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Tracy Whisnant 704-477-7391 S Select tracywhisnant@remax.net www.shelbyinfo.com Our 43RD Year • Issue No. 16 • April 23, 2026 704-484-1047
Guernsey Girl Creamery is “a little dairy with big flavor” By Alan Hodge Spring is here and Guernsey Girl Creamery near Polkville is moo-ving swiftly into another season of offering superior dairy and other homemade food products to its customers. The operation, whose apt motto is “The Little Dairy with Big Flavor”, is located at 3361 Bridges Dairy Rd. off Stagecoach Rd. near Polkville. Ashley McMurry, her husband Dustin, and kids Molly, 4, Silas, 9, and Charlie, 13, run the 140-acre place. Ashley is the fourth generation of her family, the Bridges, to live on Bridges Dairy Rd. She gave a rundown of its history. “My great-grandparents Charles and Kathleen Bridges started farming on this road,” Ashley said. “They grew cotton, tobacco, and raised hogs, and chickens. In 1949 my grandfather Charles, Jr., started the dairy. My father Kevin eventually took it over. He still lives here in the house great-grandfather built.” In 2008, Ashley graduated from NCSU with a degree in Agriculture and a minor in Animal Science. In 2010 her father retired, and she began running the opera-
Daughter Molly, 4, and her barn cat Oliver. (Photo provided)
Ashley with sons Silas, 9, Charlie, 13, and cow Twinkle.
Look for this sign at 3361 Bridges Dairy Rd. just outside of Polkville.
Husband Dustin McMurry watering some of the plants that are offered at the dairy store. (Photos by Alan Hodge) tion. “I was able to keep some of the cows,” she says. “In 2011 I received a $10k grant from Rural Advancement Foundation International. I was also able to borrow equipment like a milk pasteurizer from the NCDA.” Since then, the farm has grown. “We now have fifty Guernsey cows,” she says. “We also have fifty beef cattle in Belwood.” The cattle eat a lot of hay. “We grow hay on 500 acres of rented land in places like Cliffside, Casar, and Lawndale,” said Ashley. According to Ashley, the Guernsey cows produce about
700 gallons of milk per week. “I do the milking twice a day,” she says. “The milk is A2 which makes it easier to digest. It is vat pasteurized.” The milk is sold in one-gallon and half-gallon jugs at the dairy roadside store in plain, chocolate, strawberry, and coffee flavor. The chocolate is especially rich and its smooth, creamy, chocolatey flavor makes the big box store variety seem like brown water. “We have a very broad customer base,” Ashley says. “People come from as far away as Charlotte, Asheville, and Morganton. They take it home in coolers.” Ashley also churns the milk into See GUERNSEY, Page 9
One of the Guernsey Girl Creamery cows having lunch. (Photo provided)
This tank holds 285 gallons of raw milk fresh from the Guernsey cows. Like Us On
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