Kerri Knight is the owner of Mesa Ridge Ranch, a nonprofit livestock rescue organization in the Greenhorn Valley area of Colorado.
She has accepted many animals without question and has fed and cared for a rather large herd out of her own pocket for quite some time. Often when people surrender their animals it is because they can’t afford to feed them. Feed is a huge expense.
In recent months, Kerri started to notice many folks having to downsize their herds due to feed and hay prices. After she was approached by a feed mill representative to retail their feed, she realized she had an opportunity to help her community,
“I wanted better options, lower prices, and local convenience with delivery,” she said. “Surely I’m not the only one that’s noticed these things. So, I accepted the opportunity.”
Knight began reaching out to several other feed mills, did a price and product analysis and realized she could offer big savings on the same products, with the same or even better quality.
This desire led to the creation of Colorado Feed Co., LLC., in August 2023. Colorado Feed Co. is an online only store, which helps keep overhead low, so she can keep prices low. Although Kerri owns Mesa Ridge Ranch, the two businesses are not affiliated.
Colorado Feed Co. is a local, small business that supports other small businesses and offers animal feed of all kinds, as well as hay. The store also features an online Trading Post, which offers a unique blend of natural, sustainable, shelf-stable, and quality food products you wouldn’t normally find in a large store.
This is where you can find SweetGrass Trading products from vendors such as Nemi Snacks, Pemmican Patty, SeaBear Smokehouse, Passamaquoddy Maple, and Sakari Farms. Knight found SweetGrass Trading by doing a simple Google search and knew our products would be a good fit, with a focus on unique, environmentally-friendly, non-chain brands that are shelf stable and useful for customers.
“The fact you [SweetGrass Trading] are a Native American company that also gives back to the Native American people/culture made it a bonus. I admire companies with a purpose, they’re the ones I like to support,” Knight said.