Serving the Vermont Champlain Valley Area for 45 Years
Saturday May 5, 2018 Edition
Main Sections
Front Page SportsValley VitalsIt's in the StarsStarwiseArchivesLinksAbout The VoiceContact Us







Kristyn Jerome's Agri-Vision Locally Raised Beef Is A Family Affair


photo by Mike Cameron

Monday November 24, 2014

By Mike Cameron

Even as a little girl, Kristyn Jerome loved farms, farm animals and farm machinery.   We caught up with the twenty year old Leicester resident recently during her morning chores and felt fortunate that we didn't have to follow her through her regular work day.  Kristyn raises beef cattle and works on a local dairy farm.  Her schedule is difficult, and hard work, but the rewards can be very fulfilling.
Her father, Bruce Jerome, always enjoyed raising beef cattle for family and friends and Kristyn loved to be right with him as much as possible.  The family automotive repair business,  BNJ Automotive, served the needs of neighbors and a brisk local trade.  “Anything he did, I did,” Kristyn remembers.  Her father remembers her following him around the shop as a toddler in her little pink dress,  always asking lots of questions.  
   Before long Kristyn could turn a wrench with the best of them, growing up in an automotive repair and livestock environment. Both required diligent effort, attention to detail and the ability to network with potential customers.  Her sister Kelli was also a 'learn by doing kid' and is currently studying to become a teacher at Revere College in Nashua New Hampshire.  Their father and mother have every reason to be proud.
   Along with participation in 4-H and FFA, Kristyn took the Agribusiness curriculum at Middlebury's Hannaford Career Center, which gave her excellent core knowledge as she entered SUNY Cobelskill where she earned her degree and returned home to apply her education in a family venture called Green Grass Premium Beef, located on the family farm in Leicester.  
   Bruce Jerome has every reason to encourage his daughter. “She is excited about the business, we all are, after starting out with a few animals fifteen years ago, we have grown consistently,” he explained. The numbers are impressive and demonstrate a knack for developing a business during not the best of economic times.  Kristyn remembers starting out with just a few calves and this year there are thirteen.  Demand is growing and not just in Vermont.  Green Grass has beef customers in New Jersey and Cape Cod, who are spreading the word about this home grown, local Vermont enterprise.
   “It's nice to see the new additions,” Kristyn adds; “we have five Belted Galloways,  thirteen calves, thirteen cows and a registered Angus bull with an excellent blood line.”  Add this to eight replacement heifers and eight steers and Green Grass is off and running with a goal of one hundred head in three to five years. The Galloways and Angus are famous for their high quality beef.  The former resembling large Oreo cookies as they graze in the field.
   I've always had livestock” Kristyn tells the Voice.  “I've raised them for show and now we are doing it  as a business.”  She knows that the possibilities are positive.  Locally produced beef in Vermont has become a growth industry over the past ten years.  Her father adds:  “People want  more choices and they like the idea that the meat is produced locally and that it's a part of Vermont's sustainable agricultural future.  We enjoy showing customers how we operate and produce our product.  Everything is wrapped in clear vacuum packaging,” Bruce Jerome says as he shows us a beautiful ten pound sirloin tip roast and some recently packaged steaks.  You could almost hear them sizzle.
   When we ask Kristyn about the fact that she works a very long day at a local dairy farm and still keeps the wheels turning on the family business she is quick to put everything  in perspective; “In the summer I am definitely busy with farm work but now that the fall is here, the farm work is winding down.  I can devote even more time to Green Grass Premium Beef.”  You can bet she will.  Remember as we said at the beginning.  This gal has a vision.  For more information on Green Grass Premium Beef in Leicester, Vermont, you can call Kristyn Jerome at (802)-247-8115.


 Printer Friendly  Top
Advertisements


Search our Archives


· More Options



   

Agricultural Weather Forecast:

© 2006-18 The Valley Voice • 656 Exchange St., Middlebury, VT 05753 • 802-388-6366 • 802-388-6368 (fax)
Valleywides: [email protected] • Classifieds: [email protected] • Info: [email protected]