Roanoke County’s Last Dairy Farm Calls It Quits

No more cows left to milk in Roanoke County (roanoke.com)

The last dairy farm in Roanoke County, VA milked its cows for the last time Tuesday morning, 11/16. The cows have been sold, and the farm is switching to beef cattle, which require less work and should be more profitable. The long hours, low milk prices, and increasing expenses forced the farm to quit the dairy business after milking cows for 75 years. In 1947, they were paid $5.90 per hundred pounds for their milk, and they paid $1,800 for a tractor. In October, 2004, they were paid between $14 and $16 per hundred pounds for their milk, and a comparable tractor cost about $16,000.

There’s also an excellent flash slideshow with sound of the cows’ last day on the farm.