Today we’d like to introduce you to Mindy Smith
Hi Mindy, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
J B Herefords is located in beautiful Northern Utah, at the base of the Wellsville Mountains. My husband Kyson, our 3 kids, and I manage the family Ranch, along with my parents, Julie and William (Billy) Jensen who are the owners of J B Herefords LLC. We are thrilled to be able to share some of the things we are doing on this wonderful land! We feel blessed to be living this lifestyle and raising our kids on the family farm. We raise Horned Hereford Cattle, and have been doing so since 1918. We are members of the American Hereford Association and pride ourselves on having a registered, line one herd. We raise about 140 mother cows, that we calve out each year. We grow all of our own feed for our cattle including, hay, barley, and oats. We are now butchering our own animals right here on the ranch in our state certified butcher shop. We hope the heritage of running cattle on our ranch continues throughout generations to come.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
In the cattle business, there are always ups and downs. Right now, we are preparing for the winter months and calving. We calve in February, and these few months are vital to the productivity of the ranch. Two winters ago, we had one of the worst winters this ranch has ever seen. There was much devastation, as we were loosing baby calves left and right in the horrible winter conditions. Last winter was an excellent one and we ended up getting more healthy calves than expected, with two sets of twins even. We are hopeful to have another great year this coming winter and have been prepping our ranch and facilities to do so.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
We are ranchers and farmers and living this lifestyle is priceless. Ranching involves a lot throughout the year. The different seasons bring different challenges and successes. The hay season this summer was excellent. We cut and bailed the most hay we have ever seen off of the river fields. We are grateful to be able to run our cattle on our land only and we are able to produce all of the feed for the animals in the mangers. We are known for our Hereford breed of cattle that we run. It’s an exciting thing to be continuing a heritage of running the same breed that my ancestors started with, over 100 years ago. We are always trying to improve the ranch and make it more profitable. As we learn new ways to grown this business, we have learned that we have something special. We are excited about the butcher shop, selling more bulls and heifers to ranches around the western united states to improve their herd, and our kids are excited to continue to show their Hereford steers at the local county fair and continue the legacy. We have also just recently started making a Hereford Beef Tallow Balm out of beef kidney fat. We have been whipping this tallow with essential oils and jarring it up to sell. Our steers for beef are sold out for this year of 2024. We are already taking names for the waiting list for Fall of 2025, which is exciting!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.jbherefords.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jbherefords
- Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064402226926
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@jb.herefords
