Rosalea Potter

Retail Market Manager and Working Mom.

I am the manager for our family retail market, The Cattlemen's Market, where we sell meat from our branded beef program, Buffalo Creek Beef, and also help to manage our family owned and operated processing facility where we process all of our beef.  I was born and raised on a beef cattle, sheep and turkey farm in Augusta county.  That led me to pursue a degree in agricultural education from Virginia Tech.  After graduaiton, I did a short stint with Virginia Cooperative Extension before returning to my alma matter to teach high school agriculture and be an FFA advisor.  In 2010, I met my husband Chas, who was also raised on a beef cattle farm in Rockbridge county and was actively farming and had already created Buffalo Creek Beef and just opened the processing facilty. After 6 years of teaching, I changed professions and got on board with the Potter family to start processing and marketing Buffalo Creek Beef.  

After a proposal, marriage, and 2 kids, Chas and I decided that Buffalo Creek Beef needed to continue to grow, and started down the road of creating a market where we could not only sell our fresh beef but to also sell value added beef.  In October of 2017, we opened The Cattlemen's Market which includes our fresh meat cases as well as a full kitchen where we can use our beef to make ready-to-eat meals as well as a lunch menu.  For me, being a women in the beef industry has allowed me to do the other job I love, being a mom!  Its not always easy, but I wouldn't change it for the world and I'm working hard to convince my husband that I can be a working woman and a mom at the same time.  I love that my children also get to be part of the day by day and are getting to know the in's and out's of all parts of agriculture while getting to spend time with either myself, their dad, or their grandparents because it takes all of us to keep everything running.  Hopefully, we are creating a future for them to continue in agriculture and be part of the family farm, and if they choose another career path hopefully we have instilled great work ethics and other skills that they would need in any career.  Being a part of agriculture my whole life, I've never felt there wasn't a place for me somewhere, and being the mother of 2 daughters I hope that I can instill that in them as well, and that they know that they can achieve anything they set their minds to.