SUSAN & MARK OSBORNE Photo by Camden Littleton for Virginia Cooperative Extension
A Lunenburg County farm couple has given 504 round bales of hay they harvested — worth approximately $24,000 — to animals and families in southwest Virginia devasted by Hurricane Helene in late September.
Mark & Susan Osborne of Victoria are beef cattle farmers who, this past Spring, decided to liquidate their angus and baldie herd and take a break until their health improved.
One was recovering from shoulder surgery and the other from cancer. They were “blessed with enough rain to have a good hay crop with no cattle to feed. Others were not so fortunate,” says Susan.
When news of the flooding in western Virginia led to requests for assistance for the farmers, Mark reached-out to Virginia Cooperative Extension and Virginia Tech.
Susan said, “We feel blessed that we are able to help others because we’ve been in the same situation, when we didn’t have enough hay to feed because of a drought, and others stepped in to help us”, says Susan Osborne. “We had a great year for hay, and it’s wonderful to be able to donate it to the animals and farms in need.”
Mark added, “We have always believed that caring for our animals comes first. Sharing our blessings with those less fortunate is a gift we are honored to be able to provide.”
The hay was delivered to SW Virginia thanks to Cranemasters in Chesterfield. Each tractor-trailer load can carry about 40-42 of the 504 bales. A former employee and longtime farmer, Kevin Washington jumped at the opportunity and has hauled 12 loads for the mission.
One recipient of the Osborne’s generosity was Buck Gilmer, a farmer in the small river town of Narrows. Gilmer’s farm is located directly on the New River, and he estimated his losses were in the range of 400 bales.
““We’re getting by,” said Gilmer, a longtime resident of the region and a full-time cattle farmer. “It’s been very helpful to me, I don’t know what else we would have done.”
Hurricane Helene affected 21 counties and more than 3,752 farms in southwest Virginia, resulting in $159.2 million worth of damage, according to a recent assessment by Virginia Cooperative Extension.
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