For those of you who were unable to attend the Highland County fair, below you will find the virtual reality video that was shown. The video highlights several Highland County farms and a variety of agricultural production practices, as well as a prominent community event.
Special thanks to White Clover Farm, Karnes Orchard and Starlite Dairy for allowing their farms to be recorded for the project.
Dr. James Linnie owns and operates White Clover Farm, a grassfed beef operation located outside of Hillsboro, Ohio. Dr. Linnie started the farm in 2005 while he was working part-time as a gastroenterologist. Today, Dr. Linnie’s business consists of a herd of 100 percent grassfed beef that are rotated every few days to fresh pastures. The scene shown in the VR video is of Dr. Linnie moving his cattle from one section of the pasture to another. If you compare the two pastures in the video, you can clearly see the difference between which pasture the cattle have been grazing and the pasture they are going to be grazing. In fact, the cattle had only been gazing in the previous pasture for 24 hours.
The Karnes family has a history of having an orchard on their family farm since 1876. In March of 2012, the Karnes family replanted 2,200 fruit trees and in 2013 planted an additional 2,000 trees for a wider selection of fruits. Karnes Orchard now raises over 30 varieties of apples, pears, plums, peaches, and cherries. In addition to fresh fruits, fresh apple cider is available in the Karnes Orchard Market seasonally. The scene filmed in the VR video shows picking Honey Crisp apples in the orchard as well as the washing, sizing, and packaging process.
Starlite Dairy is owned and operated by Tom and Janet Shawhan near Marshall, Ohio. At Starlite Dairy, the cows are milked twice a day. During optimal weather conditions, a cow can produce an average of 80 pounds of milk a day. The milking parlor at Starlite Dairy holds 16 cows at a time and it takes between 6 to 8 minutes to complete the milking process.