Suzanne Stewart
Staff Writer
Many people in the agriculture industry today are multi-generational farmers and growers. They are following in the footsteps of parents, grandparents and great-grandparents.
Such is Michelle Wilfong, of Dunmore. She was born a farmer. The daughter of Michael Biser and Connie Biser, Wilfong was raised on the family farm in Fisher, outside of Moorefield in Hardy County.
This past Sunday, Wilfong was recognized by the West Virginia Department of Agriculture as one of five Women in Agriculture at the State Fair in Lewisburg.
As a third generation farmer, Wilfong has agriculture in her blood.
“We raised broiler chickens for Pilgrim and we also had maybe 20 cow/calf pairs,” she said. “Then I started showing market lambs through 4-H.”
To Wilfong, she officially became a farmer when she was nine years old, when her granddad, Albert Crites, saw her love of sheep and handed down his flock of sheep to her.
Growing up on the farm and helping out never felt like a chore. It was part of Wilfong’s everyday life, and she enjoyed every moment of it.
“It was just the way I grew up,” she said. “I knew that we had to go to the chicken house every morning and every evening. I never really knew any other way. My mom stayed home and took care of the chickens, so I was always out with her.”
As a child, Wilfong joined 4-H as a Clover Bud and continued in the club until she aged out. She also joined FFA in middle school and began participating in livestock shows and the ham, bacon and egg show and sale.
“I was very blessed because in Moorefield, we had a middle school FFA chapter, so actually I was able to join FFA when I was in seventh grade. I showed market lambs, market goats, market hogs, market steers and breeding heifers. Oh, and horses. I had Tennessee walking horses.”
In FFA, Wilfong rose through the ranks and was elected to a state office. As a state officer, at the age of 18, Wilfong met her future husband, Charles, who grew up a fourth-generation farmer in Dunmore.
“I was a state FFA officer when Charles received the State Farmer Award,” she said. “That’s how we met, at the state FFA Convention in Cedar Lakes.”
Charles grew up on a cattle and sheep farm and when the couple married in 2014, Wilfong moved her livestock to Dunmore and the farm grew.
“Once we got married, of course, I moved all of my cattle and sheep up and we just kind of combined our flocks,” she said.
The farm has continued to grow in the past 12 years to include 1,100 ewes, 800 brood cows and 1,000 yearling cattle, as well as CW’s Corn Maze and their store at near Cass.
The couple is now raising the fifth generation of Wilfong farmers, their son, CW, who took to the farming life like a fish to water – although he has taken a slightly different path than his parents.
“His favorite animals, currently, are goats and pigs, which is something neither one of us really grew up around,” Wilfong said. “He’s really liking the pigs. I’m super excited because he just bought his first pig. He’ll be able to raise it for the ham, bacon and egg sale come spring.”
As she reflects on her life in agriculture, Wilfong is humble about her many contributions to the industry.
“I don’t feel like I’m doing anything special,” she said. “I’m just doing what I love, what I always wanted to do which is farm and raise our family on a farm.”
When it comes to women in agriculture, Wilfong said there’s always room for more as far as she’s concerned.
“I think that a woman can do anything a man can do,” she said.
“A woman should never be afraid to take a chance.”
