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Inman Feed Mill was started by Horace Ballenger back in the early 1950s. It has operated from the same location since then, and has been run by a number of different Inman businessmen, including Carroll Mitchell and Clarence Gibbs. It is now operated by the Watner family.
We are the only operating feed mill in Spartanburg County, South Carolina to continue processing our own grains. We make and bag our own sweet feed, cracked corn, chicken scratch, and whole corn.
If you're looking to use a special feed mix of your own creation, we're happy to do custom mixing upon request. Free samples of our mixes are also available.
Between Inman feed Mill and InmanTire (our sister business) we have "the biggest tire in town."
It weights 6,000 pounds; stands 11 feet 6 inches tall, and cost $16,000 new. It is a Goodyear Unisteel RL4H and the size designation is 37.00R57.
Bring your familes and friends and take their picture besides "the biggest tire in town."
We also offer complimentary display of wedding, graduation, anniversary, and birthday announcements on the readerboard in front of our store.
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Get directions to Inman Feed Mill!
Below is an article that appeared in the Spartanburg Herald-Journal on September 25, 2004, page B1. We hope you enjoy our paper's column on Inman Feed Mill.
Inman Feed Mill steps back into '50s
Herald-Journal (Spartanburg, SC)
September 25, 2004
Author: Gary Henderson
Estimated printed pages: 3
Driving into the parking lot at Inman Feed Mill is enough to make you
wonder how this place got caught in a time warp.
Inside is just as puzzling.
Here, it looks like somebody closed up at the end of the day in the
early 1950s and finally got around to reopening the day you dropped
by.
In truth, this place has opened every day for business since Harold
Ballenger built it 51 years ago.
"It's old-fashioned," said Carl Watner, the 56-year-old man who has
owned the feed mill since 1987. "It's 1950s and 1960s technology."
Watner stood by 12-foot-high mixers that blend oats, cracked corn,
barley and liquid molasses to make horse feed. The corn, barley and
oats are stored in tall silos. Molasses is kept in tanks that hold
2,100 gallons each.
"We get these raw ingredients by the tractor-trailer load," Watner
said. "We sell a load of corn a month, and we're just a little bitty
feed mill."
The Inman business, Watner said, is the only operating feed mill in
Spartanburg County.
"You can smell the molasses," Watner said as he pushed his hand deep
into an open bag and brought out a handful of horse feed.
A 1923 Fordson farm tractor fills up one end of the front porch. A
previous owner of the business has it on loan to Watner.
"I've never heard it," Watner said. "But I understand it still runs."
Originally from Maryland, Watner met his wife while he was attending a
conference in Campobello. They married and soon decided to settle in
Spartanburg County.
Workdays are not easy at Inman Feed Mill. Feed is packaged in 50-pound
bags that have to be loaded one bag at a time.
Thirty-three-year-old Darlene Corn is Watner's only employee. On most
days, Watner and Corn mill 40 to 80 bags of feed.
"We probably handle four or five tons of feed every day," Corn said.
"A lot of truck drivers pull in here and want to know 'Where's your
forklift?' They're a little surprised when I tell them 'We don't have
one.' "
At first, Corn could only work a couple of hours a day.
Corn points out that only the sales room has heat and air conditioning.
"We don't have heat in there because it would blow up," Corn said,
referring to the grain dust in the mixing area.
"It's physical work," Corn said as she showed the muscle she's built
up over the last two years.
It's clear Corn is fond of her work. Once, after she mixed a new blend
of feed, Corn took it to a customer's farm for a taste test.
"That was great," Corn said. "I was able to mix the feed and then take
it to the horses."
Step inside Inman Feed Mill's sales room and you'll see horse collars
hanging on the wall, shelves filled with animal medicines, and a small
wooden barrel laden with bags of candy made with sassafras, root beer
or lemon drop flavors.
Clear, plastic containers of turnip green, collard and kale seeds rest
on shelves in the next room.
A little farther down, baby chicks chirp in a wire container. The
full-sized chicken in the wire cage above them pecks away at feed, and
two white homing pigeons rest quietly.
The reason people want to buy these chickens is "they are backyard
farmers, or they just want to eat fresh eggs," Watner said.
Outside, a rectangular pad where trucks stopped to weigh the grain
farmers brought to the mill for sale is evidence of the 1950s way
Inman Feed received the oats, barley and corn. Inside the building,
there's a heavy scale with enough weights to weigh 30,000 pounds, just
in case a farmer brings in a load of corn to sell.
The scale is another reminder of how Watner and Corn keep technology
from getting a foothold in the building.
Repair work on the building is done with old wood.
The sign outside the building along Highway 176 reads "Inman Feed Mill
and Tire Service," both businesses owned by Watner. The phone book
separates the two businesses, however.
So if you drop by the feed mill and Watner is not in, he's probably
walked next door to put a set of new tires on someone's car.
The folk art, pencil sketches and oil paintings Corn has done are
other things you'd probably not expect to find at a feed mill. But
it's convenient.
"We have people come here from places like Pelzer, Pacolet, Enoree,"
Corn said. "Way off, they've heard about us."
Gary Henderson can be reached at 562-7230 or gary.henderson@shj.com.
Memo: Three photos accompanied this story. Photo credits: Alex C. Hicks Jr.
Section: Upstate
Page: B1
Index Terms: Upstate Journal
Copyright 2004, 2005 Herald-Journal (Spartanburg, SC)
Record Number: 107BB93C8A8B71CD
Visit our sister site:
Inman Feed Mill
Hours - Monday-Friday 8:00am-5:00pm, Saturday 8:00am-12:00pm
Ph: (864) 472-2876
11831 Asheville Highway
Inman, SC 29349
feed@inmantireandfeed.com
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