Stroh Farm Supply, formerly Stroh Grain Company, began serving its customers sometime around the 1920s.
Introduced as the Stroh Grain Company, it began serving the needs of the local community specializing in grain, mill feed, flour, salt and coal. The original building sat just about where the current building sits today. In its original state, the mill sat just west of a small railroad that serviced the Stroh community. The small square building on the southwest corner of the grounds was once the Standard Oil Building. This building is currently used as a storage building.
The original mill structure fell victim to arson during a robbery. At that time, Martin Feed’s of New Paris owned Stroh Grain. After the fire, Martin Feed’s decided that they were not going to rebuild. It was at that time in 1971 that several area farmers and businessmen rose to the need of the community and rebuilt as a farmer owned corporation. Rebuilding as Stroh Farm Supply, the company operated that way until 1992. It was at that time; the board of directors were looking for a buyer. After several years of trying to sell Stroh Farm Supply, the board accepted an offer made by Jim Perkins.
In effort to continue meeting the needs of the agricultural community, the feed mill and grain elevator continued daily operations as usual.
Although we do not know every manager that has worked at Stroh Farm Supply, we are able to name several. Through the years, it has been managed by Roscoe Cogshell, Dale Noll, Devon Brubaker, Eli Helmuth, Greg Miller, Kirk Perkins, and from 1997 to current, Eric Perkins. Through the years, Stroh Grain Company and Stroh Farm Supply has been able to provide employment for several community members, and still does to this day. We are proud to be a family owned and operated business, where Eric works alongside his wife Jane, son Tanner, daughter Cara and son- in- law Jim.
The agricultural landscape has changed over the years. As quoted from the LaGrange News in 1989, Eli Helmuth said that about 65% of the feed went to dairy and 25% went to hogs. In 2008, that statistic changed approximately to 40% dairy, 20% replacement heifer and bull calves and 30% toll milling (the balance was miscellaneous feed). Currently, the percent of dairy feed has dramatically decreased to approximately 10%, while the amount of feed manufactured for replacement heifer and bull calves has increased to approximately 65%. Around 20% of our manufactured tons are manufactured for finish steers, while the rest is miscellaneous feed.
In 2004 Stroh Farm Supply purchased our first high-clearance sprayer. This was necessary to keep up with the growing custom application demand. Currently, we are running 1 high-volume floater along with 2 Case Patriots. In 2018, we grew again, with the addition of a dry box spreader and a tender box with the technology to do variable rate application as well as site specific soil sampling.
To this day, we still operate with the same goal in mind that was stated in the 1989 article, “Offer goods and services at a price that will keep both the customer and us in business.” While we understand that anybody can make feed, service is our business and we must do that to the best of our ability. Ultimately, we strive to do our best and do it to the glory of God. If we do that, we know the needs of our customers will be met. We appreciate the support from our customers over the last 50 years and look forward to providing products and services for our agricultural community in the future.