Ag Services Business Opens In Highland

Unfortunately, it’s rare when a new business is started in Highland County. It’s rarer still for a young person from the county to start a business here. Matthew Trible is the exception to those norms.

“I grew up and still live in Bluegrass, Virginia. And basically, I’ve come back from Virginia Tech after graduating from the two year Ag Technology program and started a business which includes ag services, and it’s called Highland Ag  Services, hence the name.”

“Basically, what we offer is custom hay making – we make hay on shares or we charge a price per bale to make your hay, and that way you can keep all of it. We do bush hogging, livestock hauling, anything that will fit on a flatbed, and looking into getting a commercial pesticides license to spray for hire, and be legal. And then, all of our trucks and equipment are commercially insured, so that our end of the deals covered, as well as the customer’s covered, whatever, you know, if they’ve got cattle on the trailer, or tractor, it’s covered.”

He spoke more about his reasons for starting the business, and his family’s personal farming operation.

“Basically, I wanted to come back to the family farm, and in order to do that, I had to have another route of income. And as well we all know that farm equipment’s very expensive nowadays, and some of the stuff we have isn’t really justifiable. And so, if you get that nicer equipment, you can kind of help other people out, it helps them get their chores done a lot quicker and helps us get ours done a lot quicker, and just kind of spread the ball out, help everybody out through the county. But mostly I just wanted to come back and work on the family farm. And then I’ve always kind of wanted to get into custom hay, even from a young age, and that was something I could do for the county and come back and make a little bit of money at it.”

“We’ve got 430 acres in total and kind of trying to expand as well. This year we’ve got 180 steers, that we get around 500 pounds and raise them up to about 900 = 1,000 pounds. Of course we make hay and feed it, and we’ve got a few sheep- those are more for teaching our dogs how to work livestock than anything.”

For those interested in hiring Highland Ag Service:

“We’ve got a Facebook page called Highland Ag Services, they can either go on there and shoot me a message, or they can give me a phone call – that number is 540-718-6306, and if I don’t pick up just leave me a message or you can shoot me a text on that number either. Either one is fine, and I’ll get back with you soon as I can.”