Started in 2021 by three business partners, Mitch Dumke, McKinley Smoot and James Gilson, 3 Springs Land & Livestock is now in its third season of sustainable ranching.
“The reason we’re called 3 Springs Land & Livestock is because there are three springs that come out of the base of this mountain,” says McKinley, pointing toward the north of their property in Peoa.
This year, they are joined by Livestock Manager Harry Creath, who is eager to spend the summer learning more about these ecological ranching processes. “Eventually I want to homestead, so the information that I’m learning from these guys is so invaluable — how to take care of livestock the right way,” he says while prepping the water feeders for a new batch of chicks.
Currently they run two operations at two locations in Summit County: cattle and chickens.
At their Peoa location, the cattle have grown from three to 22 since 2021; nine new calves joined the group this year. Here, Smoot and Creath put in practice a method of grazing designed to maintain land over time. By preserving the land, agriculture can be more affordable for families and small businesses.
Many families are leaving agriculture due to unsustainable costs, especially in this more brittle state, says Smoot. “Agriculture in Utah is becoming difficult to be profitable. Otherwise, I think people would stay in it because the lifestyle is just extraordinary,” he says.
3 Springs is determined to tackle this problem head-on, believing that there are farming practices which can make ecological health more affordable. Keeping the four ecological cycles — water, nutrients, biodiversity and energy flow — at high functioning levels, they are able to keep the landscape healthy, profitable and sustainable, says Smoot.
One of the biggest factors for 3 Spring’s take on regenerative agriculture is preventing overgrazing. Moving the cattle almost every day with a series of electric fences, “they get fresh feed and grass that’s totally robust.” This rotating process through the land also prevents overgrazing of the plants, with grasses able to regrow in as few as three days.
In this third season of raising cattle, Smoot is happy with how the land in Peoa has been recovering. Unlike other cattle-grazed areas, the 3 Springs land has hardly any bare spots — A big part of this is the group’s emphasis on covered soil.
“One thing we’re working towards in places that are degraded in general is a higher level of succession and ecology, that requires a more complex soil biology relationship,” says Smoot. In some areas, this involves the work of weeds to provide initial coverage and reveal more information about what might be happening in the soil.
Ultimately, the more green coverage, the better. “The Earth’s objective, it seems, is that it wants itself covered because with covered soils, it’s much more cool [and] can retain water,” says Smoot. Part of their efforts to aid this process is through cover crops and adding seed to trampled areas. In the summer months, the cattle are provided with a shade haven, a heavy-duty awning which provides relief from the sun. Consequently, those areas receive less photosynthesis for the day and much more hoof traffic. This is supplemented with additional seed to help the land recover.
Rather than buying large amounts of feed, 3 Springs works toward grass-finishing their cattle, fattening them up in older years on a grass diet. They are working toward selling regenerative beef in the fall of this year, with their first stock scheduled for harvest in September. You can sign up for updates on their website: 3springsutah.com
A short drive away in Oakley, Smoot and Creath go to check on their newest batch of chicks. Two brooders, holding up to 250 chicks at a time, are where the newly hatched birds stay for about three weeks, until their outer feathers can handle external temperatures. The chicks, at three days old, are kept warm at 95 degrees.
Once they’re old enough, the chickens are moved into enclosures built on sleds, allowing Smoot and Creath to move the animals on to fresh grass every day. The land offers them grazing on a diverse diet of grasses, insects and non-GMO organic feed, and in exchange, the birds fertilize the soil with their nitrogen-rich manure.
As with all life, mortality is a possibility for these delicate animals. With extended cold temperatures and active predators like skunks, raccoons, weasels and foxes this year, Smoot and his team have had to manage the occasional loss of life, especially with their youngest chicks. One of the ways they turn the unfortunate situation to good is through composting, an 18-month, highly complicated process which will break down the nutrients into rich soil that they will later use.
So far, chickens have been their source of profit, harvesting and selling a record-breaking 1,000 birds last year in just 4 months. “We’ve been shocked by the demand,” says Smoot. This is affected by supply: “There’s almost no poultry, chickens specifically, in the state of Utah. We’re actually one of the largest poultry producers in the state, which isn’t saying much,” he says.
“Food is becoming very expensive and we’re finding that we’re not that much more expensive than a grocery store,” says Smoot. Listed on their website, whole chickens are priced at $8 per pound or roughly $30-$40 a bird. They also sell chicken liver, gizzards, necks and feet, each for $8 a pound. Currently, 3 Springs is selling through farm pick-up (orders made on their website) or at farmers markets, as well as Kamas’ butcher shop The Stock Exchange, and Beltex Meats in Salt Lake City. While they’ve thought about more wholesale options, they believe in cultivating a personal relationship between rancher and consumer.
Eager to grow, 3 Springs is on a hunt for land to lease, determined to prove how their methods can benefit land for sustainable future use. “Land is in high demand and there’s not a lot of supply in Summit County. We want to be in Summit County because there’s a big market called Park City and the Wasatch Front,” says Smoot.
“The thing that would help us the most is if someone had a piece of ag ground they wanted to lease out for a long term,” he says with a laugh.
