ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP AWARD
love
Labor of
Improving the land helps the Turners grow, enhance their Shorthorn herd
26 | Ohio Cattleman | Summer Issue 2021
Story & Photos by Amy Beth Graves Bouncing along in their gator, Tom and Susie Turner point out the numerous improvements made to their Perry County property over the years: new fencing, springs development, hay storage facility, improved grass and removal of invasive plants and bushes. Tom stops at the bottom of a hill and points out the last of the couple’s major improvements – fixing a gully that’s 6 feet deep at spots and looks like a giant raked its fingers through the earth. For the past 20 years, the Turners have been working hard to convert an old silica mine in Somerset into pastureland for their Shorthorns. At times it’s been daunting for the couple but determination has always trumped. With the completion of the last major project on the horizon, the Turners are looking forward to simply maintaining what they’ve worked so hard to accomplish. “People thought we should be committed for taking on this project,” Tom laughed. “At first we thought we could do it on the weekends but it became clear to us that at the rate we were going we weren’t going to get anywhere and would have to move here.” When the Turners bought the reclaimed silica mine, they were living in Columbus where Tom was a faculty member at the Ohio State University teaching animal science and Susie was executive director of the Ohio Soybean Council. In 1999 a student who knew the couple were looking for land to raise their Shorthorns tipped them off about 215 acres of reclaimed land that the mining company was going to be selling. The location was idyllic – less than an hour from where they lived, rolling hills for pasture and wooded lots. The land, which had been mined since 1975, was pretty rough in spots despite the reclamation efforts. “Because it hadn’t been mowed for years, you couldn’t tell where the gullies were. When we started mowing, I had to go ahead of Tom to spot
