and has right around 100 employees. Serving farms needs since 1953 and works within a area of 100 miles radius.

 

[Keith Molden]

Looks like the office pics didn't load.View attachment 5317View attachment 5318

At one time we had 4 mills here, now they are all gone and we have to travel around50 miles for an actual feed mill on one of the most dangerous roads US35 in West Virginia (lots of deer accidents). I was an Auctioneer on the last one to go out here in Pomeroy, Ohio when they sold out over 25 years ago.

 

[JWinIndiana]

Farmer's Feed and Grain in Thornhoppe, Indiana. Deliver bulk feed to us each month. It is an era that will be gone like the dairy farms.