By Chris Aldridge
Kentucky Ag News

March 8 is International Women’s Day, and with March being Women’s History Month, this is the perfect time to recognize one Kentucky woman’s contributions to her family farm.

Tonya Cherry plays an integral role in her three-generation family farm along, with her husband and son. Cherry Farms, based near Fountain Run in south central Kentucky, spans 900 acres, 650 owned, in parts of Allen, Barren, and Monroe counties.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, which disrupted beef supplies to grocery stores, Cherry Farms replaced its 50-acre tobacco crop by selling cuts and sides of Kentucky Proud Black Angus beef at local farmers’ markets.

“I’m our beef marketer and salesperson,” Tonya said, noting Cherry Farms has raised beef cattle from its beginning 55 years ago but had never sold it directly to the public. “I’m at the farmers’ market every Saturday year-round, and I go to three different farmers’ markets all summer long.

“When we were raising tobacco, it took 15 people. We replaced it with one person – me!”

Cherry Farms milks more than 100 head of dairy cattle and also raises hogs and row crops, such as corn, soybeans, and wheat. It grows all of its own livestock feed, such as rye grasses and hay. The farm also has tried new crops, such as hemp and lavender.

“We started in 2018 with 500 lavender plants,” Tonya said. “Last year, the heat and excessive rain was rough on it, then we had the freeze back around Christmas. I do not know if it’ll make it out of that or not.

“I was making soaps and body scrubs with it. Because we’re a dairy, I make soap out of cow’s milk, and I put lavender in some of it.”

Tonya, a former member of the Kentucky Women in Agriculture Board of Directors, is proud that her husband, Mark; their 25-year-old son, John Mark; and she all make a living on the farm. It is profitable enough to hire full-time help with the dairy.

“We’ve been full-time, farm income only for 25 years,” she said. “It’s very tough – scary sometimes.

“My husband is a first-generation dairy farmer. When he was in high school, his dad told him he would send him to school wherever he wanted to go, but my husband told him he wanted to milk cows.

“He’s been milking seven days a week for 30 years,” she added. “Even if you have somebody to milk with you, that’s a really long time to have that kind of commitment. But that’s what he’s always loved.”

The family received an emotional blow in late February when Mark’s 76-year-old father died. Duel Cherry started the family farm in 1968.

Tonya says it’s tough to make a profit farming without being diversified.

“If you were just milking the last few years, you’d go broke,” she said. “We keep all our dairy calves, grow all our own replacements, and sell the steers, so we have income coming in from a lot of different directions.”