Last year 91,000 cows on Virginia’s dairy farms produced more than 208 million gallons of milk for beverages, butter, cream, ice cream and other products.

The average American ate 8.5 pounds of ice cream, 8.1 pounds of Cheddar cheese and 10.4 pounds of yogurt in 2013.

Obviously, dairy is a big deal, and Virginia’s dairy farm families take their work seriously.

One of those families, Laura and Scott Flory and his parents, Dale and Janet, operate Hillside Farm in Pulaski County. They’ve installed a state-of-the art robotic milking system to milk their 200 cows twice a day. They also use an environmentally friendly system for cleaning the dairy barn that reduces the farm’s amount of needed machinery, provides nutrients to the crop fields and keeps the animals and barn all tidy. 

“We are proud of how we’re taking care of our animals and also doing things that are better for the environment,” Laura Flory said. “We’re enjoying our dairy career more now than ever before.”

You can visit the Hillside Farm dairy via the dairy industry video series Acres and Avenues. See what happens when a Los Angeles tattoo artist visits the farm—and when a Virginia Dairy farmer tries her hand at (faux) tattooing in the City of Angels.

Virginia farm families like the Florys have long been voluntarily using earth-friendly farming methods for generations. But implementing those practices can be costly, which is why Virginia Farm Bureau fights to keep incentive-based conservation programs funded so farmers can continue being great stewards of the land.