Down on the Farm Feed and Seed, which has been in Evans a little over five years, is moving from Washington Road to 690 Industrial Park Dr. in the same general area in a metal building where J&M Golf Carts used to be.
Aaron Toy, the owner, has had his own farm as well as the feed and seed business and said the new location will be up and running Friday, June 17.
“My heart is down on the farm. That is why I named the business that,” he said. “I am a small businessman, and I am an entrepreneur. That is what this country was founded on.”
His main goal is to get the products his customers need, and he’s always does his best to be there for them.
“I am basically a one man show,” he said. “Also, if I don’t have it, you don’t need it. But I will look for new items that people need.”
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Toy’s business does make guests feel like they are down on the farm – particularly with the chickens there and the occasional goats that are brought in.
His feed and seed business has caged, live chickens on site. He sells pine straw, hay, wheat straw, fertilizer, mulch and other supplies. He also can bring a goat or goats to the business to sell by appointment. Also, the business has a variety of vegetable plants and flowers and makes deliveries in the area.
Toy says he has cockerels or young roosters for breeding purposes or consumption, pullets which are young hens that do not lay eggs but will after about seven or eight months, and roosters.
As far as what he feeds his chickens and sells, he says he goes with high quality feed and from regional sources.
“My chicken feed comes from Newberry, South Carolina. I have found that particular chicken feed is good and has my hens produce better eggs,” Toy said.
Toy said he emphasizes purchasing local or regional products to sell in his feed and seed.
“We have fertilizer which comes from Bulloch Fertilizer in Statesboro, Ga. which has been around since 1963,” Toy said.
His business sells local goat milk soap, feeds from Mid-South Feeds out of Alma, Ga. and B&G Feed and Seed from Hull, Ga., (which has a feed mill), pine straw from around Statesboro, Ga., and Brinkley’s Best Barbecue Pellets from a business owned by a family in Evans.
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“Anyone who supports me, I try to move their product as soon as possible,” he said.
He stayed open during the pandemic because he was considered an essential business as he was selling various feeds for various animals.
Toy said, “We sell feeds for chickens, goats, cows, horses and rabbits… just about any type of animal you can think of.”
He has the big bags of dog food from regional feed mills.
In addition, the business sells deer blocks for hunters, cob corn during deer season and shell corn year round. Salt licks, mineral blocks and 200-pound mineral tubs for livestock are also available.
He also buys and sells pecans but does not have a machine to crack them.
Toy has always offered curb-side service – even pre-pandemic – and said a person usually answers the phone, not a machine.
For more information, call (706) 863-3615.
Ron Baxley Jr. is a correspondent for The Augusta Press.
