The owners of the last remaining dairy in Tazewell County recently announced they’re closing their business. It’s one of many dairy farms across the Commonwealth that have closed in recent decades. Keeping a small farm in a rural area in operation can be challenging, and if fuel costs remain high, the cost to transport milk will put added pressure on farmers.
Jim Huffard starts each morning at 6:30 on his family’s dairy farm in Wythe County. “But we might be here at eight at night,” Huffard said. “You know, we have to manage our time to be home or be with your kids if they have a ball game. And so, you manage your time like anything else.”
He owns this farm with his son and brother John. “Our grandfather started milking here in 1928,” said John Huffard. “Being able to keep that going with family and the best business partners you could ask for is a really big part of why we’re still here.”
Their grandfather had one employee. They have 12. They’ve grown their herd too, and now milk 700 cows.
“When you started looking at the numbers, we had to get larger to have an income to do the things we needed to do,” said Jim Huffard.
Another change they made is the breed. They’re now milking Jersey cows, which are light brown and smaller than other dairy cows.
“They have a personality of their own. So a lot of the guys with other breeds who got some jerseys, well the jerseys opened all their gates,” Huffard said. “So they’re smart. But they’re enjoyable cattle to be around.”
Jersey milk is also good for butter. So 15 years ago, they opened their own dairy, called Duchess Dairy and now sell milk and butter at stores across Southwest Virginia.
“We knew Jersey milk tastes better and was more nutritious, so we thought people would like that, and it appears that they’ve been supportive of that,” Huffard said.
In Tazewell County, another dairy announced this year they’re closing after milking cows for five generations.
John Blankenship is an extension agent in Tazewell, and says the Snapp farm was the last dairy in their county.
“It’s very difficult to be that generation that ends something that’s a legacy in your family, but when you can’t financially keep losing money, you have to do something else,” Blankenship said.
Andy Overbay had to make that decision in 1998, when he and his wife closed their family’s dairy in Smyth County.
“My favorite part was the baby calves,” Overbay recalled. “I miss going out and finding a new calf, a new baby. A new life. And they’re cute little buggers. Playing with their ears, they’re like velvet.”
Now, Overbay works with Virginia Cooperative Extension.
“I miss the work. What I don’t miss is the uncertainty. You know, that you might make a huge profit this week, and lose it all the next week, and not have any chance to make it up in six months.”
He advises farmers not to take on more debt than they can handle. But the dairy industry has changed a lot, with larger farms with more expensive machines able to produce milk cheaper than smaller dairies.
“We’ve [gone] from several hundred farms in Southwest Virginia to just a handful,” Overbay said.
There are 340 dairy farms left in Virginia, according to the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation. In 1950, there were 15,000.
“The dairy business would almost guarantee you a farm loan,” Overbay said. “I mean, if you went to a bank and said, ‘I want to start a dairy farm,’ they’d throw money at you. Because it was good business. And still can be.”
Overbay said another challenge today is transportation. It’s expensive to truck milk to a processing plant, especially in rural areas, with few farms left.
“It’s not a product that you get rid of locally. You have to put wheels underneath it,” Overbay said. He said if fuel prices stay high, farmers may find it’s even more difficult to pay someone to transport their milk.
Back at the Huffard farm, Jim said he and his brother are remaining hopeful.
“It is a tough industry, and I don’t have a secret,” said Jim Huffard.
In two years, their dairy will turn 100.
