Hometown Pride Tour: Kerr Feed and Grain

HENRIETTA, Texas (KAUZ) - Thursday was our final stop on our Hometown Pride Tour of Henrietta and we got to look at a family-owned business.

This family-serves-ranchers has been a staple in the Clay County community for just shy of a century.

Kerr Feed and Grain was started back in 1932 by a young entrepreneur who had a dream of owning his own business and providing quality products to cattle ranchers throughout Clay County.

“My great grandfather, Louis Kerr Sr., purchased the cash feed store in the 40′s, his son Louis Kerr Jr., who was my grandfather, came back to help him we moved to this location and have been going strong ever since,” said Kerri Brown, co-owner of Kerr Feed and Grain.

Brown said when she was a child, she spent endless time in the store smelling the grain and sitting behind the counter. She even worked there in high school, doing bookkeeping.

“My greatest memory is sitting on this old leather sofa that’s been here since the beginning of time and just hearing my grandfather tell stories and seeing him interact with customers,” said Brown.

Over the years, the store continued to be passed down and after Brown’s parents passed away, it was time for her and her brother Wade Bryant to continue their legacy.

“My brother at that time was really taking on everything, he is one of the hardest working men I know and I wanted to be able to come and help him,” said Brown.

Today, Brown continues to keep the books, while Bryant handles the day-to-day operation of manufacturing and producing 200 tons of feed in a single day.

“In the 50s we started blending our own product and the 60s we started pelletizing our own product, then in 2018 we made the largest capital improvement that I’m aware of to date for our family business, putting in a pelleting tower,” said Bryant.

Between new robots that help get bags of feed get ready to be delivered to customers and the original mixers and scales, Bryant said what he and his team have a responsibility of helping get fresh food to the tables of families, just like his great grandfather.

“Those guys are providing beef, poultry, pork, all those things to the world food supply so what we do has an impact that’s greater than just Henrietta and Clay County,” said Bryant.

It’s a special bond that the men who work in the mills everyday and the community of Clay County all share with the family of the Kerr Feed and Grain store.

“We’re in our fourth generation of operation we have ranches that are in their fourth and fifth generations and they trade here because their granddad traded here or great granddad,” said Bryant.

“We have some of the best employees, some that have been here much longer than I have,” said Brown. “We have employees that have been here over 30 years, it’s with great pride that I work here.”

Brown said the feed store continues to be a family business. Her and her brother’s spouses and children are now carrying the torch of their great grandfather’s dream.

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