By Dan Lemke
Mary Hartman didn’t plan to start a business, nor did she intend to build an industry, but she’s doing both in a span of just seven years.
Hartman started StableFeed, an innovative horse feed and supplement company, by creating some healthful treats for her own horses. The business soon galloped into a whole new arena.
“ I started dabbling in things to help my own horse in 2017, but I had no intention of having a business,” Hartman recalls. “I just wanted to create some natural supplements to help my animals, because horses over time are having the same chronic illnesses as humans.”
Hartman says health issues and metabolic diseases are increasing in horses, primarily caused by what they’re fed. The supplements she created were quickly shown to improve horse health. Soon other people with horses, including some veterinarians, asked Hartman to make supplements for them. After creating the products in her kitchen for six months, Hartman saw the potential to start a business. In 2017 she registered a business to sell the supplements and StableFeed was born.
Hartman says production really kicked off in 2019. The business moved from her kitchen to her basement, then to a facility in Rochester that it quickly outgrew. StableFeed finally moved to Kasson, where it currently occupies a 3,800-square-foot facility. Hartman also received technical assistance from the Agricultural Utilization Research Institute (AURI) to help formulate and test some of her products.
StableFeed does microbiome testing to assess the horse’s gut health and then produces custom prebiotic food and probiotic supplement products that promote better horse health.
“We look to see what is off in a horse’s microbiome, then using functional foods and herb extracts that are safe for horses, we create blends to moderate the numbers of different bacteria species in the microbiome to restore balance using food,” Hartman explains.
Hartman researches functional food therapies and individual functional ingredients to help her formulate supplements. The StableFeed supplement line is all chia-based because chia modulates the immune system through high amino acid and high Omega-3 content. She also includes other specific ingredients like spirulina and manuka honey.
“It takes a long time to develop these products and they’re all patent protected,” Hartman says. “It’s not just a matter of sitting in my kitchen and throwing things into a bowl, it’s a little more involved than that.”
Building an Industry and New Markets
Hartman is also a huge proponent of sainfoin, a perennial legume grown around the world, including in the Western United States. Sainfoin has been widely acclaimed in Europe for its climate-mitigating properties and environmental properties in terms of soil restoration and animal health. StableFeed produces several feed products that contain sainfoin.
“It’s non-gas producing so, unlike alfalfa, you can feed it to cattle and they don’t bloat,” Hartman says. “It’s a natural dewormer, it’s a natural E. coli inhibitor, and it’s a more digestible protein.”
Hartman is working with growers in Montana and in the Midwest to further establish sainfoin and to create a commercial market for the crop in the United States. Plans are in place for a mill in Montana to provide StableFeed with the processed sainfoin needed for its feed formulations.
Hartman is working with AURI and the University of Minnesota-Morris on a research project feeding sainfoin to dairy cattle. Hartman said sainfoin reduces emissions from cattle because it is non-gas producing and has been shown to increase milk production.
Where Are They Now?
Hartman says the company has sold over $1 million in products in its brief history. StableFeed works with distributors to get products into tack stores, and they also sell through a large equine based online retailer. Word of mouth from satisfied customers has also been key in promoting company growth.
Hartman hopes to expand again in the next two years because she recognizes the need for more automation to make larger batches more efficiently.
“We’re no longer a startup, we’re an actual small business,” Hartman says. “We’re profitable. We’re doubling our sales every year, but we’re still running lean because we have to. That’s the nature of starting something new, starting an industry.”
In June StableFeed was the grand prize winner of Naturally Minnesota’s 2024 Pitch Slam, which celebrates our region’s up-and-coming brands.
