By Jon Huang
Before she raised cattle, Katie Belle Miller was a vegetarian.
“I got really sucked into the emotional side, the animal cruelty side, the commercial factory farming,” she said.
Now, she’s a rancher.
Her mother’s side of the family was from Texas. She grew up hearing tales of how her great-great grandfather was a cowboy.
“I always wanted to be a cowgirl,” she said.
Miller attended Colorado College, majored in agricultural studies and began working on local farms, growing her love for agriculture and the land. Her first farming job was working with Susan Gordon at Venetucci Farms in Fountain. Gordon currently operates New Roots Farm in Canon City.
Eventually, Miller met her husband, Jeff, who grew up in Falcon and runs a local excavation company. He grew up with horses and chickens, but his parents would never let him have a cow, pigs or goats.
Now, they have them all.
Miller raises Texas longhorn cattle, a species known for their prominent horns. She started Heritage Belle Farms in 2007; and, in 2011, acquired her first four cattle. She chose the breed to honor her family’s Texan heritage. Today, she raises about 50 cows on 160 acres of land.
Longhorns’ horns weren’t always so long, Miller said. When the Spaniards first brought them to the Americas, they lived in more densely forested areas that would have made long horns a liability. As they migrated into the open plains, their horns were allowed to grow and they were selectively bred over time.
On her ranch, Miller strives to create a balanced ecosystem
“I love getting the wildlife opportunities to coexist with the ranch,” she said.
The prairie dogs live on the ranch. The coyotes keep their populations in check. Burrowing owls use the prairie dog holes for nesting. She selects heritage breeds for her animals that include the longhorns, which are livestock that were historically cared for by ancestors; they uniquely adapted to the environments in which they were raised. She even chooses colors of her animals that align with their surroundings.
“I feel like the more you have your livestock mimic the natural wildlife in the area, the better they do,” Miller said.
Land management is not just about using the land to feed the animals. It’s about stewardship. The beneficial gut bacteria in the cattle’s intestines are passed through their feces to nourish the prairie soil. She moves the herd to different fields to prevent overgrazing and permanent damage to the prairie grass.
“This is property that we want to be sustainable and that we want to continue bettering it so that it can be a pasture into the future,” she said.
Longhorns possess traits that are good for beginning ranchers, she said. They don’t require as much water, aren’t picky eaters, are disease resistant and have high fertility rates.
“They’re scrappy looking survivalists,” she said.
For Miller, each cattle’s story is often told through its unique features, whether the color patterns of their coat, the contours of their horns or the traumatic upbringings that stunted their growth. For adult cattle, one way to assess their nutrition status is the length of their tail. The closer it is to the ground, the healthier it is.
In the wild, herds of bison or other cattle roam the plains. In the presence of predators, they bunch together for safety. In these closer confines, they get excited, trample more, leveling and loosening the soil, breaking up manure and allowing nutrients to be released into the soil while giving space for new grass to grow.
These natural behaviors direct how Miller raises her cows. She uses a mobile electric fence to enclose and rotate the grazing areas to facilitate these behaviors. In more concentrated areas, Miller will use a tractor with a harrow to help break up the poop piles.
“The idea is to try to mimic how the ecosystem used to exist before humans came and put up fences and eradicated all the large herds,” she said. “The more we can help this ecosystem … using technology, the better it is for our grass.”
Her cows are grass fed and finished (when they reach a desired weight and fat-to-muscle ratio). A healthy diet leads to healthier cattle and avoids the need for anti-parasitic medication that harms the dung beetles and other insects that are beneficial to breaking down manure and dead tissue into organic material in the environment.
A typical longhorn weighs about 1,000 pounds. Because a lot of the weight is in the skull and horns, the carcass weight is about 500 pounds. Packaged meat, including organ meats, is closer to 330 pounds. Miller often sells the skulls to interested artisans. The meat is available in whole, half and quarter sizes.
As a 40-year-old mother of two, Miller is passionate about serving her community. She volunteers for several local organizations, including the El Paso County Conservation District. She recently partnered with Food to Power, the Colorado Springs-based food advocacy organization, to host an aerated static pile composting site on her property as part of FtP’s city wide composting program.
Her desire to connect others to their food stems from her own personal experience with her animals.
“When I finally had the opportunity to raise my own food, it just became really real for me and knowing that, it’s still sad to me when I take animals to butcher.”
The bond she has formed caring for them has helped her see an intelligence in each one that the general public often overlooks.
“When I have cows lose a calf, they definitely grieve and they definitely mourn, they do feel scared and I feel like there should be more consideration into that in how we humanely harvest them,” she said.
From this, comes a recognition of the cost necessary to feed and provide for others.
“I’m very thankful for the sacrifice that feeds me, but I know I have given them the very best life that I can give them,” Miller said.
Growing up in Colorado Springs, Miller remembered peers who didn’t know the chicken in the store came from a live animal. For her, the longhorns aren’t just meat for purchase. They are living creatures. They represent the relationship between animal, man and nature. They tell a larger narrative.
“There’s a story connected from me and my food and I can share that with others,” she said. “I like being transparent, and I invite people to come out and see the farm and see how their food is raised.”
Pull quote: For Katie Belle Miller, each cattle’s story is often told through its unique features, whether the color patterns of their coat, the contours of their horns or the traumatic upbringings that stunted their growth. For adult cattle, one way to assess their nutrition status is the length of their tail. The closer it is to the ground, the healthier it is.
For additional questions or inquiries check out:
https://www.heritagebellefarms.com
