Cattle have been grazing on the Jennings Family Farm since 2014. What started as five animals meant for the family’s personal use, has now become 60 animals to provide for far more families. The first generation cows are Jersey/Limousin who were bred to Red Devon or Black Angus. The general direction of the herd breed heading toward a Red Devon majority.
Introducing cattle to the family’s Certified Organic landscape has been thoughtful and deliberate, and has brought a whole new dimension to the meaning of a diversified, organic food system the family started transitioning to back in 2002.
Janette Ansorge (the second daughter), with the support of our parents Archie and Mattie Jennings, is the chief cattle manager on the farm. She and her two kiddos (Meredith and Ian) help raise the cattle on our small, family operation. That is, small enough to know each animal’s name, age, health status, temperament, and more. Janette tracks, in detail, individual cattle information in a journal, which helps to understand and better anticipate each animal’s unique needs.
Janette and Mattie moving hay 
Farm grandkids hay’ing around
Healthy Animal Care
People want to know about the life, health, and welfare of our animals. Now more than ever, there is consumer consciousness toward where our food comes from and how the animals are being treated. Confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs), sick dairy cows culled and processed for ground beef, the perpetual fear of outbreaks from beef recalls due to E. coli, salmonella, listeria, etc., and more have prompted the consumer’s consideration of safety, values, and ethics behind food production. Further, all the certifications that are out there – Certified Organic, 100% grass-fed, pasture-raised, Naturally Grown, and others have the consumer scratching their head as they try navigating this complex foodscape.
Meeting Certified Organic Requirements
From spring to late fall all cattle live on spacious pastures and remain in pastured areas with shelter being offered as a choice for their use in winter– shelter that is inspected and also certified to organic standards! Something people do not often realize is how demanding the certification process is – and we’re NOT just referring to the paperwork and the tracking of individual animal’s health and diet. Everything must be organic from straw bedding for the animals to rest on to the non-treated lumber that makes up the barns and the fence posts – ALL MUST BE CERTIFIED. Additionally, the animal’s diet must include less than 30% dry matter from sources other than pasture. To ensure all these sources meet the requirement, all the feed, bedding, and most of the lumber is grown on the Jennings Family Farm. Finally, the animal must be processed at a certified organic processing facility in order to be sold, labeled, and represented as organic.
BEYOND the ORGANIC REQUIREMENTS
Our cattle eat a 90-95% organic pastured diet, with the remaining 5-10% diet consisting of organic haylage, hay, or feed mixture of oat, spelt, corn, wheat, and hay . This diet is more suitable for the Red Devon lines that thrive on forage and less feed. The feed is mostly used to supplement diets during the winter when little to no forage is available on the pastures. Our pastures are diverse and seeded each spring with a mixture of alfalfa, clover, timothy, and other wild grasses. All animals are offered ‘free-choice minerals’ that include Redmond salt, a mixture that includes other essential minerals, kelp meal, calcium, diatomaceous earth, and selenium.
Regenerative Agriculture
Additionally, we use healthy, regenerative practices on our lands using cover crops and supplemental minerals to rebuild soil organic matter and to restore degraded soil biodiversity. The organic hay and grains our cattle eat come from a 4-crop rotation system that includes organic wheat,spelt or oats, clover, corn, and black beans or soybeans. As part of the system, we use cover crops made up of rye, sudangrass, oats, sunflowers, radish, turnips, sun hemp, various peas and beans. We also feed the soil with humate, sea salt, gypsum, rock phosphate, and partially composted cattle manure from the herd.
We commit to all these labor intensive practices to regenerate soil fertility and biodiversity. It also increases the nutrient density of our crops and livestock, benefiting not only the health of our soils, plants, and animals, but also the person who eats from our lands (see Building a New Foundation to see nutrient data from the beef).
Passion & Purpose Pay Off
So why do all this work from the soils, to the plants, to the animals, to the people – and then have to PROVE it all with the Certified Organic Process? QUALITY OVER QUANTITY has always been our mantra. Behind all that we do is passion and purpose. We believe deeply in investing our energy and efforts in providing healthy and nutritious food that is good for you and the environment.
We believe that when you give the best care you can to everything from the soils to the plants and animals and to the people, good things happen. The Certified Organic program provides us a platform to bring the fruits of our labor to the market in a way that acknowledges all that we put in to our products. It also helps to ensure that you as a customer know all that goes into producing your food in a way that is respectful to the land and respectful to the animal.
When you do not crowd your animals, they need more space. When you allow your pastures to rest and supplement them with nutrients and seed, you need more time and careful observation. When you provide your animals with a healthy lifestyle and healthy diet, you get a healthier product for all. There are a lot of options for all types of consumers. As we launch into summer’s official grilling season this Memorial Day Weekend, we hope you take into consideration some of these factors and try out our delicious, certified organic beef. Respected and delivered to you with love.
Where to Find Jennings Family Farm Certified Organic Beef
Currently, you can purchase the Jennings Farms Certified Organic beef directly from Janette. You can call her 269-908-0823 to make arrangements or catch her at a local Farmers’ Market every other Saturday in 2019 at Meridian Township or Texas Township Farmers Markets. Find the market calendar on Facebook. Feel free to send us a message here, and we will connect you directly to Janette.
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