Vintage Kraft Pex Chicken Feed Sign

The vibrant colors caught my eye first, the chicken shape caught my eye second and the logo from Kraft “I got the Milk Bank Boost from Pex” sealed the deal. I haggled a little then purchased my first vintage sign and wouldn’t you know it; the subject matter is chickens.


Let me back up a little; my kids and I love to watch “American Pickers,” a show on the History channel about finding “rusty gold” in the backyards of America and reselling it. From the show, I know that vintage signs and advertising are a huge decorating trend. But, I’ve never purchased one before. Until this year, when I saw my sign sitting on the ground at the World’s Longest Yard Sale; an annual phenomenon in August that runs 690 miles from Michigan to Alabama.

I am not normally a yard sale shopper but this is one I just can’t miss; it’s a hoot! So I took my sign home and did a little research. It turns out my sign is one of three metal signs made for the Kraft Foods Agricultural Division in Chicago, in the late 1950s to 1960s. They were produced by the Stout Sign Company out of St. Louis, Missouri. It’s interesting because farm signs were a staple for salesman back in the day. Without computers and technology, these signs were an early form of calling cards. I was lucky enough to find a copy of The National Future Farmer magazine from the Future Farmers of America dated October/November 1963 where they had an advertisement that explained Milk-Bank Booster feeds. 


These feeds were made with milk by-products and rounded out with other vital nutrients. According to the ad, these feeds produced faster more economical gains, better health, and resistance to stress and better productivity. They did all this by adding the extra nutrition of milk by-products to the ration and by unlocking more nutrition from the other elements of the ration. “Milk-Bank Feed Boosters are storehouses or banks for the key nutrients of milk: lactalbumin protein, milk sugar, vitamins, minerals and important growth factors – elements not found in ordinary grain rations, pasture or roughage.”

I think my sign is a cool connection to the American agricultural past; and it will look great on my kitchen wall!
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