LIBERTY TOWNSHIP, Ohio — Nothing spells urban sprawl like West Chester, Ohio. Strictly a farm community in the 1980s, farmland has given way to housing developments. Many farmers have sold their fertile property to developers for large sums of money.

But in the northwestern sector of this community (now called Liberty Township) stands a 120-acre farm dedicated to raising nothing but Black Angus. It’s called Grassland Graze.

“We’ve been here now for 15 years and when it all started, we purchased a herd that was 100 percent grass-fed,” said Kip Kummerle, who runs the farm with his wife, Jen, and their two sons, Sully and Owen. They also operate a similar farm in Adams County. There, they tend 360 acres.

“We started out with a mission to provide the highest quality grass-fed beef to our local community,” Kummerle said. “We believe we have come full circle in the understanding of the way things are. Our cattle give so much to us, that the least we can do is provide them with what makes them happiest: grass, sunshine and water.”

Unlike many other grass-fed producers, all of the Kummerle animals are produced in a closed system using purebred genetics. They do not buy unknown cattle at a stockyard or background cattle on grass and call them grass-fed.

“All of our cows and calves are raised in a sustainable relationship to its native environment with the end purpose of providing a high-quality food connection to local customers,” he said.

Their 120-acre field is made up of a variety of species, including orchard grass, alfalfa, clovers, timothy, bluegrass and fescues. It is an ideal setting for his beef cattle, which are permitted to freely roam the gorgeous premises.

The farm is divided into 23 fenced paddocks. The cows stay in for about a day each. When it’s time to move, he just opens a gate and they go to the next section of field, looking for clovers.

“It’s like ice cream to them,” Kummerle said. “In this way, the grass has a chance to grow back. Manure is spread on the field as fertilizer, and the cows keep the weeds down. The grass doesn’t need any other kind of treatment, except some lime and some minerals.”

Grass-fed cattle take longer to get to slaughter weight than grain-fed cattle. Most modern cattle put on weight quickly and are slaughtered in 16-18 months, Kummerle said. His take 26-28 months.

“We tried selling meat at two years or so, but it’s just nowhere as good,” Jen said. “It takes time to raise good beef.”

They start their calves on the Adams County farm, 360 acres of pasture that’s not as high-quality as the Liberty Township land where they end up. “We’ve definitely improved the fertility of the soil in both places, and have done it without any capital investment,” said Kummerle.

The fields are certified organic. But they can’t sell the beef as organic, because they don’t have an organic processor to take it to.

“We need a labeling regulation for grass-fed. Right now, people could raise it on hay in a barn or a lot and call it grass-fed,” Kummerle said. “Really, they could feed it grain and call it grass-fed.”

Farmers have grazed cattle on grass as long as there’s been animal agriculture. In the United States since the early 1950s, almost all cattle are started on grass, then shipped to feed lots in the West where they’re fattened on corn in the company of tens of thousands of other cattle.

But since about the late ‘90s, more like Kummerle are farming the old way – that is, no grain, fertilizers or hormones, and minimal fossil fuel inputs.

“I love doing it this way,” he said. “I’m working with nature instead of trying to control it. It just makes sense. Animals were designed to be on grass. They have a short life anyway, tragically, but they are happier, healthier like this.”

According to the Ohio Beef Council, people buy grass-fed beef for varying reasons – to support local agriculture and family farms, they find the feed-lot system inhumane or they’d like to avoid antibiotics and hormones.

It also has a different nutritional profile. Grass-fed beef is lower in fat and higher in CLAs, or conjugated linoleic acids, which seem to have disease-fighting properties. It also has more omega 3 and vitamins.

The Kummerles have erected a new barn on the property, one which houses a small store open on Saturdays. This allows them to sell pork, lamb and meat chicken from other producers in the area. They also sell their product at the Madeira Farmers Market in the summer.

“We have come to the conclusion that it is okay that our packages don’t say ‘certified organic,’” Jen said. “The label has nothing to do with a sustainable grass-based production system. The livestock and dairy industries have adapted to organic by applying that same backward confinement feeding system in which the cattle are viewed in terms of production units. They see no grass, just a feed bunk with corn-based ration designed to make them gain weight as fast as possible.

“Here at Grassland Graze, we take the small batch, hand-crafted approach. Our product takes twice as long to reach mature weight, giving our beef a richer, fuller flavor. Our cattle rarely get sick because they are kept in balance with their environment.”

The couple seem a perfect pair to run this sort of beef operation. Kip learned sustainable farming techniques and had pre-vet classes at an agricultural college, and Jen was a communications major.