From pasture to plate, JC Cattle Co. builds connection between farmers and consumers
By Galen Simmons
On a quiet pasture southeast of Stratford, a group of distinctly patterned cows graze, chew their cud and, for the most part, pay little attention to their visitors.
They are part of JC Cattle Co.’s growing herd of Canadian Speckle Park cattle, a breed that has become the foundation of a young agricultural business built around a simple idea: raise quality beef locally and give customers an opportunity to know exactly where their food comes from.
Based on a family farm outside Milverton, JC Cattle Co. is owned and operated by Morgan Kuepfer, her husband, Jonathan De Vries, and their friend and Jonathan’s coworker, Christine Chalmers.
The business began after Chalmers and De Vries, who work together in agriculture, started talking about an empty barn on Chalmers’ family farm, where her family had previously operated a dairy farm.
“Those two thought, ‘Well, let’s go fill it with some beef because we’re getting sick and tired of paying the prices that we’re paying for beef and high-quality beef at the grocery store,’ ” Kuepfer said. “ ‘Let’s see if we can raise some high-quality beef ourselves.’ ”
They started with two purebred, first-calf heifers. Three years later, JC Cattle Co. has grown to roughly 100 cows, not including calves and other animals in the herd.
Chalmers introduced her partners to Speckle Park cattle, a Canadian beef breed known for its distinctive black-and-white colouring and, according to Kuepfer, the quality of its beef.
The animals also proved well suited to the operation.
“They’re great mums, they have a good maternal instinct, for the most part they’re docile,” Kuepfer said. “They’re a really high-quality beef. So, because we were going direct to consumer and we wanted something that we loved too, it just seemed like a really good fit.”
JC Cattle Co. raises its animals from birth through finishing, with cattle destined either to become breeding stock or enter the company's beef program.
That start-to-finish approach also allows the farmers to have greater control over how their cattle are raised.
Breeding cattle spend roughly six months of the year on pasture, depending on weather, and rotational grazing allows sections of pasture to recover while others are being grazed.
The company also has cattle grazing 40 acres near Cambridge in partnership with rare Charitable Research Reserve, where rotational grazing helps manage the ecosystem and habitat.
Most of the cattle's feed is grown by JC Cattle Co., while what it doesn't produce itself is sourced locally. Its animals receive a grass-and-grain diet through a non-GMO feed program. During the winter, cattle return to barns but continue to have indoor and outdoor access.
“We like to try to keep it as clean and green as we can,” Kuepfer said.
That philosophy extends beyond raising the animals.
JC Cattle Co. takes what it calls a “nose-to-tail” approach, finding uses for as much of each animal as possible. Beyond traditional beef cuts, customers can purchase bones and fat, while the company renders fat into cooking tallow and products including skin cream, lip balm and soap. Bones are used for broth, while some organ meat and other products are supplied to The Bark for freeze-dried dog treats.
“There is just so much more than, you know, we all love a steak or a roast or ground beef,” Kuepfer said. “Those are great things. They're nutrient dense. However, there's so much more.”
The business's direct-to-consumer model is equally important.
Kuepfer handles much of the marketing and sales while continuing to work as a supply teacher, while Chalmers and De Vries handle much of the daily cattle and barn work alongside their full-time jobs.
Customers can meet the farmers themselves at the Stratford Farmers' Market at the Rotary Complex on Saturdays and the Stratford Sunday Market behind city hall. JC Cattle Co. also operates an online store and offers free Thursday delivery to Perth County addresses.
For Kuepfer, giving consumers that direct connection to their food is part of what the three farmers set out to accomplish.
“People want to know where their food comes from,” she said.
For JC Cattle Co., that means offering customers beef that is “clean and green and it's local and it's Canadian.”
And three years into what began with two heifers and an empty barn, the farmers are still figuring out just how large their cattle “addiction” might become.
The herd, Kuepfer said, has been growing as they determine what remains manageable for the three of them.
“We've just been seeing what is still within our management style and reach and kind of just going with the flow.”
For more information on JC Cattle Co., visit jccattleco.ca.
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