Like Father, Like Daughter

Jeanna Smith, a sixth generation cattle farmer from Cave City, Kentucky gives back to her community by transforming a family legacy into a local business.

Down the road from Mammoth Cave National Park in the tourist town of Cave City, Kentucky lies a 320-acre cattle farm where Jeanna Smith’s family has been farming for six generations. At Mammoth Valley Farm, Jeanna, her father Roger Smith, and her partner Ethan Mefford look after over 200 beef cows with an emphasis on sustainable agriculture. When the COVID-19 pandemic left the meat aisles empty in the grocery store, Jeanna received call after call from neighbors asking if they sold beef from the cows raised on the farm. After applying for several permits and working out a plan to keep operations as local as possible, Mammoth Valley Farm was officially open for business.

On days she's not working her day job as an on-call speech-language pathologist in Bowling Green, Kentucky, Jeanna Smith makes time for daily farm chores alongside her father, Roger Smith.

Jeanna learned everything she knows about sustainable cattle farming from her dad, and he learned everything from her grandfather. There are still some things she doesn't know quite as well, like how to change the oil on the tractor, but Roger is more than happy to show his daughter how things are done.

As a child, Jeanna often accompanied Roger for his evening farm chores after coming home from his corporate job. Despite her upbringing, Jeanna found her love of farming on her own with no pressure from her family to continue the family tradition.

"For some farm kids it's like 'this is all gonna be yours someday!', especially with the boys," Jeanna said. "They didn't want to pressure me to feel like I had to do it."

When Roger turned 70 in 2019, Jeanna returned to Mammoth Valley after living post-grad life in Bowling Green, Kentucky to help her dad on the farm. She rekindled her love for farming and decided to stick around.

Only a few women in the Smith family have taken to farming like Jeanna has. Her mother was not a farmer, but her grandmother was never afraid to get her hands dirty with the cows.

"It feels like a very big responsibility to carry. Not just as a sixth generation, but also being a woman and all the extra criticism that comes with that."
~Jeanna Smith

Very rarely do farm chores ever feel like work to her, especially when she's with her dad. "If I could just do this full time, I would," Jeanna said.

When the COVID-19 pandemic took the world by surprise, meat became a scarcity in grocery stores. Sensing her community's growing want for beef, Jeanna decided to use over 100 years worth of cattle farming knowledge passed down through her family to give back to her community.

Jeanna and her partner Ethan Mefford opened a storefront attached to their home on the farm in 2020. The shop quickly became a community favorite. Though the storefront is only open on the weekend, Ethan and Jeanna see plenty of familiar faces come through their shop in only two short days.

Jeanna works hard to keep the freezers stocked of Mammoth Valley cuts of meat for loyal customers sure to stop by on the weekend.

Each customer that walks through the door is greeted with a big smile from Jeanna as they browse the shelves of local products.

Jeanna and Ethan live in a small house overlooking the cattle pastures on the farm. The pair met while working at Mammoth Cave National Park in 2012 and have been inseparable since. While farming isn't Ethan's primary job at Mammoth Valley, he is skilled at the sales and finance side of running a business.

"Even now, people think I married into it. Like it must be Ethan farming and I help."
~Jeanna Smith

Dinner is served, and Mammoth Valley beef is on the menu. Ethan, Jeanna, and close friends Ryan and Christina enjoy a dinner made from locally grown ingredients, including Ryan and Christina's eggs from chickens they raise on their own land in Cave City.

No matter how big the commercial business grows, farming will always be something the Jeanna and Roger can enjoy doing together. "There's still so much to learn," Jeanna says. "Every project I get to do with him is important." Moving back to Cave City to help on the farm strengthened Jeanna's relationship with her father, and that will always be special.