BUFFALO, NEW YORK, US — Gold Star Feed & Grain, a division of Tulare, California, US-based J.D. Heiskell & Co., has acquired Gramco, Inc., a family-owned and operated retail and wholesale feed dealer with a focus on custom feed based in Springville, New York, US, according to The Buffalo News.

The article noted that while the companies haven’t formally announced the transaction or a purchase price, a deed filed in the Erie County Clerk’s Office shows Gold Star paid $4.5 million for Gramco’s Springville facilities.

Founded in 1911 as the James H. Gray Milling Co., the name was consolidated to Gramco in 1958 when Donald Mattison took over the business from his father, Eugene Mattison. When Donald died, his wife, Virginia “Sibby,” became president. Sibby was the first woman to become president of the Eastern Federation of Feed Merchants. In 1987, Donald and Sibby’s son, Bob, took over as president and CEO.

Under Bob’s leadership, Gramco moved into a new feed mill in Springville, has grown to a fleet of 17 trucks and now delivers feed to customers within a 150-mile radius of the Springville mill. According to The Buffalo News, Gramco at one time had six other feed mills and had 37 employees at its peak.

J.D. Heiskell, meanwhile, is a 135-year-old grain and commodity trading business that also operates livestock feed manufacturing and trans-loading facilities in 11 states and exports grains and commodities to Mexico, the Pacific Rim, and the Far East. Since 2000, the company has evolved from a small feed company with one manufacturing facility in Tulare, California, US, to one of the United States’ largest providers of feed, grain, and commodity inputs. The company claims to be the fourth largest feed manufacturing company by volume in the United States.