The final dairy farm in Bedford County faces crop loss and drought

Bedford, County, Virginia – Located in the heart of Bedford County is the Turner Dairy Farm.

Wayne Turner, the owner of the final dairy farm in the county and a fourth-generation farmer, stated that their primary sources of income are maize and dairy products.

The farm has been impacted by the drought, which will severely reduce those profits.

“It’s going to hurt our wallets at the end of the year because that’s our main feed for our cattle and we depend on high-quality feed to get the milk out of our cows,” Turner said.

Farmers are most affected by droughts, according to National Weather Service hydrologist Nick Fillo.

“A lot of the crop reports and the agricultural folks we have talked to have said that crop growth has been hit pretty hard this year,” Fillo said.

Turner claimed that not since the 1960s have they had a drought like this. He calculated that he would not be able to use two-thirds of his corn this year due to burning.

“For us, the hardest hit has been our corn crop, we start planting that in April and we have not really had any significant rain on that crop since mid-May,” Turner said.

Regarding his cows, there are two essential tools he utilizes to maintain their temperature.

We keep fresh water and give clean water to them 24/7, with multiple watering troughs throughout the facility,” Turner said. “I have 30 some fans running in my free stall barns 24/7 in this kind of weather.

About 150 of Turner’s dairy cows are housed in the barn at any given time. In order to keep track on their health, he also has a blue chip in their ears.

“That allows me to tell when my cows are panting when they are backing off the feed and rumination times for them. It helps me to know when I need to put feed out for my cows and try to manage heat stress as much as I can for the cows,” Turner said.

According to Fillo, they anticipate additional rain this month. This rainfall is usually caused by isolated thunderstorms and tropical storms.

“Fortunately we are looking to get a little more rain in July in which case we can hopefully see conditions improve across the state,” Fillo said.

According to Fillo, this might benefit in regions recovering from the drought.