eeding time T
beaten path, local feed store fi lls void in community
here are no blinking direc onal arrows poin ng the way. Nor are
there colorful billboards with catchy slogans telling you how to get there.
Like many good things, the Bandy Ranch Feed Store is located just a bit off the beaten path. If you fi nd yourself at the store, you are either lost or knew exactly where you were going all along. Either way, you’ll receive the same, warm gree ng from John Bandy and his family. Bandy admits that some signage is probably going to be in the business’s future, but customers in the mean me have been doing a pre y good job of fi nding the place.
For area farmers and ranchers, the opening of the feed store at Bandy Ranch back in November of 2013 was a blessing. It represented a level of reliability and convenience that hadn’t existed in many years.
Over the past few decades, one by one, feed manufacturers and suppliers across northeast Oklahoma have either consolidated opera ons or closed their doors altogether, forcing those in search of product to drive a substan al distance or have it delivered at a surcharge.
“This area is rooted in agriculture and it really bothered me that we didn’t have a reliable source for feed close by,” remarked Bandy. “I can remember a me when Vinita had three diff erent loca ons that sold both bulk and bagged feed. All those places are gone now.”
It’s true that long- me feed suppliers like Vinita Hay & Grain, the Vinita
Story and photos by Clint Branham
Communica ons Specialist
co-op and Big Ernie’s are now nothing more than footnotes in the area’s rich agricultural history. An even larger void was created when the Tri-State Co-op in A on closed its doors. Bandy felt compelled to help fi ll the void.
“We knew we had to do something diff erent a er Tri-State closed down,” Bandy explained. “We tried ge ng feed other places but couldn’t always get it delivered to us when we needed it. My wife and I were both working full- me jobs at that me and were always scrambling to get feed on Saturday before noon. We fi nally decided to buy a truck and start hauling it ourselves.”
Other producers began asking Bandy to help transport feed for them. Word began to spread. Soon, Bandy found himself hauling larger loads and making more frequent trips to the mill, all while balancing another career.
“People would be si ng here for a week or two without feed and wanted to know if we’d haul some in for them,” said Bandy. “Of course, we wanted to help, so we started doing that.”
It occurred to Bandy one day that he should make a go of it as a supplier here in northeast Oklahoma with a centralized distribu on point. The family farm was just such a loca on.
“Pre y soon, I just started dealing the feed myself. I wasn’t a trucking company, so I became a feed dealer,” he said.
With the construc on of a 2,500 square-foot building, Bandy is able to stock everything from pet food to wood
con nued next page March 2017 - 5
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