A legacy of quality animal nutrition

H.K. Webster Company is founded by Henry Kingman Webster when he sets up shop in a gristmill along the Merrimack River in Lawrence, Massachusetts, focusing on quality horse feeds.

Dean K. Webster, son of the founder, introduces the name Blue Seal for its horse, poultry, and dairy feeds and later installs a "batch" mixer in the H.K Webster Co. warehouse for the mechanical blending of feed products. 

Blue Seal installs a molasses mixing plant, the first in New England. This year also marks entry into the wholesale and mixed-car feed and grain business. During this time, the third generation of Websters - Dean Kingman Jr. and Walter Neal - join the company.

Gage A. Kent develops Baby Beef, the original "Feed Without A Filler" using only quality ingredients, and begins manufacturing at a mill in the central Iowa farming community of Indianola. 

Blue Seal hires a poultry nutrition specialist who authors the Blue Seal Poultry Manual. The company soon adds a dairy nutritionist, who goes on to compile the Blue Seal Dairy Instruction Manual. Their expertise is made available to customers.

After fire destroys the Indianola mill, Kent moves his feed enterprise to Muscatine, Iowa on the banks of the Mississippi River. This allows the company to take advantage of the economical river transportation.

The Quaker Oats plant in Richford, Vermont, is acquired to manufacture Blue Seal products. Sales increased by 50% the first year.

The fourth generation of the Webster family - Dean K. III and R. Kingman "King" - became active in the company. 

Kent constructs a modern feed manufacturing plant in Muscatine to meet increasing Midwest demand.

Kent Feeds buys the first acres for a Product Development Center where feeding trials are conducted by a staff of nutritionists and farm management specialists to evaluate ingredients and new feed formulations and provide research-proven products to producers.

The first Blue Seal "Satellite Mill" was constructed for unpelleted poultry feeds. Satellite plants could be operated by a single person (the bulk truck driver) and were completely automated, from unloading of ingredients to loading of finished feed.

Kent introduces Flav-R-Ized Pig Nuggets, an improved version of its famous Pig Nuggets.

Gage Kent's son, James H. Kent, assumes leadership of the company after his father's death.

A new Blue Seal logo is introduced and Blue Seal launches remodeled company-owned "Feeds & Needs" stores to provide its animal feeds and foods as well as lawn and garden and other products to New England customers. 

Throughout the '70s, Kent introduces a series of research-based feeding programs and systems to improve the performance of animals and the profitability of livestock producers, including the +1 Sow Feeding Program, All-American Pork System and Stage 4 Beef Feeding System with PNP (Protected Natural Protein).

Kent Feeds introduces the industry's first and only unconditional 6-Ton Money-Back Guarantee on its quality animal nutrition products.

More than 100 years after its start, the H.K. Webster Company became Blue Seal Feeds when it was acquired by Varied Investments, Inc., the predecessor of Kent Corporation in Muscatine, Iowa.

Blue Seal moves its offices from Lawrence, Massachusetts to a new facility in Londonderry, New Hampshire.

Kent launches an advertising and public relations campaign called "Enjoy Pork Often" in 14 states to help support a sagging pork industry. 

The Blue Seal manufacturing facility in Bow, New Hampshire is awarded 2004 Feed Mill of the Year! "Safety Is a Way of Life" for the employees running three shifts, six days a week. The 63-year-old plant operates at more than 90% capacity. Nine Blue Seal plants supply over 1280 stores in the Northeast. 

Blue Seal Feeds of Londonderry, New Hampshire, and Kent Feeds, Inc. of Muscatine, Iowa, merge to form Kent Nutrition Group, Inc. (KNG). KNG was created to bring out the best in these two highly successful regional feed companies.

The Blue Seal plant in Hagerstown, Maryland is awarded 2014 Runner-Up Feed Mill of the year. To ensure food and feed safety, the Hagerstown plant is certified in AFIA's Safe Feed/Safe Food Certification Program. Applicants were evaluated based on feed safety, overall awareness of food safety, quality, regulatory compliance and operating efficiencies. 

Kent Nutrition Group introduces a new modified regional brand strategy making Blue Seal the KNG brand in the Eastern United States and Kent the KNG brand in the Midwest.

The KNG manufacturing plant at Rockford, Illinois, is named "2015 Feed Mill of the Year" by the American Feed Industry Association (AFIA) and Feedstuffs newspaper.

KNG acquires Deluxe Feeds, with locations in Sheldon and Ireton, Iowa. The facilities will provide more products and services to customers in northwestern Iowa - one of the most densely populated livestock production areas in the world. 

A new, state-of-the-art swine research facility opened at the Kent Nutrition Group Product Development Center. 

Kent Corporation, parent company of Kent Nutrition Group (KNG), makes an $8 million commitment to the new Grain Science and Feed Mill facility at Iowa State University (ISU) in Ames, Iowa. 

Gage Kent and Jimmy Kent were invited to join President Trump and Vice President Pence at the "Made in America" product showcase at the White House.

Kent Corporation, parent company of Kent Nutrition Group (KNG), opens the Kent Innovation Center on the Research Park campus of Iowa State University (ISU) in Ames, Iowa. 

Kent Corporation, parent company of Kent Nutrition Group (KNG), attends the groundbreaking ceremony for the new Kent Corporation Feed Mill and Grain Science Complex at Iowa State University (ISU) in Ames, Iowa.