Opportunity overview
A stalled horse makes 12–13 tons of soiled bedding a year. Hurd is the woody core of the hemp stalk. That is the bedding. Cleaned hurd turns that pile into a sold soil product instead of a dump fee.
Peter Iovino, racing secretary at Saratoga Casino Hotel, confirmed it in writing on 19 August 2026: shavings only, because haulers will not take sawdust. The track already writes the bedding rule.
Sawdust and shavings go in the stall. They come out as a pile haulers often will not take. That pile is a cost.
Cleaned hemp hurd goes in the same stall, in place of the sawdust or the shavings. It comes out as a soil product that can be sold. The stall stops being a disposal bill.
Pine shavings and sawdust often take two to three years to compost and can lock nitrogen in the soil. Hemp hurd composts in six to nine months. Many composters and haulers will take straw manure and will not take sawdust.
The load gets rejected. The stall stays a cost.
Sawdust looks cheap in the bag. Hauling it is what costs. This is a national hauler problem. The same chemistry shows up at tracks, training centers, and boarding barns.
Peter Iovino, racing secretary at Saratoga Casino Hotel, letter dated 19 August 2026, confirmed in writing: shavings only, because haulers will not take sawdust. The 2026 stall application already stated twice: “All horses stabled at Saratoga Casino Hotel must use track required bedding.” Running Aces in Minnesota requires prior approval for anything other than straw or shavings.
Peer-reviewed and industry absorbency tests show hemp can hold roughly four times its weight in liquid, versus about two to two-and-a-half times for many pine shavings. It produces less respirable dust, binds ammonia more effectively, and composts cleanly in six to nine months under proper management. The finished manure becomes a premium, nutrient-rich compost sold to farms, nurseries, and landscapers — a disposal cost turned into a product.
Traditional pine-shavings programs at serious racing and training operations frequently total $1,500–$3,000 or more per stall per year when material, daily labor, and hauler fees are included. Hemp hurd carries a higher unit price at current volumes. Three offsets change the math: lower volume because of higher absorbency (a 20–40% material reduction in comparative trials is realistic), reduced labor for mucking, and compost revenue in the $20–$60 range.
A cubic yard is a box three feet on each side. The compost price depends on the market and the grade.
After a transition period, $1,081 net per stall per year versus pine (conservative 12×12 ledger) is the case this app books. Exact figures depend on local hauler rates, labor, and compost demand — all of which can be measured in a controlled pilot on a single farm or track. The key point is that the waste problem itself becomes the profit center that offsets the higher initial bedding cost. Convert the stall, and it is a net profit generator.
Respiratory health is a documented limiting factor in racehorse performance and longevity. Fine dust from conventional bedding contributes to inflammatory airway disease. Lower-dust alternatives improve air in the stall and shedrow.
Hemp hurd’s absorbency and lower respirable particle load address this directly. Cleaner, more consistent conditions support recovery between works and races. The same material serves sport horses, boarding stables, and livestock.
Nothing commercial scales at the racetrack until the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA), the national Thoroughbred racing regulator, clarifies its near-zero tolerance for cannabinoids in cases of environmental exposure. Trace positives linked to bedding have already occurred. The program that writes the rule is HISA’s Anti-Doping and Medication Control (ADMC) program.
Independent science already exists. Dr. Joseph J. Wakshlag at Cornell has published peer-reviewed pharmacokinetic and safety data showing that chronic CBD/CBDA administration in horses produces no clinically relevant adverse effects on blood chemistry, liver function, or other measured parameters.
That work supports a reasoned case for distinguishing low-level environmental contact from intentional administration. Focused engagement with HISA is the necessary first step. Commercial adoption at the track follows only after that clarity.
A single major owner or a small coalition can fund the regulatory work and run controlled pilots. Successful pilots generate the data for broader track adoption. When tracks accept the bag and barns start buying it, the cost per stall comes down.
The same bedding that solved a waste problem at the track then becomes accessible to sport-horse, dairy, beef, and companion-animal markets. Elite racing demand for hurd is large enough to justify regional processing. Increased acreage lowers cost for every other animal sector and opens secondary markets: hempcrete, textiles, seed, and premium compost.
This overview is offered without expectation of personal financial gain. If it resonates, the next step is a conversation and an internal review. If it does not, it can be set aside.
A stalled horse produces 12 to 13 tons of manure and soiled bedding a year. With pine shavings that pile sits for years and can lock nitrogen in the soil. With hemp hurd the same pile becomes compost.
Horse manure supplies the nitrogen. Hemp hurd — the woody core of the stalk — supplies the carbon, holds the liquid, and breaks down in a season.
The same acres that grew the fiber can take the finished compost back.
Three checks.
Those are the barn’s check and the mill’s check. Compost the mill does not run is not mill profit.
Who pays: trainer, backside, private barn.
What changes: pine / sawdust out, hemp hurd in.
Published case: $1,081 net per 12×12 stall per year versus pine, Dakota multi-pallet bag.
What is inside $1,081: lower material volume, 25% labor cut, 40% less waste hauled, and half the compost at $25/cy.
NYRA Saratoga Race Course: 1,820. The 1,820 is the published stall count at New York Racing Association (NYRA) Saratoga Race Course. This site uses that published count as the example. 1,820 published stalls × $1,081 = $1,967,420 barn-side if converted. That is the barn’s savings. It is not mill profit. The Iovino letter is Saratoga Casino Hotel, a separate harness track.
Three prices, three jobs. Do not add them.
Who pays: the barn for bagged hurd; industrial buyers for bulk hurd and bast.
Stalk split used in siting: ~70% hurd, ~25–30% bast.
Hurd price: Dakota multi-pallet $16 / 30 lb, which is $0.533 a pound. NASS, USDA’s published hemp report, puts retted stalk at $0.20 a pound. That is the farm price, not this bag.
Bast price band, labeled:
Illustration if those published stalls converted.
Buy only the stalk those stalls would need IF converted.
Saratoga 1,820 + Churchill 1,400 = 3,220 stalls.
Bagged hurd 972,440 lb × $0.533/lb = $518,635.
Bast on that same stalk (416,760 lb, from 1,389,200 lb of stalk): $166,704 at the $0.40/lb ceiling, and $83,352 at the $0.20/lb floor.
The compost already inside the $1,081 stays on the barn’s line. It is not added into mill profit.
Stalk cost: only the pounds purchased for those stalls, 1,389,200 lb at the NASS utilized price of $0.20/lb = $277,840. That is a published farm price, not a grower contract. The bag still has to clear Dakota’s $16 / 30 lb floor.
This case buys only the stalk those stalls need. There is no unsold bulk hurd in it. Extra hours would leave bulk hurd unsold until a buyer is named. That extra is the warning case, not this case.
Loaded-line case. Capacity, not a promise.
One conservative shift: 2,000 lb/hr × 8 hr × 200 days = 3,200,000 lb stalk.
Hurd 70% = 2,240,000 lb × $0.60 Dakota $0.60 class = $1,344,000 hurd-only.
Bast 30% = 960,000 lb × $0.40 = $384,000 ceiling, or × $0.20 = $192,000 floor.
Capacity if the line is fed and the bags are sold. Not a purchase order.
Warning case. The mill bought more stalk than it had barns for.
Charging 8,000,000 lb of stalk and recognizing only 972,440 lb of bagged hurd means the line bought a two-shift year and sold bags to 3,220 stalls. It is not the first mill number.
The mill opens without owning the trucks. Haul in Phase 1 is subcontracted to the track’s existing haulers.
If the pile is real, the company can later own the trucks and the pad and sell the yard’s share of the compost. That is optional. It is not required to open the mill. CleanLoop.
The four businesses
Business I
Convert the stall from pine to hurd. The barn can net $1,081 a year on a 12×12, conservative, versus pine.
Who pays: Trainer, backside, private barn.
Business II
Put the mill where the stalls and the fiber acres already are. Quote the machine only after barns are actually buying bagged hurd.
Who pays: The barn for bagged hurd. Industrial buyers for bulk hurd and bast.
Phase 1 is five people on the mill floor. The mill opens without owning the trucks. The loop can be added when the pile is real.
Business III
A later option. The mill opens without owning the trucks. The loop can be added when the pile is real.
Business IV
About 70% of the stalk is hurd, the woody core used as bedding. The other 25–30% is bast, the long outer fiber. The stall pays for the acre first.
Who pays: Industrial buyers, after barns are buying the bag.
CleanLoop
The stall theory works without CleanLoop. The mill opens without owning the trucks. Haul in Phase 1 is subcontracted to the track’s existing haulers.
The truck would pay both ways. Full bags go to the barn. Spent bedding comes back to the pad. That pile becomes compost. The barn already keeps part of that compost inside the $1,081. CleanLoop would sell the other part. Two checks. One pile.
The loop can be added when the pile is real. It is not required to open the mill.
USDA NASS · April 2026
In 2025 the United States harvested more fiber hemp acres than floral acres. Floral still took most of the money. Fiber took about 49 percent of the acres and about 1.8 percent of the $739 million. The stall is the bid that can re-price the inner stalk. NASS utilized fiber is $0.20/lb of retted stalk. Dakota bagged hurd, sold as bedding, is $0.53–$0.67/lb. Those are different products.
| Crop | Harvested ac | Yield lb/ac | Value (NASS utilized) | $/ac | $/lb utilized |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Floral | 16,880 | 1,966 | $574,481,000 | $34,033 | $17.31 |
| Fiber | 21,693 | 3,104 | $13,453,000 | $620 | $0.20 |
| Grain | 7,515 | 966 | $8,092,000 | $1,077 | $1.11 |
USDA NASS National Hemp Report, April 2026 (hempan26.pdf). Dollar columns are NASS value of utilized production. NASS fiber $/lb is retted stalk at the farm — not Dakota bagged hurd bedding.
After the story, the ledger
Conservative case versus pine, Dakota multi-pallet bag. Enter farms, then barns, then stall counts.
A cubic yard is a box three feet on each side.
| Pine | Hemp hurd | |
|---|---|---|
| Material | $697 | $176 |
| Labor | $1,643 | $1,232 |
| Waste hauled | 10 cubic yards | 6 cubic yards |
| Compost time | 2–3 years | 6–9 months |
| Net versus pine | — | $1,081 |
Pine material $697 · hemp material $176 · material saved $521. Pine labor $1,643 · hemp labor $1,232 · labor saved $411. Material + labor saved $932. Haul saved $74 — the 4 cubic yards the hemp column does not haul. This is the remainder already inside the locked $1,081. It is not a published hauler invoice. Compost credit inside the $1,081: 6 cubic yards × $25 = $150. The ledger books half of that, $75, as the barn’s credit. The other half stays with whoever runs the pad. $521 material + $411 labor + $74 haul + $75 compost credit = $1,081.
The $1,081 is the barn versus pine. Material, less stall labor, less haul, and a compost credit.
In Phase 1 the mill does not run the pad. The barn or the subcontracted hauler takes that pile. The stall can still beat pine. The mill is paid when it sells the bag.
Hurd absorbs 4–5× its weight. Compost 6–9 months, not 2–3 years. Dakota bag ladder $20.00 → $16.00 per 30 lb. The ledger applies that schedule to every stall you enter.
16 siting targets. 58 tracks. Saratoga 1,820 published stalls (90 barns) × $1,081 = $1,967,420 annual barn-side net, conservative. Existing mill: Dakota Hemp, Wakonda, South Dakota. Full-conversion acres 416,444 is a ceiling, not a forecast.
An original idea by Adam Thompson · 570-772-3824 · Breckenridge, Colorado · The Horse Stall Theory