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October 12, 2024
“All dairy, all the time”™
Volume 26, No. 16
Like father, like daughter
Doug, Abby Fairbanks dairy side by side By Amy Kyllo
amy.k@star-pub.com
PHOTO COURTESY OF DANIELLE BURKLE
Jody (from leŌ), Doug and Abby Fairbanks pause Sept. 14 on their farm near Anamosa, Iowa. The Fairbanks family milks 400 cows and farms 600 acres.
ANAMOSA, Iowa — Abby Fairbanks has always known she wanted to dairy farm. Her dad, Doug, remembers her at 3 years old dashing barefoot down the driveway in pursuit as he drove to the dairy farm. “I had no choice but to stop and pick her up,” Doug said. “She just always wanted to be on the farm with me. … She’d be out playing with the calves, or walking in her bare feet out in the cow pies and doing little farm girl things.” The Fairbanks family milks 400 cows and farms 600 acres on their farm near Anamosa. Doug is assisted by Abby, his
wife, Jody, his nephew, Josh, and two full-time employees. Abby has been working full time on the farm for a year and a half since college. “(When) you have a passion for something, it doesn’t need to be about the job or the lifestyle, it’s just everything in general,” Abby said. “I like working seven days a week. I love the cows. … I always wanted to do it.” Doug said he encouraged Abby to look at other things before she made a decision to farm. “I don’t want them to come home unless they’re interested in coming home,” he said. “You can’t farm with part of a heart.”
Turn to FAIRBANKS | Page 2
Swept away Farmers reect on devastation in hurricane aftermath By Meghan Kropp and Mark Klaphake Staff Writers
WAYNESVILLE, N.C. — When Hurricane Helene stormed its way through North Carolina and Tennessee, it caused casualties, extensive damage and washed away people’s livelihoods. Brothers Dan and Steve Ross own and operate Triple R Dairy Inc. of Waynesville, roughly 30 miles west of Asheville. Dan’s children, John and Miranda, and Steve’s sons, Phillip and Mark, also work on the farm. “There are cattle lost, lives lost, and homes lost,” Dan Ross said. “It’s just overwhelming.”
Across the area, rain gauges read between 14 and 30-plus inches of rain Steve said. Dan said rain from a few days before the hurricane hit combined to create the devastating ooding. “What hurt us so badly was the ground and creeks were so saturated because it rained ve or six inches before the hurricane came,” Dan said. “Most of the time, the ground doesn’t get wet until the hurricane comes.” As the hurricane thundered down on the mountains, Dan, Steve and others worked to bring gasoline, feed, thousands of gallons of diesel fuel Turn to HURRICANE | Page 6
PHOTO SUBMITTED
CaƩle at Triple R Dairy Inc. struggle through water moments before they are swept away by a current at their farm near Waynesville, North Carolina. Hurricane Helene brought torrenƟal rains to parts of North Carolina and Tennessee.