By Chris Aldridge
Kentucky Ag News

Jason Butler has spent most of his 45 years on this earth involved in agriculture, including the last 31 raising Shorthorn cattle.

Butler got involved in the cattle business as an FFA project when he was a freshman at Spencer County High School.

“I had never heard of a Shorthorn,” said Butler, who, like many Kentuckians in the 20th century, grew up helping his father grow tobacco. “I went down to 1992 Kentucky Beef Expo and bought my first Shorthorn heifer for $700. I named her Queen and started showing her. The next year, I got another one.

“I showed Shorthorns for 10 years at fairs all over North America. I don’t have time to do that now, but I kept them. I always had my Shorthorn cows and bulls.”

Butler is hoping his daughter, Brynn, catches the “show bug” like he did.

“My daughter is 9,” he said. “I’m hoping she builds some interest in showing cattle as a teenager. If she does, I’ll get back into it with her.”

Butler currently has 85 head of Shorthorn cows and calves spread across three farms he rents covering more than 200 acres in Bullitt and Jefferson counties.

Ever the entrepreneur, Butler dreams of constructing an on-farm custom butcher shop.

“I’m researching building my own processing plant and using my own stock,” he said. “It’s gotten expensive to raise beef.

“This state is really in need of another processing facility. The ones we have now can’t handle the demand.”

Butler and his wife and daughter live on a 103-acre former dairy farm, the last one left in Bullitt County before it was forced to shut down last year.

“My grandpa milked here for 48 years, twice a day, and my dad milked for 40 years,” Butler said, noting his father had to close the dairy because of the pandemic. “He got COVID pretty bad.”

Butler’s grandfather, who died in 2003, passed the farm down to his father, who is using the family farm to grow a small tobacco patch.

“I’m hoping it’s still here when we (Butler and his brother, Jamie) get a turn,” he said. “I would like to try to take it in a different direction.”

With northeastern Bullitt County booming with new suburbs popping up around Mount Washington, Butler is considering opening a roadside stand or, better yet, a wedding venue.

“You gotta look ahead,” he said. “This part of the county is growing leaps and bounds, and farms with pretty views will be in demand.”

In 2016, Butler gave up tobacco farming, which he had done all his life. To replace that income, he started a popular roadside barbecue business.

“For Christmas in 2015, my wife and daughter bought me an Oklahoma Joe’s roll-around grill from Lowe’s,” Butler said. “I got into the barbecue business because it didn’t take me a lot of money to get started and I can work by myself.”

As demand increased for his pork barbecue, he expanded to a wheeled smoker towed behind his truck. It acts as a rolling billboard of sorts, emitting the scent of smoked pork all along the drive from his home to his regular spot, a parking lot in downtown Mount Washington.

“Barbecue allows me the freedom of not being tied to a strict schedule,” Butler added. “I was able to get away from raising tobacco and keep my cows.”