A lifetime of exceptional service to animal agriculture and longtime owner and president of Central Kentucky’s Farmers Feed Mill and its Hallway Feeds brand.
Born 1930 | Artist: Richard Steward Halstead (born 1947)
Impact & Accomplishments
A native of Scott County, Kentucky, Bob Hall grew up on his family’s farm producing tobacco, rye, wheat, corn, feeder cattle, hogs, sheep, and hay. While participating in a National 4-H youth congress at the Chicago International Livestock show in 1947, Hall toured the Saddle and Sirloin Club portrait gallery and was inspired.
After graduating from the University of Kentucky in 1953, he managed purebred Angus herds in Bloomfield, Kentucky, and Duchess County, New York. He served in the army as a veterinary food inspector 1955-1957. Returning to Lexington, Kentucky, Hall accepted the position of Beef Cattle Herdsman at the University of Kentucky, under Dr. W. P. Garrigus, from 1958-1964.
In 1964 he purchased a livestock feed mill in Lexington where the brand Hallway Feeds was created in 1983. The mill became the only family owned, equine focused feed manufacturer in the country, supplying successful thoroughbred breeders and trainers, as well preeminent horses in competitive English and Western disciplines in the United States and abroad. Involved in the formation of the North American International Livestock Exposition, Hall served on the executive committee, representing sheep from 1975-2012.
He is the first inductee into the University of Kentucky (UK) Animal Sciences Hall of Fame (1987); and a recipient of the Harold Workman Distinguished Service to Agriculture Award (2014), the UK College of Agriculture Distinguished Alumni Award (2016), and many other lifetime achievement awards and recognitions.
Did You Know?
Hallway Feeds has fueled 13 of the last 22 Kentucky Derby winners, including Triple Crown heroes American Pharoah and Justify, and at least one winner of every North American Grade 1 race, the highest echelon of the sport.
“Bob is one of the rare individuals who understand and know all types of animal agriculture,” wrote Mike Hancock, a current NAILE Executive Board Member. “Whether it’s cattle, swine, sheep, goats or horses, he understands all phases of production, from securing genetics to formulating rations to maximizing production. He has the capability of assisting a breeder of any species to select their next sire or a foundation female.”
A longtime Suffolk sheep breeder, Hall served a term as president of the National Suffolk Sheep Association.
During the Saddle & Sirloin Portrait induction ceremony, Executive Vice President of Business Development, Gray Construction, Jeff Bischoff spoke about “Mr. Bob the teacher;” how he developed a passion for farming starting at 7:30 a.m. with his mentoring, “What would Mr. Bob do?” Told how he, Bischoff decided to work for Mr. Bob instead of college for a semester, expecting to deliver feed at farms. Instead it was Manure Management for Hog Houses. Longest and worst semester. “Mr. Bob, thank you.”
Courtesy of Hallway Feeds