September 2026
We are celebrating 130 years of Cottage Hill!
It takes hard work, determination, and the knowledge to properly steward the land to make it this long.
In October 2024, Sonny and Carole were recognized for their efforts and Cottage Hill was named the 2024 Conservation Farm of the Year - Traditional Division.
Part of this wonderful award was the use of a John Deere tractor, provided by a WV dealership. While this farm does NOT run green, the tractor was delivered and used to chop corn last fall.
Check out the snapshots and press release below.
News Release: Two Potomac Valley farms win 2024 WV Conservation Farm of the Year awards
October 24 2024
SUTTON, W.Va. -- Two Potomac Valley farms recognized for their efforts to protect soil, water and other resources received the top West Virginia Conservation Farm of the Year awards during a recognition ceremony this week in Sutton.
Cottage Hill Farm in Grant County (Traditional Farm) and Powder Keg Farms in Hampshire County (Non-Traditional Farm) received the awards during the West Virginia Conservation Partnership Conference luncheon on Tuesday afternoon.
W.C. “Sonny” and Carole Taylor own and operate Cottage Hill Farm and Gini and Brian LaMaster own and operate Powder Keg Farms.
Each farm received a $1,000 award and the use of a tractor from Middletown Tractor Sales in Fairmont, a longtime sponsor of the conservation farm awards.
Both farms have demonstrated a commitment to conservation practices that protect soil, land, water and related resources. Both are also within the Potomac Valley Conservation District.
West Virginia farms are eligible for the Conservation Farm of the Year honor after winning at the county, district and area levels. Two groups of judges visited both farms in September, as well as the other finalists’ farms, and graded them on their use of best management practices, impact on ecological systems and community-based activities.
Cottage Hill Farm was in the running with finalists the Furrow Family Farm at Waiteville in Monroe County and Dague Stock Farm at Valley Grove in Ohio County. Powder Keg Farms was in the Non-Traditional contest with In the Nook Farm of Burnsville in Braxton County and Harper Farms at Gallipolis Ferry in Mason County.
The farms in the Traditional category are more large-scale operations that include livestock like cattle, poultry, sheep and goats, as well as fruit and vegetable farming. The Non-Traditional category includes farms with small-scale horticulture practices, but ones that still may incorporate some smaller livestock.
Cottage Hill Farm, in Petersburg, is a 1,000-acre purebred Hereford cow/calf operation that also holds six broiler houses.
W.C. Taylor has implemented numerous conservation practices on the farm over many years, including no-till planting, cover crops, nutrient management, prescribed grazing and rotational grazing of cattle, and wildlife and forest friendly practices.
By rotating cattle through multiple paddocks and allowing areas of the farm to rest more than 21 days, Taylor has extended his grazing season and cut back on the date each year he would need to start feeding hay.
His use of contour strips in hillside crop fields has slowed surface water runoff, which reduces erosion and ultimately improves water quality. He was an early user of phosphorous-based nutrient application rates to protect water quality, and served on a Governor’s Water Quality Committee, due to his early adoption of conservation practices.
He took on critical area planting around the poultry houses, and used soil samples and a nutrient management plan to properly spread nutrients, which helps protect water quality. He also built a waste storage facility, or littershed, before there was cost-share funding available to build the facilities. He’s also taken on energy efficiency practices, using attic insulation, lights, heaters and doors, in the poultry houses.
The Taylors are very active in their community, having served on various farm-related boards and committees, in 4-H leadership roles and they have opened their farm up to research projects and field days in collaboration with WVU Extension.
Brad Smith of WVU Extension told judges the Taylors’ and other volunteers’ involvement in a research project helped West Virginia develop the voluntary programs that are helping the state meet its goals to protect the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
In 2019, Carole Taylor received a West Virginia Women in Agriculture award. Cottage Hill Farm also received an international Family Farm Environmental Excellence Award in 2007.
W.C. Taylor also had served for more than 40 years as a district supervisor on the Potomac Valley Conservation District.