Myles Payne is similar in many ways to the members of the Mocksville Rotary Club he spoke with on July 21 – working hard and taking pride in providing a quality product to customers.

But unlike the typical local business, Payne’s most important asset is cows and his product is milk. Payne and his family are dairy farmers.

The Payne family owns Payne Dairy Inc. near Taylorsville. They milk 200 cows twice a day, every day. On the 500-acre farm, corn, small grains, soybeans and fescue hay are raised. To dairy farmers, the ultimate reward is knowing their actions help create a healthy, abundant and affordable food supply for this community.

“We love what we do,” Payne said. “Dairy farmers across North Carolina differ in how many cows we milk and some of the ways we farm so that our methods work well for the environment, but we all share a passion for what we do. It is our responsibility to take care of the natural resources and animals on our farm and we take that responsibility with a great deal of pride and commitment.”

The family lives and works on the farm and that is a strong incentive for protecting the land, water and air. Cow comfort and health is monitored every day. Payne works with a dairy animal nutritionist to formulate the best diets for the cows and veterinarians come to the farm regularly to check on the animal’s health. Every day, advancements in animal care and milk quality methods result in better milk.

“What we do on our farm is the starting point for safe and nutritious dairy foods in the supermarket,” said Payne. “Because of this commitment at the dairy farm, people can count on wholesome dairy foods.”