40 years of Albert Kerbl GmbH – 40 years of expertise for your pet

What once started as a five-man company in agricultural distribution is now an internationally active company with 760 employees and a large family of brands in the fields of agriculture, horses and riders, pasture fencing, work safety, hobby farming, and pets.

There are many reasons why Kerbl is now an industry-leading partner in the B2B sector. One of the main reasons is certainly the close and long-standing relationship between the owner family and animal husbandry.

Company building of Albert Kerbl GmbH in Felizenzell

Indirectly, Albert Kerbl's father, Isidor, provided the initial impulse for what is now the Kerbl Group. After purchasing an HK Rheintechnik birth attendant for his cattle farm, he was regularly called upon to help when there were difficulties with calf births in the neighbourhood. His enthusiasm for the device was great.

Enthusiasm is known to be a good salesman. Albert Kerbl recognised the potential and secured the sales rights for the Rheintechnik obstetrician. From this experience and on this basis, he decided to found Albert Kerbl GmbH in 1984.

Albert Kerbl

What began as a regional wholesale company soon rapidly grew. Thanks to his close proximity to his customers, a strong service orientation, excellent market knowledge, a good instinct, and his openness to new ideas, Albert Kerbl and his team always managed to deliver the right solutions for the challenges and needs of his customers. This brought the company success, and Albert Kerbl raised capital for entrepreneurial investments.

He always took a considered approach and remained true to himself. It had to be for the animals and the B2B sector. Opportunities opened up several times, and the entrepreneur seized the right ones. As a result, parallel to the strong organic growth of the company, more and more pieces of the mosaic were added to the foundation stone of agricultural supplies over the years, which continued to develop together with Kerbl.

One example is the company AKO Agrartechnik, which develops and produces pasture fencing equipment in Wangen im Allgäu. Albert Kerbl GmbH took over the company in 2000. From 35,000 devices sold in 2000, the company now sells well over 200,000 and is the European market leader in the field of pasture fencing. Successful joint ventures were formed, which experienced an upswing together with Kerbl. A successful partnership has existed for over thirty years with the Polish company Canexpol, which is now one of the largest and most modern production facilities for pasture products in the world.

Company building of AKO-Agrartechnik GmbH & Co. KG in Wangen im Allgäu

Company grounds of our Polish partner Canexpol

Aesculap clippers are developed and produced in Suhl in Thuringia

Over the years, other brands have joined the Kerbl company in order to grow together. The Maxi Pet brand grew into a successful pet range with Kerbl Pet, and with Bucas and MagicBrush, our own Covalliero brand is now joined by two more high-quality brands in the equestrian product market. Under the Aesculap brand, we supply premium clippers manufactured in Germany for all areas of use.

What was always important to Albert Kerbl when expanding his "mosaic" was healthy growth and a good symbiosis. Guided by the question "What does the animal need?" a brand family has developed over the years alongside the agricultural range, which is unique in its breadth and depth, that fulfils the needs of animal owners in the most diverse areas and with the most diverse requirements.

In the course of this expansion of the product range, Albert Kerbl GmbH has developed more and more from a pure wholesaler to a manufacturer and has invested in the areas of development and production. The logical consequence of this was the introduction of KERBL as a manufacturer brand in 2010. Many of our products proudly bear the Made in Germany label. The HAPPYCOW brand electric cow brushes are developed and finally assembled at our headquarters in Buchbach.

Sales locations throughout Europe were developed in line with the products. Initially in Austria, which also opened the way to Slovenia and the Balkans, later Kerbl France, from where the Spanish market is also served. Kerbl East, based in Poland, supplies the Eastern European market, and Kerbl UK provides the best possible access to the British market even after Brexit.

Company building of Kerbl Austria Handels GmbH

Company building of Kerbl UK Limited in England

The construction of the logistics centre in Ampfing in 2009 was an important and pioneering step for the company's further development, which is already being expanded for the second time after an initial expansion in 2015. The new building, which will be completed in 2025, will create an additional 26,500 square metres of storage space. This will pave the way for the future of state-of-the-art logistics: a total capacity of 60,000 pallet spaces in an automated pallet high-bay warehouse with a shuttle system and goods-to-man picking stations. The coronavirus pandemic has clearly shown us  that good inventory management and high delivery capacity are the right way forward.

Logistics centre of Albert Kerbl GmbH in Ampfing

Probably the most important milestone for founder Albert Kerbl was that his two sons joined the company, took on management roles, and were thus also able to contribute to the positive development of the company. Florian Kerbl passed away far too early in 2019. As Managing Director, Ulli Kerbl is leading the company into the future together with his father and ensuring its succession and continued existence as an owner-managed company.

Ulli Kerbl

Father and son are constantly expanding the range of their quality products manufactured in Germany and are increasingly focusing on sustainability and innovative products that make everyday life easier for farmers and hobby animal keepers.

Albert Kerbl GmbH was honoured with the Bavarian SME Award in 2022, a prize that is awarded to future-proof, resilient, and sustainable medium-sized companies. The fact that the company is flourishing today is also thanks to its many well-trained and committed employees.

Our course is still set for growth. The headquarters in Felizenzell, Bavaria, is currently being renovated again to create more space for new offices. This was originally the Kerbl family farm. Meanwhile, the building has been extended many times, but the farm character, with its agricultural roots, still remains.

Tradition and openness to new ideas go hand in hand at Kerbl and are reflected in the company's history and product range. With these values, Albert and Ulli Kerbl want to lead the company into the future and continue the healthy growth of the Kerbl mosaic.