Dr. Michelle at Spikes & Houles

Home
United States
Stillwater, MN
Dr. Michelle at Spikes & Houles

Dr. Michelle DeBoer earned her B.S. in Equestrian Business Management at Stephens College and her M.S. and Ph.D.

in Animal Science from the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities with a focus on horse nutrition, pasture management, and muscle biology. Dr. DeBoer was a tenured associate professor at the University of Wisconsin - River Falls teaching Animal Physiology and Equine Production before joining the team at Spike and Houles as the Animal Nutrition Specialist. Over the past 10 years, Dr. DeBoer has comp

leted research relating to the impacts of winter blanketing on horses, forage species and pasture management under horse grazing, various nutrition topics, deworming efficacy in horse herds, as well as other horse husbandry topics. Dr. DeBoer is excited to bring her expertise to Spikes and Houles through product research, ration balancing and farm consults, educational events, and working directly with customers to help keep their horses happy and healthy! During her time in the horse industry, Dr. DeBoer has competed in various disciplines including barrel racing, jumping, dressage, cattle work, polocrosse, obstacle challenges, mounted orienteering, all-around, reining, and endurance. Outside of work, Dr. DeBoer enjoys time with her family as well as her many pets on their hobby farm in Wisconsin and rides and competes her Arabian horses in dressage and endurance.

08/25/2026

🐄 More Cattle Products Are Now Available!

We’ve broadened our lineup of cattle products to give you more options for mineral, protein, stress support, and everyday nutrition!

Here’s what we currently have available:

🌱 Hubbard Crystalyx Blueprint 20 AN Tub - 200 lb
A free-choice supplement providing protein, energy, vitamins, and minerals to help support cattle performance and forage utilization.

🌧️ Purina Wind and Rain All Season 7.5 Complete Beef Cattle Mineral - 50 lb bag
A loose mineral that contains salt and is designed to be fed free choice. It is formulated to provide cattle with essential vitamins and minerals that are lacking in forage.

🪣 Purina Wind and Rain 4 Mineral Tub - 225 lb
A convenient free-choice mineral tub designed to provide cattle with adequate vitamins and minerals that are lacking in forage.

💪 Purina Rangeland 30-13 Protein Tub - 125 lb
A high-protein supplement designed to help support cattle consuming lower-quality forage and help maintain body condition.

🌾 Purina Precon - 50 lb bag
A complete creep feed designed for young calves, helping support growth and development before and after weaning.

🧡 Purina Stress Tub - 55 lb
A convenient free-choice supplement designed to provide nutritional support during periods of stress such as weaning, transport, or showing.

💙 Kalmbach OptiFerm Stress Relief Tub - 60 lb
A convenient free-choice supplement designed to provide nutritional support during periods of stress such as weaning, transport, or showing.

🐂 Kalmbach 14% All Natural Beef Stocker Grower - 50 lb bag
A 14% protein feed formulated to support growth and development in beef stocker cattle.

Looking for something we don’t currently have?
We can also bring in products from any of these brands by special order, so if you have a specific cattle product in mind, just ask!

Please note: Some products may need to be ordered in, so availability can vary.

Stop in or give us a call and let us help you find the right product for your cattle! 🐄🌾

08/11/2026

You have 9 more days to take advantage of $3 off per bag of Purina Ultium feeds - including Gastric, Growth, Competition, and Senior!

We also have 30% off fly masks!

Stop in to take advantage of these deals today!

07/14/2026

Time to take advantage of these great savings!

⭐️ $3 OFF Purina Supplements, including Outlast®, Amplify®, RepleniMash®, and SuperSport®

⭐️ 20% OFF German Horse Muffins

⭐️ Plus, even more great deals throughout the store!

Stop in and stock up - we hope to see you soon!

07/07/2026

Another use for our EJ Houles 11% Horse Feed is a flavoring for water on these hot days!

I just add a cup to my 5 gallon bucket of water and my horses absolutely love it!

What do you do to encourage your horses to drink more in this hot weather?

06/26/2026

🌞 New Deals Are Here! 🌞

Stop in between June 26 – July 9 and save on some of our most popular horse and poultry products, among other things!

🐴 Horse Feed Specials
✅ $3 OFF EJ Houles Horse Feeds
✅ $3 OFF Power Gold Horse Feeds
✅ $3 OFF Tribute Essential K Ration Balancers (with and without Fly Control)

We are very excited to now carry the Tribute Essential K with fly control added! The Fly Control formula provides vitamins and minerals while it helps interrupt the fly breeding cycle when fed consistently, with results typically seen after 4–6 weeks.

🪣 Barn Essentials
✔️ Plastic Duraforks – $4 OFF
✔️ Buckets & Tubs – 20% OFF
Let's be honest, you can never have enough of either of these!

🪰 Fly Season Savings
All fly sprays are 20% OFF - the perfect time to stock up and help keep your horses comfortable this summer.

🐔 Poultry Specials
🐓 $3 OFF EJ Houles Poultry Feed
💧 20% OFF Poultry Waterers

If you haven't tried our new and improved EJ Houles poultry feeds yet, now is a great time! We improved the nutrients in the formula and also added organic Zinpro minerals and direct fed microbials. These are high quality feeds formulated by a PhD nutritionist with an economical price tag!

🐶 Don't Forget Your Dogs!
Our Coffeewood Dog Chews are also on sale at 20% off! As someone who owns a dog who is an aggressive chewer, these are my absolute favorite. They don't splinter like other wood or bone products and they last long and provide a great enrichment option for dogs.

Not to mention we have other deals on birdseed and garden supplies you can take advantage of.

Stop by your local store, ask our team any questions, and take advantage of these limited-time savings before they're gone!

06/12/2026

🚨 New Weekly Deals Are Here! 🚨

We have some fantastic weekly deals coming your way, and if you feed Purina, you won't want to miss these!

⭐ Enrich Plus & Enrich Plus Senior – $4 OFF per bag for the next two weeks!
This is one of the best discounts we'll see on these products all year, so it's a great time to stock up.

🪰 125 lb EquiTub – $10 OFF
Looking for an easy fly control solution this summer? The EquiTub helps control flies while also providing the benefits of Amplify and Outlast to support overall horse health and condition. We have a limited supply in stock, but we're happy to special order them at the discounted price while the promotion lasts.

🌱 Purina Free Balance – $3 OFF
Free Balance is an excellent option for herds that aren't brought in for daily feeding. While forage is the foundation of every horse's diet, it doesn't provide all of the vitamins and minerals needed to optimize health, performance, and overall well-being. Free Balance helps fill those nutritional gaps with free-choice access.

🐶🐔 Plus, we have savings beyond the horse aisle:
• 30% OFF flea and tick preventative
• 20% OFF poultry waterers

⏰ These deals run through June 25th, so stop in, stock up, and take advantage of these seasonal savings while they last!

Questions about which product is the best fit for your horses? We'd be happy to help.

06/11/2026

🌾 Looking for Hay? Let's Build a Better Resource Together! 🌾

While we specialize in animal feed, forage is the foundation of many livestock diets. In fact, when we conduct nutrition consults, we often spend just as much, if not more, time discussing hay as we do feed because forage quality plays such a critical role in animal health and nutrition.

One challenge we hear about again and again is finding consistent, high-quality hay, especially for horses who have an extra sensitive digestive tract. But whether you're managing horses, cattle, goats, or other livestock, sourcing hay can be one of the most frustrating and time-consuming parts of ownership.

Recently, we've received a growing number of questions about where to find hay in the Twin Cities metro and surrounding areas. The University of Minnesota Equine Extension has already compiled a helpful list, but we'd love to expand on that resource with additional details that may help owners find the right hay for their animals.

If you sell hay, or know someone who does, we'd love to hear from you! Please send us the following information:

• Name
• Phone Number
• Location
• Hay Species (grass, alfalfa, mixed, teff, etc.)
• Bale Type (small squares, round bales, large squares, etc.)
• Delivery Availability
• Any other information you'd like horse and livestock owners to know

Our goal is to compile this information into a practical resource that makes finding hay a little easier and less overwhelming for local owners.

Feel free to tag your favorite hay producers below or share this post so we can reach as many producers as possible!

06/10/2026

Meet Matalyn, our West Metro summer intern!

Matalyn grew up in Elk River, Minnesota, where a lifelong passion for agriculture and the cattle industry sparked her interest in animal nutrition. Raised around horses and Hereford cattle and actively involved in both industries, she developed a strong appreciation for the role nutrition plays in animal health, performance, and producer success.

She is currently pursuing a degree in Animal Science at South Dakota State University with an emphasis in beef cattle nutrition. Alongside her studies, Matalyn is involved in undergraduate research focused on evaluating protein sources in beef cow diets and hopes to build a career helping producers improve herd performance through practical, science-based nutrition programs.

This summer, Matalyn will be working throughout the West Metro and surrounding areas, meeting with livestock producers and horse owners to learn more about their operations and help connect them with nutrition solutions that fit their goals. She is especially excited to gain hands-on experience in feed sales, forage evaluation, and animal nutrition while continuing to grow her knowledge of the industry.

When she's not working, you'll likely find her photographing livestock events, riding her horses, showing cattle, or spending time on her family's Hereford operation.

If you see Matalyn out and about this summer, be sure to say hello! She's looking forward to meeting producers and horses to learn from their experience and help support the community.

06/09/2026

“My horse won’t eat.”

Lately, this has become one of the most common concerns I hear during nutrition consults.

You buy the feed. You add the supplements. You try soaking it. You mix in something tasty. But your horse still sticks their nose up at it.

Sound familiar?

I see this often, especially in older horses and horses with Cushing’s that are on medication. It can be incredibly frustrating because there isn’t a step-by-step guide that tells you what to try next.

After working with a lot of picky horses, I’ve found one strategy that consistently seems to help: extruded feeds, such as the Sentinel line and select Buckeye products.

Extrusion is a process commonly used in dog and cat food that creates a completely different texture than traditional pellets. These feeds are easy to soak, easy to chew, and for reasons horses haven’t fully explained to me yet, many picky eaters absolutely love them.

One of those horses is Bob.

Bob is a 28-year-old gelding who never seemed very interested in his meals. As an older horse with very few teeth remaining, his lack of appetite was becoming a real concern. I ran into his Mom at the Minnesota Horse Expo and we discussed these concerns and decided to try Sentinel Senior, and the difference was immediate.

Today, Bob is happily eating 4.5 pounds twice a day, cleaning up his meals, and looking great.

For his owner, it wasn’t just about finding a feed he would eat, it was about gaining confidence that Bob was getting the nutrition he needed to stay healthy and comfortable in his senior years.

Stories like Bob’s are exactly why I love doing nutrition consults. Every horse is different, and sometimes finding the right feeding program requires a little creativity and problem-solving.

If you have a picky eater at home, don’t give up. There are often more options than you think, and I’d love to help you find the right fit for your horse.

06/01/2026

Check out our new weekly deals through June 11th!

Address

10010 60th Street N
Stillwater, MN
55082

Telephone

+16517777229

Website

https://www.spikesandhoules.com/drmichelle

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Dr. Michelle at Spikes & Houles posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The School

Send a message to Dr. Michelle at Spikes & Houles:

Want your school to be the top-listed School/college in Stillwater?