David Westerfield is serving his 11th year as Laurel County judge-executive after a 32-year career as a UPS delivery driver. But for all of his life, Westerfield has been a farmer.

Like many Kentucky farmers, Westerfield transitioned from tobacco to beef cattle a decade ago. His Black Angus herd currently numbers about 120 head.

“I’m one of the few county judges around that farms,” Westerfield said. “So I can relate when they (Laurel County farmers) talk about their problems.”

Westerfield is among 38,000 beef producers that make Kentucky the largest cattle state east of the Mississippi River. Kentucky Commissioner of Agriculture Dr. Ryan Quarles honored them May 10 by signing a document proclaiming May as Beef Month in Kentucky.

“I enjoy farming,” Westerfield said. “It’s something that just gets in you. It’s hard to walk away from.

“It’s my down time. Some days, it’s stressful, but there’s never a dull moment with farming. It’s unpredictable, but the outcome is awesome when I raise a quality product that’s going on somebody’s dinner table.”

Westerfield feeds his cows from a 30-acre crop of feed corn and 225 acres of hay that he grows and harvests.

“I feed my cattle grain 365 days a year,” he said. “I’m probably the only one in the county that does that, but it just makes a quality product. Beef cattle need grain to make their meat better.

“I cut all my own hay. I spray it for weeds because I want my cows to have a quality hay.”

“I’m also one of the few that still grinds their feed,” Westerfield added, noting the result is a feed mix that “my cattle love.”

“My cattle are so appreciative when I come to see them with my feed bucket that it makes me feel good,” he said. “My calves are always born healthy due to the nutrition that I feed their mothers.”

Westerfield owns Shady Oaks Farm, a 200-acre Kentucky Proud operation in southwestern Laurel County near the tiny town of Keavy.

“My 120 head ain’t a lot – I’ve had more, I’ve had less,” he said. “They’re calving right now, so I ought to have about 140 in the next six weeks.”

Westerfield said he hopes to finish and market about 65 head this fall at Lake Cumberland Livestock Market in Somerset. He’s hoping to turn a profit this year after a tumultuous 2020.

“I didn’t make a dime last year farming,” Westerfield said. “But I enjoy farming, so I’ll do it ‘til I go completely broke.”

Westerfield lost two cattle recently to.black vultures, predatory birds that have expanded into Kentucky over the past 50 years. Vulture attacks on livestock seem to have increased in recent years.

“These buzzards pecked one of my cow’s eyes out while she was having a calf,” he said. “It ended up killing the cow and the calf.”

Because black vultures migrate, they are protected by federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 and cannot be killed without a $100 permit. Livestock producers can get their first one free from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

“They need to make ‘em to where they’re not protected,” Westerfield said.

Westerfield also would like to see more options for marketing his beef, such as an increase in the number of slaughterhouses in Kentucky. “A lot of our beef leaves the state,” he said, referring to a lack of processing facilities with the required inspection by the U.S Department of Agriculture (USDA).

During last year’s coronavirus pandemic, Commissioner of Agriculture Dr. Ryan Quarles and the Kentucky Agricultural Development Board invested more than $3.5 million into expanding meat processing capacity across the Commonwealth so the state would not be as reliant upon out-of-state meat processors.

“We could sell a lot more freezer beef if we could increase the processing plants,” Laurel County cattle farmer Glenn Calebs told the London Sentinel-Echo.

“If people here could buy our meat, they’d never buy any other kind,” Westerfield reportedly added. “If the USDA would approve more slaughterhouses in Kentucky, we could supply the meat.”