Incredi-Marriage: Love Blooms From Shared Ag Background

By Haven Miller

It’s a classic “if they only knew” story.
Newlyweds John and Julia Hall Mahan ’86

When John Mahan was 13 years old, long before he would attend classes at the UK College of Agriculture, he judged livestock on his local 4-H team. His coaches were Lee and Julia Hall, brother and sister whose parents owned Farmers Feed Mill.

If the three only knew what the future would hold.

Lee would become vice president of Farmers Feed Mill. Julia would become general manager of Incredipet, the well-known central Kentucky pet supply store chain. John Mahan would become a successful farmer. And John and Julia would become close friends.

There’s more.

“Obviously, Julia was a little older than me when she was my 4-H judging coach, but she was pretty special, and I thought a lot of her,” John said. “After we were grown we kept in touch. Every year or two I’d go by her store and take her to lunch, or I would see her somewhere, and we’d catch up on things.”

Around the new millennium, John got up the nerve to ask Julia out on an actual date. Things went well.

“We were married on June 2 of this year,” said Julia.

The marriage unites two individuals with strong family ties to Kentucky agriculture and UK. John’s father, Jim, graduated from UK in 1967 with a degree in animal sciences. His grandfather, Lloyd, was superintendent of the UK farms under Dean Frank Welch. Great-grandfather C.A. Mahan was Kentucky’s first full-time county Extension agent.

Julia’s family also had strong UK ties (see the related story this issue). Julia and John are both graduates of the prestigious Philip Morris Agricultural Leadership Program.

John brings to the union a thousand-acre farm in northern Fayette and Bourbon counties. Farm enterprises include tobacco, beef cattle, row crops, hay, straw and sod.

Julia brings to the marriage Incredipet, a Farmers Feed Mill subsidiary formerly known as Pet Pantry. The store, which has two locations in Lexington and one in Elizabethtown, specializes in pet food and supplies, and also live fish for home aquariums. Pet foods include all major brands as well as rabbit feed made by Hallway Feeds.

In husband John, Julia now gets someone new to bounce ideas off of. Not only is he good at business, he’s also pretty good at predicting the future.

“Julia says that back in the 4-H days, I told her I was going to marry her,” he recalled. “It came true, and I’m a lucky guy.”