Our Story
In February 1988, John and Donna Hansen founded Bangor Farm Supply, an entrepreneurial and privately held feed mill business located in Bangor, WI.
Bangor Farm Supply was bought with the intent of supplying Coulee Region Hogs. Shortly after the mill was purchased, a small remodel was done to help expand the manufacturing and efficiency of feed to the hog industry.
Manufacturing about 40 ton a day, the mill ran one bulk truck until the market demand increased so much the decision was made to move the mill to Sparta, WI.
In January 2002, Bangor Farm Supply moved to a new state-of-the-art facility in Sparta, WI. Along with this move, came a company name change to Star Blends. This name change was implemented to better communicate to the customers the quality and selection of our protein blends.
The move to Sparta also brought a focus to the dairy industry as well as a partnership with the local private consultants. As the partnership grew with the local dairy consultants, the focused emphasis on the hog industry shifted to becoming a primary dairy feed supplier.
2005 brought new management and a company re-launch, the Sparta location was producing about 400 ton of feed a month.
With the company re-launch and new management, the addition of an in-house nutritionist was added to the team. This allowed the mill to be able to further their partnership with dairy farms in the Midwest, offering additional resources and options to dairy producers.
With the continued growth in the dairy industry, the decision was made in 2007 to add a route truck to the company to deliver bagged products to local producers one-half day a week. This service and volume continues to grow and change to the present day.
As market demand continued to grow, Star Blends saw the need to grow the company. This brought on the first mill expansion in 2008.
Sparta mill after second expansion 2011
The expansion added more space to manufacture more feed. It included the additional loadout space, grinding capacity, corn storage and the implementation of a microsystem for regulation and consistency in manufacturing feed.
In 2010 Nesnah Ventures purchased the mill from John Hansen, developing a board of directors and an advisory committee of ownership.
The demands for feed manufacturers continued to grow, prompting Star Blends to implement a second expansion in 2013 to further the ton per day capacity.
Through this expansion, the mill was able to double the storage capacity of feed ingredients as well as expanded the fleet being able to reach more farms in the Midwest.
As the Sparta mill grew to capacity a second location in Chippewa Falls was added in 2017.