Purina Mills, LLC is the farm

animal feeds Animal feed is food given to domestic animals, especially livestock, in the course of animal husbandry. There are two basic types: fodder and forage. Used alone, the word ''feed'' more often refers to fodder. Animal feed is an important input to ...

unit of

Land O' Lakes Land O'Lakes, Inc. is an American member-owned agricultural cooperative based in the Minneapolis-St. Paul suburb of Arden Hills, Minnesota, United States, focusing on the dairy industry. The cooperative has 1,959 direct producer-members, 751 m ...

. It was previously part of

Ralston Purina Ralston Purina Company was a St. Louis, Missouri,–based American conglomerate with substantial holdings in animal feed, food, pet food, consumer products, and entertainment. On December 12, 2001, it merged with Swiss food-giant Nestlé's Fr ...

, until the U.S. animal feeds portion was first sold in 1986.

History

Purina traces its roots back to 1894, when founder

William H. Danforth William H. Danforth (September 10, 1870 – December 24, 1955) was an American businessman known for founding Ralston Purina in St. Louis, Missouri in 1894. He was a co-founder of the American Youth Foundation (AYF) and the author of the book, ...

began producing feed for various

farm A farm (also called an agricultural holding) is an area of land that is devoted primarily to agricultural processes with the primary objective of producing food and other crops; it is the basic facility in food production. The name is use ...

animals under the name Purina Mills. The predominant brand for each animal was generally referred to as "Chow"; hence there was "Purina Horse Chow", "Purina

Dog Chow Dog Chow is a name brand of dog food marketed and manufactured by Nestlé Purina PetCare. The brand's dry dog food is offered worldwide, in numerous formulas. Introduced in 1957, It has since expanded its brand offerings to include products for ...

", "Purina Cat Chow", "Purina Rabbit Chow", "Purina Pig Chow", and even "Purina Monkey Chow". Later, in 1902, he merged with university professor

Webster Edgerly Albert Webster Edgerly (1852 – 1926) was a 19th and 20th century American social reform activist. He believed in euthanasia programs, a healthy diet, and the power of personal magnetism, and began the Ralstonism movement as a way to live out thi ...

, founder of Ralstonism, who was at the time producing breakfast cereals, to form the "Ralston Purina Company". Ralston Purina sold Purina Mills, the U.S. animal feed business, to British Petroleum in 1986, while retaining the

pet food Pet food is animal feed intended for consumption by pets. Typically sold in pet stores and supermarkets, it is usually specific to the type of animal, such as dog food or cat food. Most meat used for animals is a byproduct of the human food ind ...

and international animal feed businesses. In 1993, the Sterling Group of Houston led a leveraged buyout of Purina Mills. In 1998, it was purchased by

Koch Industries Koch Industries, Inc. ( ) is an American privately held multinational conglomerate corporation based in Wichita, Kansas and is the second-largest privately held company in the United States, after Cargill. Its subsidiaries are involved in the ...

, but a U.S.

bankruptcy court United States bankruptcy courts are courts created under Article I of the United States Constitution. The current system of bankruptcy courts was created by the United States Congress in 1978, effective April 1, 1984. United States bankruptcy c ...

cancelled out all equity held by Koch to maintain the company's viability. Purina Mills was purchased by Land O'Lakes in 2001.

Licensing rights

Purina Mills licenses the Purina and Chow brands for the United States and its territories (including Puerto Rico) from the successor of the Ralston Purina Company and owner of the trademarks, Nestlé Purina PetCare. Outside of the U.S., the rights to the Purina and Chow brands for animal feeds are licensed to

Cargill Cargill, Incorporated, is a privately held American global food corporation based in Minnetonka, Minnesota, and incorporated in Wilmington, Delaware. Founded in 1865, it is the largest privately held corporation in the United States in te ...

by Nestle Purina PetCare.

Logo

Ralston Purina was famed for its "checkerboard"

trademark A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a type of intellectual property consisting of a recognizable sign, design, or expression that identifies products or services from a particular source and distinguishes them from ot ...

. The inspiration for the Ralston Purina logo came from a family from founder William Danforth's childhood who dressed in checkerboard cloth. The checkerboard trademark, intended to make their burlap bags of feed stand out from competitors, was introduced in 1904. Ralston Purina’s headquarters was called ''Checkerboard Square''. At one point, Ralston Purina owned an interest in the

St. Louis Blues The St. Louis Blues are a professional ice hockey team based in St. Louis. The Blues compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference. The franchise was founded in 1967 as one of the ...

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey sports league, league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranke ...

team; during this period, the arena they then used was referred to as the "

Checkerdome St. Louis Arena (known as the Checkerdome from 1977 to 1983) was an indoor arena in St. Louis, Missouri. The country's second-largest indoor entertainment venue when it opened in 1929, it was home to the St. Louis Blues and other sports franchise ...

". The checkerboard logo then evolved into a personal development concept Danforth put forth in his book ''I Dare You'', in which he proposed that four key components in life ("Physical," "Mental," "Social," and "Religious") need to be in balance, and one area was not to develop at expense of the other. The concept became intertwined with the company in 1921, when it began selling feed that was pressed in cubes called "checkers".

References

External links

Official Purina Mills website
{{Authority control 1894 establishments in Missouri American companies established in 1894 Animal food manufacturers Food and drink companies established in 1894 Ralston Purina