Hidden Gems: Meet Dawn Dinkel of Front Range Feed Company & Front Range Farm Dinners

Today we’d like to introduce you to Dawn Dinkel

Hi Dawn, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I am a Colorado Native. I was born and raised in Longmont and have been in Northern CO my whole life. Growing up in a rural area really shaped my life and although my family was involved in agriculture, like most kids I wanted to branch out and find my own thing. I studied business management online at CSU while working my way through college. Once adulthood hit and we (my husband and I, we’ve been together for 15 years!) were living in a neighborhood with a tiny yard I realized that I needed more land to be truly happy. With each home we purchased we got a bigger yard until we found the perfect 5 acre property in Berthoud. At this time our daughter was 2 and we were thrilled to raise her on a little farm. With more land comes more animals! We started with goats and chickens and over the last 4 years have began raising our own beef, pork and poultry. We have the sweetest miniature donkey, 3 dogs, a barn cat named Pickle and we raise bees for honey!

One thing we learned quickly is that the animals need to eat, and they eat a lot! After shopping at the big box stores for a couple years we stumbled upon a small, local feed store that was on the verge of closing. Over drinks one night we had sealed the deal to purchase the current inventory and take over the feed store. We were beyond thrilled and determined to become a pillar in the agriculture community. Since then we have simplified what we carry and have gained hundreds of new customers. We have owned Front Range Feed Company for two years now and have made so many amazing connections with our customers!

As our business grows, our farm does too and we are really excited to be hosting farm-to-table dinners this summer on our property with meat and produce grown right here in Northern Colorado.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
As many small business owners know, it never seems smooth. Issues come and go but so do solutions. It has ebbs and flows and realizing that I can’t give 100% to everything at the same time has been a struggle of mine. Another struggle for me early on was running every aspect of this business in a generally male dominated field. From unloading tons of feed from a semi truck to hauling tons of feed on a trailer. I couldn’t even tell you how many times delivery drivers or distributors have looked and me and said ” you’re going to run that?” or “isn’t there someone else that can do that for you?” my response is always, “nope! its just me!” I learned very quickly how to tie down ratchet straps and how to run the fork lift. I am so grateful for my husband, who works a 9-5 corporate job, he would send me youtube videos on how to do certain things and would say, “watch the video, you’ll figure it out.” Needless to say, going from running the store to running the farm takes all the hours in the day but we wouldn’t trade it for anything. We are very passionate about what we do and it makes every struggle worth it.

As you know, we’re big fans of Front Range Feed Company & Front Range Farm Dinners . For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Front Range Feed Company: We specialize in livestock feed and supplies. Our goal it to create lasting relationships with our customers and feed their livestock the highest quality feed around. We are competing with large, billion dollar companies but what sets us apart is our customer service and experience. Our staff is very versed in livestock and have all been involved in 4-h or FFA and truly enjoy engaging with customers to learn their needs. I am most proud of the customer base we have and new comers we meet everyday. We carry specific feeds that can be harder to find in this area and we are honored those companies have chosen Front Range Feed to be their connection to the community. We’ve recently connected with an online store that people in the community can purchase from and have their items shipped to our store. This offers a larger range of products to our customers, single ingredient organic feeds, as well as getting people in the door.

Front Range Farm Dinners: This is our first summer hosting farm dinners at our farm and we are most excited to support and expose other local producers like ourselves. I think their will be a shift in agriculture, people want to know where their foods comes from and its already begun. We specialize in meats and our dinners will highlight that. We raise our own grass fed, grass finished beef, corn and soy free pork and organic chicken. Our hogs are fed a very simple, clean, organic feed that we mix ourselves to mimic what they’d feed on naturally. And our chickens have free range on our five acres and are supplemented with organic feed. We pride ourselves how our livestock is raised, regeneratively, with high quality feed and with genuine love produces beautifully delicious meat that we are so excited to share with our community. All while highlighting other farms who honor their livestock and give back to the land while doing so. We are partnering with local, organic farms for our produce for these dinners which will be cooked onsite by local chefs. Each dinner will also benefit a local non-profit!

Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
You have to be all in. You may not be able to give 100% to everything at once, but you have to be committed and put in the work. Every problem you face you need to ask yourself, “is this still what I want?” and if the answer is yes, you find a solution. You have to be all in.

Contact Info:

• Website: frontrangefeedcompany.com AND frontrangefarmdinners.com
• Instagram: @frontrangefeedcompany AND @front_range_farm_dinners