By Robin Widmar
When Lonnie and Renee Bartlett started selling hay in 1986, they weren’t chasing a grand business plan. They were just trying to make ends meet. Four decades later, Bartlett Hay and Feed Co. is still going strong.
The Bartletts will mark the 40-year milestone with an anniversary celebration Saturday, June 6. There will be giveaways, prize drawings and lunch to thank the customers and community who helped the business become a Falcon mainstay.
It started with hay
The Bartletts’ entry into the hay and feed business grew out of family and necessity. After losing his job during an economic downturn, Lonnie drove trucks for Renee’s father, hauling hay to customers and even to racetracks as far away as Louisiana and Arkansas. With horses of their own and plenty of livestock owners nearby, the couple saw an opportunity to supply hay closer to home.
They started with an old pickup and a trailer, parking near Highway 24 and Old Meridian Road to sell bales of hay directly off the truck. Lonnie hauled the hay from suppliers, and Renee coordinated deliveries from their home. The couple frequently worked together on deliveries, sometimes working until dark with their young children in tow. “We never thought we’d fail,” Renee said. “We always had to keep pressing on, make the most of it, pay our bills and raise our kids. We were just young entrepreneurs.”
In addition to individual customers, the Bartletts began supplying hay to stables, sale barns and even other feed stores. As demand grew, they expanded their hay offerings from small bales to large bales and eventually invested in a semitruck. In 1995, the couple bought the property that became their long-term home base, not far from the lot where they used to park the old truck and trailer. Three years later, they responded to a newspaper ad and became a dealer for Ranch-Way Feed. The current store was built in 2003, and it continues to provide feed and supplies for a variety of livestock, poultry and pets.
As the business grew, the Bartletts hired extra help, often bringing on local high school students. “We enjoy hiring young people and teaching them a skill that’s really for life,” Renee said. “Communication skills, hands-on skills, thinking outside the box. It’s been great.” All five of the Bartletts’ children also worked in the business while growing up.
It wasn’t always easy running an agricultural business while raising five children. “It’s been challenging dealing with different obstacles that come our way,” Renee said. She described the impacts of weather and drought cycles on hay growers, and the trials of finding quality hay when entire regions are dry. Increasing regulations, inflation, rising diesel prices and shifting spending habits have added their own pressures over the years. Still, the Bartletts kept going.
40 years of change
The Falcon area has changed dramatically since the late 1980s. Housing developments sprawl across once-rural land. Paved thoroughfares replaced dirt roads. How people shop has shifted, too, with more people using the internet to price-check and do research. The Bartletts have adapted by leaning into what they do best: talking with customers face-to-face and helping them find quality supplies at competitive prices. “I still like people to come into the store, meet us and look at our products,” Renee said.
What hasn’t changed is the relationships the Bartletts have built with customers and suppliers. They still buy from some of the same hay growers they started with or the next-generation family members of those farmers. Customers who once came into the store as children have grown up and now stop by with their own kids. “I think what sets us apart from other places is knowing people, knowing them by name and knowing their families because we’ve been here in the community,” Renee said.
The local connection shows up beyond day-to-day sales. Since 1999, the Bartletts have supported local 4-H members and stock their show feeds in the store. They also have supported other groups, including the Pikes Peak Rangerettes, through sponsorships and donations.
That service mindset is part of why the business isn’t just about hay anymore. Along with hay and grain, customers come in for dog and cat food, chicken feed for backyard flocks and minerals and feed for cattle operations. The Bartletts also are working toward licensing that would allow them to sell additional veterinary products, such as livestock vaccines.
A family business in the truest sense
From the beginning, the Bartletts shared responsibilities to keep the operation moving. Lonnie handles hay purchasing and hauling. Renee runs the store and manages pricing, aiming to keep costs fair for customers. All five of the Bartletts’ children worked in the business while growing up, and two of their sons still do. The family now includes 12 grandchildren, who are learning life skills by spending time at the store with their parents and grandparents.
Plenty has changed since 1986: hay prices, equipment, traffic and the way customers find what they need. But the Bartletts’ approach hasn’t drifted far from where it started: show up, do the work, treat people fairly and stay committed through the hard years. “It hasn’t always been easy,” Renee said. “But it’s been a good journey.”
The Bartlett Hay and Feed Co. 40th anniversary celebration will take place Saturday, June 6, at 7090 Old Meridian Road in Falcon. The store will be open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and lunch will be provided from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
