Local farmers dig out fields, neighbors from snow
By Dan Roem
The February blizzard, dubbed "Snowmaggedon" by Pres. Barack Obama (D), left Northern Virginians figuring out how, exactly, they could dig out while still doing their parts to keep the local economy going.
Jay Yankey, who runs Yankey Farms in Nokesville, said he plowed 32 private driveways and “a bunch of roads” near Vint Hill Road after the weekend storm with one of his tractors, “just trying to get people out.”
At his farm, which focuses on plants, the snow is not as much of a problem as it is for dairy farmers.
“During the growing season, the cattle are grazing,” he said, adding that during the winter, farmers typically bring cattle inside barns and feed them hay.The problem the snow creates is the farmers need to create paths to the barns to transport the hay.
“It makes for a lot more work,” said Yankey. “Everything has to be done just like on a sunny day.”Local dairy farmers that lost power had to start up generators to keep their equipment running, Yankey said.
For him, the extra work meant clearing off his 8-plus foot greenhouse with a brush made out of a 1.5-inch thick PVC pipe so the roof would not collapse.That threat turned out to be a common issue for other local farmers.
Nokesville resident Dale House said the potential for snow caving in the top of his flat-roof barn at Dutch Land Farm is more concerning to him than the snow on the ground.
"We've got some pretty large equipment," he said as he explained how his vehicles have navigated across the property. "The snow's too big for some of these smaller (tractors)."
Keeping snow off the roads is a priority, however, for House as he mentioned the trucks that pick up milk need to be able to enter the farm.
"We get them in and out every night," he said.
Because House feeds his cattle year-round instead of having them graze, "they're not scrounging around for something to eat" through the snow.
House and his crew took time moving their cattle from one area to another Tuesday as they prepared for the oncoming storm that was, at the time, forecast to drop up to a foot or more of snow on top of the already two to three feet of accumulation around the area.
When asked if he saw snow like this before in Virginia, he replied, "not really," adding this particular set of storms amounts to "a good snow."
VDOT's Northern Virginia spokesperson Joan Morris said the state transportation department had 1,800 "pieces of equipment" ready in the area when the blizzard first hit over the weekend. She said private contractors made up 90 percent of the local snow-removing work force.
Priority attention for road clearing in western Prince William County went to roads like the Route 234 bypass, Interstate 66, Nokesville Road, Lee Highway and James Madison Highway. Those roads, designated by the county for immediate snow removal, are considered "snow emergency routes," which means they need to be cleared for emergency vehicles.
In all, Morris said Saturday that VDOT was already $9 million over its snow removal budget of $27 million for Northern Virginia this winter.
"(During) the last storm, we burnt through our budget," she said, referencing the Dec. 19 blizzard that blanketed the area. "But we're not going to reduce services. We're going to have to find money elsewhere from other maintenance programs."