Wayne Wendorf is a good friend of mine. He owned Garver Feed in Madison, Wisconsin for years. Garver supplied feed to our farm from the 1960’s until the company was sold in the late 90’s. My father, Don MacFarlane bought virtually all the feed used on our farm from Garver.
There were a number of reasons that we bought our feed from Garver. First of all the feed mill was close and the delivery fee was therefore reasonable. Garver was a smaller mill – and we definitely got personal service. Another reason was that Garver was progressive – as an example my father was a real advocate of using pro-biotics in the feed he bought for our pheasants (remember this was 40 years ago!). Garver worked closely with a nutritionist to develop diets utilizing pro-biotics.
Wayne turned 81 this past Sunday and I thought I would write a bit about him. Wayne was instrumental in the success of our farm. Since Wayne sold Garver years ago, he has stayed in close touch with me – visiting usually twice a year. Wayne and I have the same routine each time he visits – we take an in depth tour of the farm and then we go and have lunch.
Wayne has been a mentor to me. I have discussed many of the issues that arise in our day to day business with him – and I have so valued his calm, reasoned advice and feedback. I am writing today about Wayne just to say “thank you”.
