Baden Feed and Supply is owned and operated by Tim Scheerer, his brother Roger and their retired father Merv. Tim and his father originally bought the company from Dennis Smith in 1989. Located just outside of Kitchener in Baden, the company has become a major North American distributor of customized blends of feeds for homing pigeons.
When the company was first purchased it was primarily a distributor of Master-feeds animal nutrition and agricultural products. Those sales are still important to the business. But several years after the acquisition, a little serendipity opened a door to the company getting involved in making pigeon feed.
The company’s retail store started carrying a small line of pigeon feed after a gentleman of the name Karl von Gardony made a visit. He was a well-known pigeon flyer. When Von Gardony suggested, “You guys can make better stuff than this” their interest was perked. Von Gardony, who is described as “among the very elite in the North American racing pigeon scene”, went on to help the Baden business develop a line of 10 pigeon feed mixes. Free of charge. And that’s how it all began.
Although the company was already making bird feed, homing pigeons require much cleaner mix that is free of any dust or foreign materials. The pigeon feed, which consists of grains like corn, wheat, barley, milo, brown rice, millet, peas, flax, hemp and vetch, now comes in 30 different combinations. Baden feed now supports close to 100 variations of mixes to support their customers varying mix preferences.
One of the major turning points for Baden Feed came about when Tim and Merv drove to a show in Louisville, Ky. with 12 tonnes of pigeon feed. Scheerer said it was a gamble after several U.S. customers “spoke highly” of their pigeon feed. To their surprise they came back having sold nearly 10 tonnes off the back of the truck. The show, which attracted several thousand pigeon feed enthusiasts and dealers, helped Baden Feed break into the U.S. market. To this day, Tim and his brother visit shows across Canada and the U.S..
Keeping your name out there is just good exposure
Baden has a reputation in the pigeon industry for having clean, top quality feeds. They carry a large number of regular mixes and in addition, welcome custom mixes as well. All mixes are packaged in 22.68kg/50lb bags. Full lines of grains, safflower, maple, green, trapper and austrian peas, malt barley, hard red wheat, millet’s, milo’s, rice, vetch, buckwheat, flax, canola, canary seed, lentos, oat groats and a variety of corn.
