Ep. 055: Directing the Standlee Customer Experience with Sheri Lauritsen

Episode Notes

On this episode, co-host Katy Starr chats with Sheri Lauritsen, Director of Customer Experience for Standlee about her background and role with the company, including:

• Riding horses through a fast-food drive thru

• The one tool she wishes more Standlee customers knew just how valuable it is

• A number of FAQs, including, where can horse, livestock, and small companion animals owners find Standlee products?

Sheri is a seasoned employee with Standlee and was one of two that made up the sales team almost 14 years ago when she first started. She has loved assisting others who share the same lifestyle and passion as she does – wouldn’t you?!

Have any topics you want to hear more about? Let us know at podcast@standlee.com.

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Connect with Standlee Customer Service – 

• Email - customerservice@standlee.com
• Call - 1-800-398-0819
• Contact us - https://www.standleeforage.com/company/contact-us/

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Helpful Resources - 

17:14 – Standlee Website

17:18 – Nutritional White Papers

17:21 - FAQs

17:37 – Feed Calculator

17:38 – Forage Finder

17:44 – Dealer Locator is called “Find a Store” 

18:46 – More on “Find a Store” (Dealer Locator as Sheri mentions)

21:14 – Timothy Compressed Bales

21:17 – Timothy Grab & Go

22:42 – Feeding Recommendations

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• Check out the Standlee Barn Bulletin Blog
• Find more nutritional resources from Dr. Stephen Duren and Dr. Tania Cubitt at https://www.standleeforage.com/nutrition/
• Connect with Standlee on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok

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• *Views and opinions expressed by guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of Standlee Premium Products, LLC.*

Read full episode transcript

Katy Starr (00:01):

Hi, I'm Katy.

Dr. Tania Cubitt (00:02):

And I'm Dr. Cubitt. We're going Beyond The Barn. Come join us on this journey as we bust equine and livestock nutrition myths and interview some of the most intriguing experts in the country.

Katy Starr (00:15):

We'll go behind the scenes of how premium Western Quality Forage is grown and brought to your favorite farm and ranch retail store. We're so glad you're here. 

Welcome back to another episode of Beyond the Barn. Our next guest is the Director of Customer Experience for Standlee. She started as a sales associate in May of 2009, and she's been with Standlee for almost 14 years. Welcome to the Beyond the Barn podcast, Sheri Lauritsen. Thanks for being here, Sheri.

Sheri Lauritsen (00:49):

Thanks for having me, Katy. I'm really excited! I love the Beyond the Barn podcast and I'm excited to be part of it.

Katy Starr (00:56):

And we're excited to have you on with us today because of your wealth of experience that you have with obviously customer relations and everything with Standlee. Today we get to talk about some of the most frequently asked questions that we get here at Standlee from horse and other livestock and small companion animal owners. And so we're here to get a lot of those questions answered today. But before we get started, Sheri, I think it would be fantastic for us to just get to know you a little bit, your background, because you actually have an equine background, which I feel like it's so wonderful for us to have here at Standlee because along with everybody that we serve, you are one of the many that live the lifestyle as everyone else does. And so can you tell us just a little bit about your background with horses and how you got involved with them?

Sheri Lauritsen (01:55):

Sure. So when I was a kid growing up in Seattle, Washington, my uncle who lives in a really tiny town in Oregon, I think at the time there was like 200 people in this town. And in the summer months I would go spend the summer with them and he had horses and cattle and I'd go on cattle drives and I'd get to like use one of his horses for the entire summer. And I fell in love. I was probably 6, 7, 8 years old. And every summer I looked forward to going to this tiny little town in Oregon and spending time with the horses. And eventually my uncle asked if I wanted one of his retired rodeo horses. So, she was a pickup horse and had done the rodeo circuit for a really long time and excellent cutting horse. And he asked my parents if they would be interested in letting me take her home. And so they said yeah, and I got to bring her home. And I was about eight years old and I remember that day that Ruby came home, like I cry, oh man, I was a mess. But it was probably one of the best days, best days.

Katy Starr (03:06):

That is so sweet. And I'm sure that is so relatable for people just as a young girl, just completely falling in love with horses. And then getting to bring your own back with you after having those incredible memories is probably so special.

Sheri Lauritsen (03:21):

It was great. Very happy day. And then my parents thought that, you know, Ruby needed somebody to hang out with and so we actually went to the racetrack and I think it was in Tukwila, and we bought two thoroughbreds off the track. Green thoroughbreds only knew how to go one direction and one speed . And you know, we were all novices. So, we ended up bringing two thoroughbreds home. One was 17 hands, his name was Major. He was huge.

Katy Starr (03:52):

Major, good name.

Sheri Lauritsen (03:54):

Yeah, it was a good name. But we were all afraid to take him out of the pasture, so we would just jump on his back and just go as fast as we possibly could. And that's, we eventually found a home for him because we knew we weren't doing him any good, just leaving him in a pasture, but we did keep one, her name was Deedee and she stayed with us for a long time.

Katy Starr (04:16):

That's awesome. So how has that experience with horses, how has that changed for you over the years? Because once you had your own kids, you have a very special horse now, right, that your daughter has grown up with, can you talk about her a little bit?

Sheri Lauritsen (04:38):

Yeah. So we moved to California when I was 13 years old and we didn't take the horses with us. And I sent Ruby back to Oregon and that was a rough day, but it was about, after high school, I begged my mom to let us get more horses and asked her if she'd go in on it with me. And so we got a couple more horses and we found a place to board them and didn't get to spend as much time with them as we wanted. So that kind of went away and it was unfortunate. But then I moved to Idaho in 2003 and one of the things I wanted to do when I came here is get my children involved in horses and that experience. So when I had an opportunity, I, and I had a place to put them, I started looking and I found this mare that I just fell in love with.

Sheri Lauritsen (05:33):

She was beautiful paint, palomino paint, and she had a foal at her side. And so I went out to look at her and he had this other horse tied up next to the corral and he said, hey, if you take her I'll, you know, work you a deal if you take all three of them. And I was like, okay, well, and so come to find out, poor thing had been kicked in the head when she was a weanling, just a couple months old. I mean, when I bought got her, she was a weanling, but she was just a couple months old and one of the other horses had kicked her in the face and so the guy I bought her from didn't really want to deal with it. So I took her home, I took her to the vet and come to find out it had broken one of the bones in her jaw.

Sheri Lauritsen (06:17):

And so the vet told me that, you know, I should just put her down. It was going to be too much to fix it and we should just put her down. And I said, no, you need to at least try to fix it and then we'll deal with it from there. So we were able to fix her. And then my daughter, who had never ridden a horse before, she wanted to join 4-H. And so I said, well, here's your 4-H project. And we put 30 days with a professional trainer on her. And the rest of it was my daughter. She rode her in the corral at home and the round pen. And they did a lot of groundwork. They did a lot of trust work. And I remember the first time, cause she, you know, at her age, she was only eight years old, she could only do walk trot in 4-H and you know, at that age you're not allowed to canter or lope. And so only walk trot. Well, she would always beg me, mom, during practice, can I please lope her? Can I please lope her? And one day I said, sure, go ahead. Right. So she's in this arena with all of these other kids her age, riding their horses. And Taylor kicked up Missy to get her into a lope. And Missy got so excited, she kicked up her back feet and let a little buck out and you know, her tail went crazy and she was a happy girl. And Taylor went head over her shoulder, face first…

Katy Starr (07:44):

 

Sheri Lauritsen (07:45):

Mouth wide open into the dirt. Ugh.

Katy Starr (07:49):

Oh!

Sheri Lauritsen (07:51):

Crying. And she was so upset. And I said, Taylor, you know what, Missy, and the horse stopped. She like stopped and looked at her like, what are you doing down there?

Katy Starr (07:59):

She's like, I thought we were having fun.

Sheri Lauritsen (08:00):

Exactly. And so Taylor got up crying, her mouth was full of dirt. And I told her, I said, you got to get back on. And she's like, no. I said, you got to get back on. So she did. And they had a great 4-H career, the two of them. Her very first show at districts, she got, what is it, the overall high-point earner for her class. Yeah. So they did great. 

Katy Starr (08:25):

That's awesome. And how old is Missy now?

Sheri Lauritsen (08:28):

She is 16.

Katy Starr (08:30):

Aw, that's so amazing. And look at what she came from, getting kicked in the head. 

Sheri Lauritsen (08:36):

Yeah. And she still has this little spot where, you know, that happened. But she's beautiful. So, you know.

Katy Starr (08:43):

That's awesome. I love that. And can you share one of your absolute favorite memories that you have as a child with horses? 

Sheri Lauritsen (08:54):

Oh yeah. So we lived in town when Ruby came to live with us. So we boarded them about 10 miles down the road from our house. And so I would leave school and go home and get my bicycle and I'd ride out to where Ruby was. I would saddle her up, ride her home, and then I'd throw her in my backyard, which did not please my parents at all. , because they had, you know, laid down a bunch of really nice sod and did a lot of work in the backyard. But I would put her in the backyard and then I would go in the house, do my chores, and then I'd go jump on Ruby and we'd head into town and I'd go to the McDonald's drive thru and get myself something to drink and I would rent to

Katy Starr (09:39):

Oh what a sight Down the

Sheri Lauritsen (09:40):

. You know, those were the best of times. The best of times.

Katy Starr (09:44):

Yeah. Oh, I don't doubt that. I mean, I know it happens probably occasionally, sometimes now, and probably depending on like small town living, you can get away with stuff like that, but yeah. Just being able to take your horse through a fast-food drive thru or something like that. Actually, I would love to know if any of our listeners have done that before. I think that would be so awesome. .

Sheri Lauritsen (10:06):

Well, what's funny about this whole experience is I would not let my daughter ride the horse if I was not home. She knew that she could not get on the horses if I was not home. But back then I was riding down, you know, busy streets. Through the middle of town, you know, no parent to be found. Not that, you know, they weren't to be found, but you know, they were at work.

Katy Starr (10:28):

Right, right. That's just how it was though. Yeah. 

Sheri Lauritsen (10:31):

Yeah. I mean we were what they called latchkey kids, you know, I mean that's just, that's how it was. But today there's no way I would let, I mean, even now she's 24 years old, I probably would not let her ride unless somebody was there with her.

Katy Starr (10:42):

Yeah, yeah. But the memories of that, I bet that you just look back on those and just... yeah. That's amazing. I love that.

Sheri Lauritsen (10:50):

I mean, I'm still friends today with a lot of those kids from that neighborhood. And you know, they still talk about the times we would go out on the horses and often I would saddle up my sister's horse and pony her to a friend's house and say, hop on, let's go .

Sheri Lauritsen (11:07):

And they remember that. That was like I said, best of times. Definitely.

Katy Starr (11:10):

Yeah. That's a great way to grow up. I love that. Okay. So let's switch gears a little bit and talk about your experiences and your time with Standlee. Like we mentioned, you've been with Standlee for almost 14 years now. Can you tell us a little bit about what it was like when you first started to, how it is now and how your position has changed over the years?

Sheri Lauritsen (11:32):

Yeah, so it's crazy to watch this company grow the way that it has. And it's just been so fun to be part of it. But when I started, I started as a sales associate. There was a director of sales that I reported to. His name was Bob Buckley. And it was just him and I, and we worked really well together. It's like we just, we had this like intuitive thing going on and I knew what he was doing, he knew what I was doing and we just connected really well. And he kind of took me under his wing and he said, you know, you're going to go places in this company, just, you know, keep your head up and keep the attitude going. You know, your good attitude and you found a home here. And so, one, being a horse person and loving animals, I was like, I found, you know, my place.

Sheri Lauritsen (12:18):

Right? Like, I love the fact that I get to work with people and talk to people and help people that have the same passion as I do. So that's been great. But man, it, we were small, right? So we were all in one office. We had one other distribution center in Lexington. And so now we're in Georgia and Maryland and Texas, and we've got three locations in Idaho. And so we've grown quite a bit. It's changed a lot. And you know, we're, we continue to grow, right? And I mean, we're still growing. It's fun. It's been a lot of fun.

Katy Starr (12:55):

That's so awesome. And now you're head of customer relations and customer service and everything. And so how is that now?

Sheri Lauritsen (13:05):

So, you know, I had an opportunity to go in the field as a regional sales manager and I, single mom and 4-H and you know, things like that. I just couldn't be on the road. So I wanted to continue to grow with the company. You know, I'm a career girl and I wanted to make sure that I wasn't just being, becoming stale and also I was worth something to the company. And so we looked at with my manager other opportunities and you know, this came up and I had always been the person behind the phone when a consumer would call and ask questions. I mean, I've been that person for 14 years and it just made sense that we, you know, create this new role and here I am. So I've got a team of customer experience people that work with me and they're amazing. And it's been fun to teach others to take over that role. And it's funny because not much has changed with the consumer, right? Like we get the same questions we've been getting for 14 years, it's just the business has changed a little bit. But consumers still the, still the same.

Katy Starr (14:17):

That's incredible. Can you share one of your favorite memories that you've had over the last 14 years?

Sheri Lauritsen (14:25):

So, I don't really have one favorite. 

Katy Starr (14:30):

It’s probably hard to choose

 

Sheri Lauritsen (14:31):

It is. But I can tell you this. My favorite moments are during our Christmas parties when we're all together. You know, we're a family-owned company, but what people really need to realize is we're all family, right? Like, it is a family. So when we all get together during the holidays, and unfortunately, you know, the other dcs we're not all able to get together, but when we get together as a Idaho group, some of the regional sales managers come in and it's like a family reunion. It is so fun. And it's just great being part of that, being part of that family. Like I love coming to work and seeing my team and when I work from home, I miss my team, you know? It's hard. So it's that family camaraderie, that feeling of togetherness and you know, we all respect each other and you know, it's just, I've worked in the Silicon Valley in California and I've been part of some really cutthroat companies. You know, very highly competitive companies. And so I really love the camaraderie that we have. It's amazing.

Katy Starr (15:48):

I love that you said that because when I think about my position here with Standlee and how I felt, you know, starting at Standlee and everything is yes, like Standlee is, we say it's a family run business, right? Because the CEO is Dusty Standlee, right? He's got Standlee in his name, his dad founded the company. But what I really love about it is, yes, it's run by the Standlee family, but they make us all feel like family by the way that they just include us, you know, portray values and you know, goals of the company and things like that. And so I can completely relate to what you're saying. So, I love that.

Sheri Lauritsen (16:28):

Yeah, and it, you know, we're really transparent too. So being part of an organization that's transparent and is inclusive and listens to you, it doesn't matter who you are in the company. If you've got something to say to the executive team, they want to hear it, you know? And it's nice. It's nice that we have that relationship.

Katy Starr (16:49):

That's awesome. Yeah. I agree. And so Sheri, in your opinion, just based off of all of your experience within your role and of course your work directly with like horse, livestock, and small companion animal owners, what are a couple of your favorite tools or resources that we offer that you wish others knew more about or that they used more?

Sheri Lauritsen (17:15):

Our website has so much information. So we've got white papers, we have all of our frequently asked questions out there. And like I said, you know, the questions haven't changed, the business has changed, but the questions always pretty much remain the same. So we've got how much forage do you want to feed your horse? So we've got our forage feed calculator, we have our forage finder. It'll help you tell you which forage is best to feed your horse. We have our dealer locator so you can find dealers in your area. I mean, anything you would need to know is there. And now we've just upgraded our website where we have a search tool so you can just search for it and you'll be able to find it. Right. And if it's not there, I mean obviously the customer experience team can help you out. But if it's a weekend or an evening and we're not available, it's a great resource.

Katy Starr (18:11):

Right. I love that. Yeah. Awesome. Okay, now I really want to get into our frequently asked questions. So the first one that I want to start off with is, where do I find Standlee products? How often do you get this question? 

Sheri Lauritsen (18:27):

Every day. It's funny, we have a form on our website that you can fill out and ask us questions and it goes straight to the customer experience team. And sometimes this form will say, where do I find your product? But when you filled out that form, you bypass the dealer locator.

Katy Starr (18:43):

Oh yeah.

Sheri Lauritsen (18:44):

So

Katy Starr (18:44):

Oh, the find the store, right? 

Sheri Lauritsen (18:46):

Yeah. Yeah. So we have a dealer locator on our website, and all you have to do is enter your city and your zip code and it'll pull up the dealers within a certain radius of you. It's always best though to call the dealer to find the product that you're looking for, because not all dealers are going to carry our entire product line. So you just want to call and make sure that they have what you need before you head out there. Unfortunately, you know, we do know what our dealers purchase from us, but we don't necessarily know what's on their shelf every day. So it's always best to just call the dealer and make sure that they have what you're looking for.

Katy Starr (19:21):

Right. And I want to mention, since you brought this up, so super easy when you get to the website, if you go to the top bar, you'll see like buy online, find a store, forage finder, things like that. Find a store is where you click on that. And you what Sheri was talking about. You type in, you know, this city or wherever you're looking at. Sheri, can you briefly talk about, because when people come on here, if they've not seen it before, we have our dark green color for some stores, but then we have this light green icon that says four star dealer. What does that mean?

Sheri Lauritsen (19:54):

So a four star dealer is a dealer that carries the majority of our core products. And so core products are alfalfa pellets, alfalfa cubes, alfalfa bales, our treats. So, Timothy pellets, Timothy Bales, they would carry everything that you would need as a selection for a forage for your horse. So you can get a treat, you can get a pellet, you can get a cube, or you can get a bale.

Katy Starr (20:19):

Some sort of offering in almost every, like that type of category.

Sheri Lauritsen (20:22):

Every category. Yep. Yeah.

Katy Starr (20:24):

That's excellent. Okay, thank you for mentioning that. So we have had people ask and say, I can't find Standlee timothy long stem hay. Do they offer it anywhere?

Sheri Lauritsen (20:35):

So timothy long stem hay would be our compressed bales. And just to give consumers who aren't maybe aware of how those bales are made is, we take a four foot by four foot by eight foot bale and that bale goes through our press and it's sliced horizontally. And then it goes across the scale and it's, there's a log, and that log is then banded in four spots. So although the hay has been cut, it's still considered long stem forage. And we have, like I said, the dealer locator that can help you locate the stores, but we've got Timothy Compressed and then we've got Timothy Grab & Go, and the Grab & Go Bale is the same exact timothy is that's in the compressed bale. The only difference is that the Grab & Go, we have wrapped it for convenience.

Katy Starr (21:30):

Right. So then for this question, people asking this question, is this someone who maybe they're not experienced with feeding a compressed bale and they don't realize that that's what that product is?

Sheri Lauritsen (21:44):

Yea, absolutely.

Katy Starr (21:44):

Okay. And that's good to know because I actually remember when I first started with Standlee, I remember people, if you'd never seen a compressed bale before, you would never know that it is, you know, approximately that 50 pound bale is the same size as one of your regular 50 pound bales that you would, it just looks small and it's so dense because it's packed together, that you would never know if you've never seen a compressed bale before that it's the same amount of product.

Sheri Lauritsen (22:10):

Right.

Katy Starr (22:11):

Excellent. Okay. So this question, and I'm going to say this because knowing that things are changing a little bit, but you may still see different images on the bag our Standlee products, right, they're forage-based. A lot of our products obviously are just plain forage, just packaged the way that they are. But you have the question that comes in sometimes saying, there is a photo of a horse on the bag, can I feed it to my goats?

Sheri Lauritsen (22:38):

Right. So again, I'm going to go back to our website. So our website has recommendations for all livestock and small companion animals, and it will tell you the type of forage that's best to feed to them. But also on the back of the bag, it will show you what livestock companion animals that that product is good for. I know when you walk into a store, it's kind of difficult to flip the bag, but if your animal is a forage eater, then you can feed them either a pellet or a cube or a bale. We put a horse on it just because you know, that's the core. But doesn't mean that it's specifically only designed for horse.

Katy Starr (23:19):

Right. If you've got like a lactating goat and you see a bag of alfalfa pellets or something and you want to feed it to your goat, it'll do just fine for them .

Sheri Lauritsen (23:28):

Exactly. Yep.

Katy Starr (23:30):

Yep. Okay. And so another question, what is the difference between timothy grass and timothy hay?

Sheri Lauritsen (23:36):

I love this question. So timothy grass, timothy hay, timothy forage, it's all the same thing. I think it, it depends on where you're located in the country, whether you're calling it a grass or hay. But timothy is, timothy. Timothy is a grass, right? So it's all the same if it's a timothy hay, timothy grass or timothy forage, it's still timothy.

Katy Starr (23:59):

And I think this'll we'll have another question later on that I'm sure this is like completely related to, like you said, depending on where you're at in the country. But if you think about the process of actually growing, like the product, the grass and hay to begin with in the pasture, if, if you had just out there, usually it's a mix of grasses that you have out there in a pasture. But for our field, for example, we have timothy grass is out there. Right? It's planted, it's growing. And when you cut it, that's commonly what is referred to as dried hay or forage. You know? And so, yeah, I think the terminology can sometimes just throw people off. That's good to know though. How many flakes of compressed forage do I feed my horse?

Sheri Lauritsen (24:46):

Well, it depends on your horse and it depends on the activity level of your horse and the age of your horse. So we get this question a lot. So it's usually, so I buy a bale of hay from the local farmer and I just feed a, throw a couple flakes out into the field. So how many of yours do I throw out? Well, we recommend that you feed by weight and not by volume. And throwing two flakes or three flakes out is a volume feeding. Right? So, we definitely one and a half to two and a half percent of the horse's body weight is what we recommend. And the easy way to do this if you don't have a scale, is you take that bale, the compressed bale, you cut the bands, let it rest for a few hours, and that gets the air flowing back through the bale.

Sheri Lauritsen (25:33):

And it will start to expand, depending on the forage will depend on the level of expansion. So that being said, a grass forage is going to expand quicker and more than say an alfalfa. And so, you know, just, you'll be able to tell when you're looking at it. But if we're feeding alfalfa as an example, you would, again, like I said, let that bale sit, let it expand a little bit. And you can figure five feedings, right? Figure you've got a 1,000, 900 pound horse, you're going to feed them up at one and a half percent, so you're going to get about five feedings. So just divide it up into five sections. If you don't have a scale right. That gets you really close to what you need to be feeding. A couple of pounds here and there isn't going to hurt your animal. So, I mean, you don't have to be too exact to the science, but it's definitely important to make sure for forages cause it is, you know, it is the most important part of their diet next to water. That they're getting an adequate amount. You could be feeding, throwing a couple of flakes out in the field and think they're getting enough, and it could be five pounds. Right. And your horse needs 15. So just make sure that, that you're not underfeeding.

Katy Starr (26:45):

Right. So another question that you've gotten in, why is the bale so dusty and full of dirt?

Sheri Lauritsen (26:51):

Yeah, so I use this analogy all the time. Imagine that you had some fresh cut flowers and eventually those flowers will die. Right? And if you leave them sitting out, they're going to get really dry. And depending on the environment that they're in, would depend on how dry they're going to get. Right? If you've got them sitting in the sun, curing in the sun and drying out in the sun, they're going to get really dry. And then you take that and you take those flowers and you smash them in your hands, that's going to create what we call fractures. And again, depending on how dry the leaf is, how big the leaf is, how small the leaf is, would depend on the size of those fractures. So if you take something like a four foot by four foot by eight foot bale, you cut it. Once you cut it, that creates fractures. Then once you compress, it creates more fractures. And then when you band it, you're creating more fractures. And so people often think those fractures are dust. And the truth is, if you throw that flake into a bin and feed it to your horse, I can almost guarantee you that your horse is going for those fractures first, because we call that the candy. Right. Like that's the good stuff. And they will go for that first. My horse, she will push the flake out of the bin just to get to the candy.

Katy Starr (28:21):

Right. Awesome. So Sheri, does Standlee sell in bulk?

Sheri Lauritsen (28:27):

We don't. So we don't have the ability to load hopper trucks or bulk totes. We're just not set up for that. So we don't sell in bulk.

Katy Starr (28:38):

And cause I know you get this question and this next question frequently as well, can I buy direct from you?

Sheri Lauritsen (28:46):

So no, if you're not a retail dealer, we don't sell direct and you know, we've worked for over 35, 40 years to build our retail network and we continue to build that network. And so it's really important for us to continue to protect that retail network. And so we don't sell direct to consumers. We want you to go talk to your retailer. And our, and our business model just really isn't set up for that. Right? Like, we ship semi-trucks on a daily basis, quite a few out of each of our dcs, and we're just not set up to sell small amounts of forage to the end user. And again, you know, we're going to continue to project that retail network.

Katy Starr (29:26):

Right. And as we kind of start to wrap this episode up, Sheri, if there was one thing that you could tell Standlee customers, what would you want them to know about what you do and why you do it?

Sheri Lauritsen (29:41):

So the one thing that I would tell Standlee customers is that we do it for you, right? Like what we do on a daily basis. We do it for you because we have a passion for the same life and the lifestyle that you do. And we love what we do. We love the fact that we're making a difference in the lives of people and their animals every single day. You know, when we hear from our consumers about how we helped them, you know, get some weight on their horse or save their animal or you know, make a little girl happy because her horse is now happy because he's getting the right feed. And it's an honor, really. It is. And the other thing I would say is that we're here if you have any questions, right? So, we've got Dr. Cubitt and Dr. Duren that can help us if, if you call me or you call our customer service team and we're not able to help you, we will get the answers you need. So we're here, right? Like we're here for you. This is why we do what we do, we're doing it for you. And, you know, it's a lot of fun. We love it.

Katy Starr (30:50):

That's awesome. And that's why we have, you know, we've worked with Performance Horse Nutrition for so long with Dr. Duren and Dr. Cubitt, and that's why we have them a part of our team is because we know how important it is to take care of everyone who's trying to take care of their animals. And we like, we really place a high importance on that. And so that's something that I love that you do what you do, Sheri, and that you work so hard every day to serve the consumer and give them what they need. 

Sheri Lauritsen (31:23):

I have a great team, a great team

Katy Starr (31:26):

Yes. Yes. I love your team.

Sheri Lauritsen (31:28):

Our team is the best and most of them have been with me for a really long time and it, you know, it says a lot for our team, right?

Katy Starr (31:34):

Yes, yes, absolutely. Sheri, what is the best way for listeners to connect with customer service if they have questions after this episode or follow up questions just in general?

Sheri Lauritsen (31:48):

So we do have that form on our website that I was talking about that you can actually put your information in there and what your question is, you can send that to us or you can just send us an email at customerservice@standlee.com. Or you can call us on our 800 number, which is 800-398-0819 and we don't work weekends. So we're Monday through Friday, eight to five. If you do call us on the weekend, we will get back to you on a Monday.

Katy Starr (32:17):

Yep. You guys have lives too.

Sheri Lauritsen (32:20):

Right, but like I said at the beginning of the podcast, if we're not available, I would use that search tool on our website cause there's a lot of information on our website.

Katy Starr (32:30):

Excellent. And I will put that information in our show notes just so it's really easy for everyone to find. That way you have whatever option is best for you. Cause I know everybody likes to communicate differently and so whatever works best for you, we want to be able to serve you in that manner. So Sheri, thank you for being on today. And to our listeners, thank you for being here with us. I hope that we at least were able to answer maybe one question that you had that's been just been floating around a little bit. If you have podcast ideas that you would like us to chat about on the Beyond the Barn podcast, please reach out to us at podcast@standlee.com and share that with us. Give us your feedback, let us know how we're doing, if you want to see something different. And other than that, Sheri, thank you so much for giving us your time to chat with us today.

Sheri Lauritsen (33:22):

Thank you, Katy. It was so fun!

Katy Starr (33:24):

Awesome. All right, until next time. 

Thanks for listening to The Beyond the Barn podcast by Standlee Forage. We'd love for you to share our podcast with your favorite people and subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite listening platform. Until next time, keep your cinch tight and don't forget to turn off the water.