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Outbyte Driver Updater FREEScan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Outbyte PC Repair FREERepair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Ashley Bridges McMurry’s path back to her family’s dairy near Shelby, North Carolina, began with devastating loss and later ran into a financial wall. The farm’s eventual shift from selling most of its Guernsey herd to making cheese was not an automatic success story: it grew from the few cows her father kept, McMurry’s cheesemaking experiments, and difficult choices about how the family could continue farming.
A childhood shaped by the family dairy
McMurry grew up working on her grandparents’ dairy near Shelby, starting with bottle calves as a child and later working alongside her grandfather, Charles Bridges. The farm was not just a workplace; it was a family legacy she would eventually try to carry forward.
The 1999 accident changed the family’s life
In 1999, while trying to catch show heifers, a bull attacked Charles Bridges and McMurry’s father, Kevin. Her grandfather died, and her father survived severe injuries after months in the hospital. McMurry returned to the farm that day to feed the calves. She later described the routine as a source of purpose during a traumatic time: “It was like therapy, and nobody else knew how to do it. In a sense, I feel like when tragic things happen people need to find a purpose.” The account appears in Successful Farming’s 2023 profile.
After recovering, Kevin took over the dairy. McMurry earned a two-year animal science degree through the North Carolina State University Agricultural Institute, worked as a veterinary technician, and continued helping on the farm.
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Why the family sold nearly all its cows
In 2011, the family’s dairy faced a separate challenge: a partner dairy was leaving the business, and the family could not afford to buy it out or continue operating in the same way alone. Kevin sold nearly the entire Guernsey herd. He kept several cows McMurry had raised and shown, leaving the family with a small foundation rather than the former herd operation.
That decision illustrates the financial reality behind the story. The reporting does not provide audited results or a full account of the farm’s finances, so it cannot establish whether the later creamery was more profitable. It does show that the old arrangement was no longer affordable and that the family had to find another model.
Turning a few retained cows into a creamery
McMurry began experimenting with cheesemaking using milk from the cows her father had kept. Her father gave her Ricki Carroll’s book Home Cheese Making, and she learned through repeated attempts, books, and advice from experts. The challenge was not simply following a recipe: she was adapting recipes for one to three gallons of milk to batches of 30 to 50 gallons. “I was trying to take recipes using 1 to 3 gallons of milk and adapt them to using 30 to 50 gallons,” she told Successful Farming.
A grant from the Rural Advancement Foundation International’s Tobacco Communities Reinvestment Fund helped the family convert an old calf-raising barn into a small stanchion parlor and cheesemaking room in 2011, according to North Carolina Field and Family. The grant supported the conversion; it does not by itself establish that the business became financially sustainable.
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McMurry developed a soft cheddar that the 2023 profile called the creamery’s best-selling cheese at the time. She has said of the early recipe, “I’ll go to my grave with that recipe.” Her account makes clear that reaching a product customers wanted took experimentation and consultation, not a single formula or overnight turnaround.
How the business differed from the former dairy
The change was from a larger dairy operation centered on the herd to a smaller, value-added farm business: keeping Guernseys, processing milk into cheese, and selling locally. The 2023 figures below describe the business as reported then, not verified current operations.
| Business phase | What the reporting establishes |
|---|---|
| Former dairy | The family sold nearly all its Guernsey herd in 2011 after a partner dairy exited and the family could not afford to buy it out or continue on its own. The sources do not give the former herd’s exact size or audited financial results. |
| Creamery described in 2023 | Successful Farming reported a dozen-plus Guernsey cows on 103 acres, with about 75% of dairy production sold as milk. Most production was sold locally through a small Saturday store. The profile also reported average attendance of 700 people at described farm events. |
Those reported figures show the shape of the model, not a profitability comparison. They also should not be read as present-day herd totals, sales shares, attendance, store hours, or inventory.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Preserving a legacy while making a different farm
In a 2023 North Carolina Farm Bureau Q&A, McMurry described herself as a third-generation farmer and said the business preserved her family’s farm history while creating a new model. She spoke of registered Guernseys and A2/A2 milk. These are her reported descriptions; they are not independent clinical evidence that the milk is easier to digest. Her statement about the purpose behind the work was direct: “After I lost my grandfather in a horrible farming accident in 1999, I made it my mission to preserve the legacy he worked so hard to create.” The Q&A is available from the North Carolina Farm Bureau.
McMurry’s story is ultimately about adapting a family farm after loss and economic pressure, not a guaranteed formula for turning hardship into business success. The evidence shows a specific path: retain a small number of cows, build cheesemaking skills through practice and expert help, and develop local sales around the farm’s products.
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