All in the family

Five generations build Downing Cattle Co.

Story by JOHN CLAYTON

A little more than a decade ago, Jeff Downing and his family decided to give raising their own cattle a second chance, and there have been no regrets.

Downing works alongside his wife, Melinda; their son, Will; and his wife, Bethany. His daughter, Jenna, and her husband, Jeremy Yokley, also help out.

“You have to make money, but a lot of your pay is getting to do what you want to do every day,” Downing says. “It’s a great way of life, but you’ve got to really love it because sometimes there isn’t a lot of money.”

The Downings’ five grandchildren are also fixtures on the farm and represent the family’s fifth generation of Downings there. The couple says that’s a bonus that can’t be measured in terms of dollars and cents. “I’ve got friends whose grandkids are miles and miles away, but I get to see mine every day most of the time,” Melinda Downing says.

The business has evolved since Jeff Downing’s great-grandfather started raising beef cattle on about 100 acres in Fountain Run, Kentucky. Downing Cattle Co. still operates on that land but has grown to encompass 900 acres — each generation adding acreage little by little over the years.

“When a family works together, you’re not always going to agree, but we always get along,” Downing says. “We can discuss things. We have the same goals and the same worldview, really. The Lord has really blessed us.”

From 1990 until the Downings switched things up with a new business model in 2009, they kept clients’ cattle on the farm. “We’d lost money farming, and I thought this would be another opportunity for us — another way to make a living,” Downing says. “In ’08, we lost money because we had all our eggs in one basket.”

Located on a fourth-generation farm, Downing Cattle Company has rendered cattle and hogs for over 40 years.

GOOD TIMING

Even though the U.S. was in the midst of a recession when the current incarnation of Downing Cattle Co. was born, the family picked a good time to begin raising their own beef cattle once again.

“People wanted to know where their meat comes from, and there was a lot of talk about buying local,” Downing says.

With the equipment to open and run its own butcher shop still on-site, Downing Cattle Co. was soon supplying meat for friends and neighbors. Its products also appealed to customers from farther away who were interested in organically raised beef.

“It’s all natural, and that’s the way we sell it,” Downing says. “We’re not bashing anyone who raises their cattle the other way at all. We don’t see anything wrong with that. But we’re in a niche where if natural is what you want, we have it. We feel like farmers need every source we can find to feed the world.”

For the Downings, feeding the world starts in their own backyard and goes from there.

Regular customers visit the butcher shop frequently, leaving with locally grown pork and the Downings’ beef. “We have people who will drive 45 minutes to an hour from Bowling Green, and they’ll get 2 pounds but they’ll come every week,” Downing says. “And they’ll tell their friends and neighbors.”

This past February, Downing Cattle Co. went well beyond the pastures for its local customers looking for something special for Valentine’s Day. “We have fresh-cut steaks, pork chops, wild-caught salmon, crab legs and more for a special Valentine’s dinner,” the farm’s Facebook post read.

Melinda Downing says the company advertises very little, relying instead on old-school word of mouth and new-school social media, including Facebook and Instagram, to reach and stay in touch with customers. “Facebook has been great because I can post when we’re having a sale or let people know when we have something special going on,” she says. “I get a lot of orders now through Facebook Messenger.”

Downing Cattle Company keeps an average of 250 “mamma cows” on the farm.

ON THE ROAD AND AT HOME

The Downings take the delivery truck and make the 80-mile trip from Fountain Run to Nashville. They say the folks on their regular stops in bustling Nashville have become like family after 12 years of deliveries.

The company also makes regular deliveries to several stores and restaurants in areas within a 90-minute radius of the farm, such as Bowling Green and Glasgow.

But Jeff Downing enjoys it most when customers visit the farm and butcher shop, where he likes to take a few extra minutes and give them a little tour. “A lot of people these days don’t get to spend time at a farm like I did with my grandfather,” he says. “So I like to show them around if there’s time. As farmers, we need to tell our story and let people know how we do things.”