All in the family: 86 years of Sauder Feeds Inc. and counting...
With one setting hen, 15 eggs and a lot of ingenuity, Rev. Jerry H. Sauder ’25 began a chicken hatchery in the dining room of his family’s home in Grabill, Ind., in 1910. What appeared to start out as a whimsical venture by a 12-year-old has become a fullfledged business enterprise that has withstood the test of time and disaster to pass from one generation of Bluffton graduates to another and another and possibly still another.
Situated on 12 acres just outside of Grabill, Sauder Feeds Inc. is surrounded by fields and pastures full of crops and livestock—prime location for a company that has provided for the agricultural needs of its customers for the past 86 years. Even on a rainy day in July, the feed mill is a bustle of activity with semi-trailers unloading corn, workers manually mixing feed ingredients and customers picking up orders.
“We are an actual manufacturing company,” says Jerry I. Sauder ’75, grandson of the founder and current manager. “We make our feed from scratch, something a lot of mills don’t do any more. We produce a couple hundred standard formulas—beef, hog, horse, dog, etc.—that we manufacture and deliver frequently. However, we make more than 1,000 specialized formulas created for customers’ individual needs.” These specialized formulas service a wide variety of species, including llama, emu, buffalo, fox, reindeer and elk.
Jerry H. Sauder’s decision to expand his hatchery to include feeds came in 1935. His drive to experiment and diversify feeds helped the company stay in the black as small hatcheries began to fade out of existence. With the inclusion of feed manufacturing, the Sauder operation began to grow by leaps and bounds, laying the foundation for the business it is today.
That foundation, laid by Jerry H. and his wife, Wilma (Grabill) Sauder, was strengthened by his son Carlton Sauder ’51 and his wife, Joanne (Miller ’52) Sauder. Carlton’s son, Jerry I. and his wife, Kathy (Sivey ’75) Sauder continue to build the business along with their son, Joshua Sauder ’02, all of whom eventually joined the firm within three years of graduating from Bluffton.
For four generations, the Sauders have worked together to better serve their customers. The years have not all passed by blissfully as the business struggled through the Great Depression and had to overcome three fires in 1965, 1974 and 1975. Each time, the Sauders reassessed and rebuilt, improving and expanding their facilities.
The operation shows signs of growth with new buildings cropping up around old as the family continually works to upgrade facilities to meet the demands of changing times. As appendages to Sauder Feeds Inc., the Sauder family owns Sauder Eggs and Sauder Trucking Co., each adding a new dimension to the business. “Working in agriculture is tough nowadays,” says Jerry I. Sauder, “especially with companies all striving to gain one another’s customers. We are a small company that is attentive to our customers’ needs, and we have no desire to become a large business because that’s when customers fall through the cracks.”
Currently, Sauder Feeds Inc. provides custom feed formulation, custom pelleting, grain receiving and storage, grinding, shelling, mixing, nutritional consulting, delivery in bulk or bag and toll milling. In 2005, the corporation celebrated its 85th anniversary with its customers and the northeast Indiana community. The family is thankful for the years they have had together and they look forward, “prayerfully so,” to many, many more.
— Jill A. Duling
