Tag Archives: calves

Meet Bobby Maass, Cattle Producer.

Posted on January 1, 2016 by laurab08

Bobby grew up in Dinwiddie County and has been cultivating an affinity for farming since his childhood. Like many young farmers who start their own operations, he built his vision from scratch starting with just one Hereford cow in 2004. Today, alongside his wife Alicia, he manages a high-quality commercial herd of about sixty cow-calf pairs on his farm in McKenney.

What sets Bobby apart from some of his peers, young and old, is his exceptional ability to manage the forages on his farm. When Bobby started the farm, much of the acreage that is now in pasture was unimproved or full of unproductive broomstraw. On the land he owns and rents, Bobby made improvements, built fences, and applied nutrients to fix fertility issues in the soil, using management to shift pasture composition in favor of tall fescue for his animals to graze.

Establishing grass can be challenging, but keeping a pasture healthy is a battle of its own. Livestock owners who overstock animals, run out of pasture, or allow too many animals to continuously graze one area can wear out their fields in no time. To combat this, many cattle producers including Bobby enact “controlled grazing” plans to maximize forage production, grazing efficiency, and plant longevity. Bobby subdivides his pastures into small sections with temporary fencing and rotates his herd to a new section of grass every few days in accordance with the speed at which the cows utilize the space given to them. “There’s no formula to tell you how often to move them,” he says. “How often I move them depends on the lay of the land, water sources, and other factors. You put something up, get a feel for how long it lasts, and go from there.”

Bobby rotates the herd to new ground frequently to allow grazed sections to recover. “I hate to overgraze,” he says. Plants that are overgrazed have limited opportunities to photosynthesize and rebuild energy reserves in their roots, and each time leaves are repeatedly clipped off by an animal, the plant expends more of its energy reserves to push out new foliage.

While Extension specialists recommend moving animals to a new field when the grass is grazed down to a height of about four inches, visitors to Bobby’s farm in the fall will see that the spent sections in his pasture rotation have nearly a foot of leaf area left behind, sometimes more. A closer look reveals acres of uniform grazing, even manure distribution, and a manageable number of weeds. “Sometimes I think we like fescue a whole lot more than the cows do,” he jokes, noting that his cows plunder any green weeds that they find palatable in the midst of all the grass.

The strip of grass to the left of the white post has already been grazed and is recovering. In the next strip to the right of the temporary fence, a cow grazes fresh grass.

Bobby employs the practice of “stockpiling” his tall fescue—in essence, leaving some sections ungrazed from late summer to late fall—so that there is a bank full of grass available for him to use as winter approaches. Cattlemen who are unable to stockpile forages must feed large quantities of hay to get their animals through the winter, and hay feeding is one of the most costly inputs that cattle farms in Virginia encounter. In good years, Bobby rarely feeds hay because his stockpile lasts throughout the entire winter. However, he maintains an insurance policy in the form of a barn full of round bales. “If you’ve got it and you need it, you’ve still got it. If you need it and you don’t have it, you’re in trouble. I think of hay like money in the bank,” he says.

Although Bobby minimizes his dependence on hay in order to control costs for his cowherd, he maintains a reputation as a producer of high-quality horse hay, a skill he honed in his early days starting the farm.

Prior to obtaining his cows, Bobby earned a bachelor’s degree in Fire Protection and a master’s in Loss Prevention and Safety at Eastern Kentucky University. Around 2004 when he graduated, he went home and met his wife Alicia who had returned to the area after graduating from Virginia Tech and who had grown up nearly next door. To feed his small but growing herd and Alicia’s horse, Bobby started borrowing hay equipment from a neighbor. “What I was making for my cows was better than what she was buying for her horse. Next thing you know, I’m making eight thousand to ten thousand bales of horse hay a year,” he says.

Bobby and Alicia have twin daughters and a newborn baby girl, so for now, the cows take priority over the hay side of the operation. Bobby still likes to make hay, but coordinating haymaking days with his other full-time job as a captain in the Richmond Fire Department can be challenging. “I always wanted to farm, but wasn’t sure how to make a living doing it,” he says. “I figured if I was a firefighter, I’d have time to farm.” To effectively juggle both worlds, Bobby employs the help of his “right hand man on the farm,” retired crane operator Charles Wells, to check the herd and move animals from pasture to pasture.

Because the farm is spread out over several unconnected parcels of land, Bobby hauls a portable cattle handling facility to the herd when animals need to be bred, tagged, or treated. Bobby’s herd is docile and accustomed to handling thanks to frequent exposure to people when animals are moved from pasture to pasture. Mike Henry, fellow cattleman and manager of the Amelia Area Cattlemen of which Bobby is a member, agrees that controlled grazing systems help cattle become calm. “One huge benefit is socialization of the cow herds to humans—cows can be handled with ease,” he says. He believes that a management system reliant upon grazing also keeps aggressive behavior in check within the herd. “With controlled grazing you can offset the ‘boss cow syndrome’ since all the animals have equal access to feed. With hay the cows on the high end of the social structure get the best and most,” he notes.

No matter how docile a cow is, however, she can become aggressive if she feels she must protect her newborn calf. Bobby had several close calls with defensive cows when trying to catch calves to tag them for identification or to treat illnesses. “I said, ‘We can’t do this anymore,’” Bobby recalls. He searched for alternative options, stumbled upon a “calf catcher” system, and gave it a try. The system consists of a box-like enclosure which attaches to his ATV and has gates on both ends. When he approaches a calf, he can whisk it into the box, which is too large for the cow to access, and he can treat or handle the calf safely within the confines of the enclosure while the mother is allowed to stand nearby and watch. “As far as safety goes, it was money well spent. I wish I had bought it years ago,” he says.

Bobby Maass demonstrates his calf catcher which is attached to his ATV.

Bobby aims to have all his calves born within a defined season so that his cow-calf pairs can be managed together as one cohort. “It’s all fall calving,” he says. “We typically breed the first week of December artificially, and then we turn the bulls in.” To develop an effective artificial insemination program, Bobby has consulted in the past with Select Sires to develop sound pre-breeding nutrition, health, and management protocols that promote higher chances of breeding success. The A.I. program enables Bobby to diversity his herd and import genetics that meet his production goals. Having watched Bobby’s operation grow through the years, Mike Henry believes that the choice to focus on genetics is a progressive one. “In using A.I. breeding on the first cycle each year, Bobby has developed excellent pedigrees especially when you consider the A.I. influence in the heifers he buys—a number of them have several generations of A.I.,” he says. “In addition, his herd reflects a lot of Knoll Crest Farm pedigrees which has resulted in a tremendous phenotypic uniformity,” Mike notes.

Bobby Maas (right) discusses forage management strategies with Mike Henry (left), manger of the Amelia Area Cattlemen of which Bobby is a member.

In his role as manager of the Amelia Area Cattlemen, Mike Henry has a big-picture view of the growth and changes cattle producers have undergone in the past few decades across Southside Virginia. Mike coordinates heifer development programs for members of the Amelia group and plans an annual Virginia Premium Assured bred heifer sale which takes place each year at Knoll Crest Farm in Red House, Virginia during the Bennett family’s spring bull sale. Over the years, Mike has seen the development of “phenotypic uniformity” within herds and even between herds across the region thanks to a sustained influx of front-line genetics from purchased Knoll Crest Farm bulls and Amelia Area Cattleman heifer consignments.

James Bennett (right) of Knoll Crest Farm joins Bobby Maass (left) and Charles Wells (center) to take a look at the herd.

Bobby Maass himself became intrigued by the Virginia Premium Assured Heifer program and Knoll Crest Farm bull sales in the early years of his farm’s development. He purchased his first heifers from the spring sale in 2005 and now returns regularly to buy Knoll Crest bulls or bred heifers consigned by his peers from the Amelia Area Cattlemen. “He can purchase the type of heifer he wants, he can buy heifers with bull fetuses to be able to turn the money around, he can buy heifers that will calve before mid-September in order to breed them back in early December with A.I., and he can concentrate on buying the best bull genetics without having to consider birth weight EPDs since he will be breeding cows, not heifers,” Mike Henry says. Furthermore, “He can save on the additional expenses of developing his own heifers,” he notes.

Bobby Maass (left), James Bennett (middle), Mike Henry (middle), and Charles Wells (right) take a trip out to the field to visit Bobby’s herd.

Cattle operations, specifically cow-calf operations like Bobby’s, are an integral part of Dinwiddie’s agricultural economy. Just ask Mike Parrish, senior agriculture and natural resources Extension agent for the county. “These operations we have help diversify many full-time and part-time farm operations,” Mike Parrish says. However, land resources can sometimes be difficult to access. “Availability of productive pasture and hay ground a big challenge. Competition with cash crop production acres and residential growth has limited acres for livestock operations to start or expand,” he says. “But, there is a mindset of change with some landowners favoring pasture and hay land production. Hopefully our producers can benefit in future from this potential change,” he says.

Many cattle producers turn to the Dinwiddie Extension office for assistance. “A majority of our calls from current and new producers are related to forage management,” Mike says. When cattle producers need help managing their land resources, he connects them with programs and services to help them succeed. “Our office conducts farm tours and pasture walks in conjunction with Extension and Soil and Water Conservation District programming with our beef and forage specialists. Our office also works with Extension specialists to recommend area beef and forage programming at the nearby Southern Piedmont Agricultural Research and Extension Center,” he says.

Mike Parrish has served as an agent for twenty-two years and thus is well acquainted with the ups and downs that cattle producers like Bobby face. “When Bobby was starting his expansion of the family farm, he did a great job in thinking though his plan to make it work. He spent a lot of time getting information from several sources—both from Extension and from members of the Amelia Area Cattlemen. He was very determined to make it work and didn’t let a few setbacks deter him,” he says. “He had several challenges to overcome with turning forest land into highly productive pasture ground in such a short time. His hard work and willingness to try new techniques has helped him be successful,” Mike notes.

Mike Henry echoes the words of Mike Parrish in describing Bobby’s business growth and success. “He has developed a sound management system—he has sought out information, asked good questions, stayed with the program, and evaluated costs and benefits,” he says. Mike, who retired from Extension before managing the Amelia Area Cattlemen, is forever an agent at heart and thus applauds great cattle management when he sees it, adding, “Bobby developed an excellent forage based system—he strip grazes almost year round, maximizes forage quality, has a sound vaccination program, and uses mineral supplementation. He keeps good production records.”

Bobby himself may have his hands full balancing his firefighting career, a long commute, and his family, but the vision he had for the farm when he and Alicia purchased their first few heifers is now a reality, and by all accounts, he is doing what he loves with great proficiency. After all, he says, “The cows have always been where I want to be.”

Photo by Bobby Maass of his wife Alicia Maass and his daughters out on the farm.

Photo by Bobby Maass

Additional Resources for Readers:

Amelia Area Cattlemen

Virginia Cattlemens Association

Virginia Forage and Grassland Council

Virginia Cooperative Extension Beef Resources

Meet Ameva Farm.

Posted on June 13, 2015 by laurab08

Jimmy and Donna Kerr stand in their freestall barn where the milking herd lives. The barn is built for cow comfort: fans and sprinklers keep cows cool, and the cows can rest on sand bedding, socialize, or get up to eat as they please.

Jimmy and Donna Kerr run the Amelia County dairy operation today, but it was originally established several generations ago as a crop and tobacco farm. In 1948, Jimmy’s grandfather drove to Wisconsin and returned with thirteen registered Guernseys, the start of the first dairy herd at the operation. The herd soon moved across the road, where a milking facility and barns were constructed.

The dairy herd at Ameva Farm was founded with Guernseys, but today it consists of black-and-white Holsteins. Holsteins are a highly productive dairy breed and are used on most milking herds in the U.S.

Several decades after his grandfather set the foundation for the dairy farm and the herd eventually shifted in favor of Holsteins, Jimmy went to study at Virginia Tech and met his wife Donna in the Dairy Science program. After graduating in 1982 and returning to the farm to start a family, they helped their son Alex and their daughter Jamie develop a passion for showing dairy animals at a young age. Donna recounts the story of Jamie watching her big brother prepare calves for shows and earnestly anticipating her turn to be old enough to participate, only to fall off of a gate the day before the show. She was determined to have her turn in the show ring despite the setback. “She broke her arm, but the next day she was showing!” Donna and Jimmy remark. Both Jamie and Alex continued to raise and show cattle throughout their youth and remained active in the Virginia Junior Holstein Association for a number of years. Today, Alex helps manage the operation alongside his father.

Ameva Farm operates much like other family dairy farms in the state. The 200-head milking herd goes to the parlor twice each day, once at 3:30 in the morning and again at 2:00 in the afternoon. Farm employees Homer Neese and Lane Staten help Jimmy with milking. When they are not being milked, the cows live in a freestall barn where they can come and go from feed to sand bedding as they please. Keeping the cows content and comfortable requires someone willing to mix feed, bed up the barn, and scrape manure out of the aisles daily. “These cows are our livelihood,” Donna says, noting that cow welfare directly affects the farm’s bottom line. “If they are not in good health and well fed, we don’t make money.” To help with the chores, Jimmy and Donna enlist the help of assistant herdsman Chief Moore, Joel Linthicum and part-time help John Sloan and Tommy Glover. Chief’s wife Donna also helps feed calves. “It takes a village to raise a cow,” Donna jokes.

The calves on the farm require special care of their own. Like any newborns, they can become sick if they are stressed or malnourished, so they are fed four doses of colostrum in the first two days after birth to ensure good transfer of disease immunity from their dams. The calves are then fed a milk replacer which functions akin to baby formula to provide calves with the nutrition they need. Calves are kept in a special barn to protect them from contact with diseases, and as they grow older, they are put in a larger group to help them learn to socialize with a herd.

Calves at Ameva Farm receive special care after birth to ensure a good start. As they grow older, they learn to eat pelleted feed and hay.

Throughout their time in the calf barn, calves have access to a pelleted feed. As calves grow, they choose to consume more of this feed in preparation for weaning at seven weeks of age. Older calves become heifers—the teenagers of the cattle world—and when they approach maturity, they are bred and eventually enter the milking herd. Cows in the milking herd give birth to calves, produce milk for several months, and enjoy a “dry period” of rest before the next calf arrives.

Like most dairy farmers, the Kerrs grow much of their feed right on the farm including small grains and corn for silage and grain. They also grow brown midrib sudangrass which turns into an easily-digestible silage for the cows after it is chopped and stored. Jimmy uses modern soil conservation practices on his farm for his crop production program. “My grandfather was big into soil conservation. We carried those practices on,” he says. “Conservation is a big thing for us.” On Ameva, improved practices include contour strips and no-till farming to promote healthy soil. “You can’t buy topsoil at Wal-Mart,” Donna notes.

The Kerrs grow most of their feed right on the farm. Some of their crops are grown for silage and some are used for grain. Small grains grow in the fall through spring. Corn and sudgangrass grow during the spring and summer. Both can be chopped and ensiled at harvest time and fed to the milking herd.

Jimmy’s son Alex helps with the field work and crop management, which occurs year-round since small grains grow in the fall through spring and corn grows in the summer. And, of course, the cows need to be milked and fed year-round.

The Kerr family dedicates a considerable amount of each day to farm work. “We have 9-10 hour days, and that’s typical,” Donna says. “Milking cows is almost an 8-hour day, and that’s just milking.” Nonetheless, Jimmy and Donna place a high value on taking time to educate others about agriculture. Donna recounts one particular youth education program years ago that motivated her to take action. “My first question to the kids was, ‘Where does milk come from?’ I kept hearing, ‘The grocery store! The grocery store!’” she says. “I came home and said, ‘We have to do something!’ These are our future regulators and legislators.”

Agricultural education has been a keystone of the farm since the day the Kerrs first hosted schoolchildren on a field trip when their son Alex entered kindergarten. “We’ve had lots of different tour groups from boy scouts to school children,” Jimmy says. In recent years, schools like Spring Run Elementary have chosen to return annually. Donna notes that well over half of the U.S. population is three or more generations removed from farming, so naturally many children and adults have misunderstandings about how their food is produced. The tours and question-and-answer sessions seem to have made an impact over the years. “Sometimes there’s a lightbulb moment for them,” Jimmy says.

Cows are brought to the milking parlor twice each day. Each cow is milked for several minutes, and afterwards, she is able to return to the barn to eat, rest, or socialize. Meanwhile, the Kerrs and their employees clean and sanitize the parlor equipment after every milking.

Donna and Jimmy’s roles in the community have given them ample opportunities to share their farm with adults, too. They have given dairy tours to representatives of several government agencies. Donna also believes that the teachers who tour the farm with their classes can go home armed with knowledge to teach many more children about farming.

Not all students and adults have the opportunity to visit the operation in Amelia, but that does not deter Donna from sharing her message outside of the farm, especially to the state’s decision-makers. In her role as past President of Amelia County Farm Bureau and her time serving on the state Forestry and Natural Resources Committee, Donna has developed rapport with legislators and their aides who sometimes contact her to ask questions about agricultural issues raised by the public. “You never know who you can affect,” Donna says.

When they are not busy on the farm or performing agricultural outreach, Jimmy and Donna still find time to engage with industry groups. Donna is on the board of the Piedmont Soil and Water Conservation District and was an advisor to the Virginia Junior Holstein Association for too many years to count. Meanwhile, Jimmy is the president of Cooperative Milk Producers and was also involved with the Virginia Holstein Association.

Back at Ameva Farm, Jimmy and Donna want consumers to know that they raise a product that they believe in. Even though farm life is busy, they are happy to help others learn about their occupation. To instill confidence in the dairy industry as she tells her farm story, Donna relates that her family is committed to their own product. “We’re consumers too. I think people forget that perspective. We believe in dealing with our customers,” she says. To the Kerrs, producing a good product and sharing it with others is not simply a business—it is a lifelong passion.

Additional Resources for Readers:

Learn about Dairy Farming from Virginia Cooperative Extension

National Dairy Council

Virginia State Dairymen’s Association

Virginia Holstein Association

Meet Bluestem Farms.

Posted on April 30, 2015 by laurab08

While in past years the Amelia County operation has been home to a herd of Kiko goats and several outstanding performance-tested bucks, Robie and Angie Robinson and their children have spent the past twelve years shifting their focus towards growing and improving their sheep and cattle herds.

Like many farmers, the Robinsons raise a little bit of everything to sustain their family—chickens, meat from their livestock, and a large garden with everything from asparagus to onions. While they also finish, harvest, and sell some meat to a group of local customers, they market most of their animals including their weaned feeder calves conventionally on the livestock market as most local cattlemen do.

However, their cowherd is rather unique—it consists primarily of Devons, not to be confused with Milking Devons which are also rare in this area. Devons are a hardy, red-coated breed from England and they come in the relatively small to moderate frame size that Robie maintains as a goal for his breeding program. He pays particular attention to the genetics of his herd through bull selection and culling. Because he relies on a forage-based production system, he wants cows that are programmed to efficiently convert grass to milk for their calves and he wants beef calves that grow well on a grass-based diet. Like the many other cow-calf operations in the region, most of the calves will be weaned and sold as “feeder calves” to buyers who will take them elsewhere for more growth and “finishing” prior to harvest. However, since Robie finishes some of his own animals on grass and harvests them for customers, he pays particular attention to carcass quality traits when he selects bulls for his program.

While driving past Bluestem, it is hard to miss the Robinsons’ herd of sheep. After all, relatively few people in Southside Virginia still raise sizable herds of sheep. Robie made the transition after he noticed more desirable marketing opportunities for his sheep than for his goats, and today he raises them primarily for the Easter market, a prime window for selling lambs.

Like his beef herd, Robie’s sheep are also unique. His ewes are mostly Katahdins, a breed of hair sheep that requires no shearing because the animals shed their coats in the spring. Katahdins have been recognized for their success on grass, high fertility, and adaptability to a variety of conditions, making them an excellent fit for the Robinsons and their forage-based grazing management program. While some breeds traditionally lamb indoors and require special care to ensure good mothering and survival immediately after lambing, Katahdins are well-suited for “pasture lambing,” and Robie notes that he rarely has to provide any assistance to his ewes at lambing time.

As with his cattle, he uses careful culling as a tool to reach towards his goals for herd genetics. Ewes that fail to produce and raise twins are generally removed in favor of ewes who are predisposed to prolific lambing and good mothering traits. He also culls in favor of sound feet and easy shedding. The Robinsons have managed to import desirable genetics into the herd via purchasing performance-tested rams from University of Maryland and Virginia Tech.

Sheep are notorious for wearing out pastures and cattle can be equally hard on forages if producers do not manage their grazing systems carefully. Since the Robinsons rely on grass to do all the legwork for growth and milk production for both species, they have prioritized pasture care on the operation to meet their needs. Robie has a few goats in every field with the sheep because they tend to graze onions and some of the other hard-to-control broadleaf weeds that sheep may pass over.

While he used to apply conventional fertilizer regularly, Robie’s philosophy on fertility management has shifted over the years and today he prefers to rely mostly on chicken litter when it is needed. However, when using litter, he notes that he must take care not to overload the field with certain nutrients, especially phosphorous. Like all farmers, he occasionally needs to lime his fields to adjust the soil pH. He manages his grazing strategy according to conditions—in some cases, he chooses to “flash graze” his fields to manage bouts of rapid spring top growth.

A visit to the Robinson farm yields a blue-green view of plentiful orchardgrass throughout the sheep pastures. Orchardgrass is a high-quality, highly-palatable species that also makes excellent hay. However, if it is mowed or grazed repeatedly close to the ground, it does not tend to persist. Robie uses a haybine instead of a disc mower when he cuts his fields for hay, and over the years he has seen that his orchardgrass has thrived and persisted for much longer than expected.

Mixed with the orchardgrass is some hairy vetch and plentiful clover, much of which turned up in the pasture on its own. Robie planted some stands of hybrid Bermuda grass experimentally in past years and those stands remain productive each summer. He has also planted Red River and Quick and Big crabgrass, both of which make excellent forage and seem to reseed themselves readily.

Bluestem has changed considerably over the past twelve years, as have Robie and Angie’s production strategies. Robie used to engage in row crop production before favoring livestock—the farm as it stands today was started with twelve registered angus cattle. Around the same time that Robie gained an interest in Devons and Katahdins, he also shifted his paradigm surrounding farm management in favor of grass ecology and robust soil microorganisms. “I was a cattleman, then I was a grass farmer, now I’m a mycologist,” he jokes. Nonetheless, his goals for building healthy land and soil are serious, and the proof is in the results—healthy lambs and calves, green pastures, and happy customers.

Additional Resources for Readers:

Sheep and Goat publications from Virginia Cooperative Extension

Beef cattle publications from Virginia Cooperative Extension

Pasture and forage publications from Virginia Cooperative Extension

Breed profile: Katahdin sheep

Breed profile: Devon cattle

Bluestem Farms

Meet Whit and Jennifer Morris.

Posted on March 20, 2015 by laurab08

Their farm business took shape in 2003 when they bought land in Blackstone to support their cowherd. Around this time, Jennifer was an Extension agent in Nottoway and Whit also had a career in agriculture. As the business grew, Jennifer made the transition to caring for the farm full-time, and Whit joins her to manage the farm outside of his job.

Today, the family runs a commercial herd comprised mostly of Angus and Gelbvieh crosses. The farm is primarily a cow-calf operation, meaning that Whit and Jennifer breed their cows and heifers each year, raise the nursing calves to weaning age, and sell the calves after weaning time. They choose some of their heifer calves to stay in their breeding herd. They also send some of their animals to annual Virginia Premium Assured Heifer sales and Virginia Quality Assured feeder calf sales in conjunction with the Amelia Area Cattlemen, a local producer group.

While the calves born on the Morris farm may eventually go on to a feedlot for the last few months before harvest, these calves and their dams spend a considerable portion of their lives out on grass. In fact, the many cattlemen who run cow-calf operations in Virginia know that the most efficient and economical way to manage cows and their offspring from calving time to weaning time is on pasture—pasture which, Whit and Jennifer have learned firsthand, requires strategic management if it is to meet the demands of lactating cows and large, growing calves.
Cattle producers can feed hay to meet the animals’ forage requirements when grass is not growing in the summer or when it goes dormant in the winter, but the cost of making or buying hay can far exceed the cost of maintaining a good stand of grass. To minimize the number of days that they must feed hay and to maximize the health, efficiency, and productivity of their pastures, Whit and Jennifer have spent the last several years building and improving a controlled grazing system to take full advantage of the tall fescue, clover, Bermuda grass, and other species growing on their land.

Their grazing plan changes throughout the year according to conditions and forage growth habits. In the summer, the cattle follow a “rotational grazing” system. In this system, the pastures are subdivided and animals are given access to one area at a time. Jennifer moves the cattle to a new area when the grass is grazed to a critical height. If cattle stay in one place too long and graze forages too closely, grasses lose nearly all of their leaf area. They then have to expend their root reserves to supply energy for sending out more leafy growth, and they tend to bounce back slowly even when given a rest period. If Jennifer pulls the cattle off of each paddock before the cattle overgraze it, the grasses have enough leaf area left behind to fuel fast regrowth through photosynthesis.

In the cold months, the farm switches to a “strip grazing” system to make use of the tall fescue which was grown in the fall months and saved or “stockpiled” for the winter. Strip grazing offers benefits similar to rotational grazing, but unlike a rotation in which animals are moved from fenced paddock to paddock, strip grazing entails setting up a temporary fenceline and moving the animals’ fenceline further and further down the paddock as the animals consume what is offered to them. Each time Whit and Jennifer move the fence and provide access to a fresh part of the pasture, the animals consume the available forage far more evenly and efficiently than they would if they had simply been turned out continuously on the entire area at once.

In a continuous grazing system, animals access the entire available pasture at all times, and, due to behavior and preferences, end up overgrazing some areas and underutilizing others, resulting in changes to both the health and the quality of the forages. Animals also tend to congregate and loaf in the same areas each day, concentrating nutrients from manure in these areas. To complicate matters, many parts of the pasture can never adequately rest from overgrazing and the stand of grass eventually becomes weak.

Both of the grazing strategies that Whit and Jennifer employ—rotation and strip grazing—have well-documented advantages over continuous grazing including more even nutrient distribution, higher pasture utilization, and more efficient use of available forages. Whit and Jennifer have also seen a significant downsize in hay feeding requirements because their management strategies create highly productive pastures and lengthen the number of days that forage remains available during the winter.

A cattle producer who does not have enough available pasture or who does not use a controlled grazing plan may end up feeding hay to pick up the slack during the summer, in the late fall, and all throughout the winter if the pastures become weak or overgrazed. This can quickly become expensive, and Whit and Jennifer have been grateful that their pasture management plan has brought relief from a portion of their hay costs. “We didn’t feed hay til the snow this year,” Jennifer notes. In a typical year, she also feeds some hay in the fall so that pastures can build some growth and later be used for winter grazing. “We might feed hay around the end of October or first of November while the stockpiled fescue is growing,” she says.

Enacting rotational grazing or strip grazing may sound like plenty of work on its own, but to Jennifer, it beats the labor and fuel associated with making hay. “We cut hay when absolutely necessary, and if we don’t need to cut it, we bush hog the extra to save the nutrients for later,” she says. In the business of raising cattle, “there’s enough work in it already with maintaining fences,” says Jennifer.

A good grazing plan may save on hay, but some people worry that adopting an intensive plan may rack up fencing costs in the short-term, trading away the economic benefits of reducing labor, fuel, and fertilizer for haymaking. However, Jennifer has advice for graziers who wish to adopt a sensible controlled grazing plan for the sake of reaping the long-term benefits. “Keep fencing simple,” she offers. “Use good outside perimeter fencing and cross-fence with a simple single wire—a few T-posts, a few wooden posts, and your wire. The worst that can happen is mostly some calves might get into the next paddock and graze more. It doesn’t have to be built to government specs.”

People who have limited time or who are not yet ready to jump on board with strip grazing can benefit even from simply dividing a pasture in half and rotating cows between halves—many who start this way later choose to subdivide pastures further, including the Morris family. “We went from one paddock to seven in Blackstone using the available water,” Jennifer says in reference to the developments she and Whit made on the farm soon after they purchased it.

What is next for the Morris farm? Whit and Jennifer hope to address some challenges plaguing herds in Southside Virginia including their troubles with fescue toxicosis, a problem caused by a symbiotic organism living in tall fescue grass which can cause physiological stress on cattle. For now, they provide as much shade as possible to relieve some of this stress in the summertime. In the future, Jennifer and Whit also would like to incorporate more clover into their pastures for both its nutritional benefits and its nitrogen-fixing abilities. Frost seeding may be on the agenda when winter comes back around.

For now, the farm is thriving and the care and attention spent on grazing management is paying off. The farm has even recently been used as an educational resource during grazing schools offered by the Virginia Forage and Grassland Council and Virginia Cooperative Extension. The grass may have just begun to green up thanks to a cold, sluggish March, but come spring and summer, the pasture rotation will be in full swing, and the Morris family eagerly awaits the chance to get their cattle back on some good grass. To the animals, who have learned that the grass really is greener on the far side of the polywire, the presence of Whit or Jennifer coming to open the gate to the next field elicits equal excitement.

Additional Resources for Readers:

Pasture and Forage Publications from Virginia Cooperative Extension

Planning Fencing Systems for Controlled Grazing

Controlled Grazing of Virginia’s Pastures

Amelia Area Cattlemen

VA Beef Cattle Programs

Meet Maple Dell Farm.

Posted on January 9, 2015 by laurab08

Introduction: We normally feature Virginia farms, but rules can be broken! I recently visited my hometown and met with the Patrick family at their nearby farm. I also have a bit of a personal connection to their story—Caitlin and Derek Patrick were in the same 4-H program that I was, and I saw the family at the Howard County Fair each year where we all exhibited our livestock.–Laura Siegle

The 160-cow dairy, a fixture in the Howard County farm landscape, is one of the last of its kind in Howard County, Maryland. Nonetheless, a typical day on the farm for the Patrick family at Maple Dell is much like life on any of the many family-run dairies scattered across the state. The cows walk to the milking parlor twice each day, and each cow’s udder is cleaned and milked over the course of several minutes.

Unlike cows, who eat a mixed ration, calves on dairies like Maple Dell drink milk or milk replacer and are slowly transitioned to a diet of “calf starter” and hay as they grow so that they can develop healthy rumens.

In between trips to the parlor and judicious equipment cleanup after each milking, there is no shortage of chores. Each day, the family must blend a ration consisting of farm-grown silage, hay, grain, and minerals and deliver it to the barns. This dairy ration, calculated with precision according to the needs of the cows and the nutrient makeup of each ingredient, consists largely of forages like hay and silage to keep each cow’s digestive tract and rumen microbes healthy.

Manure is cleaned out of the barn regularly to create a clean, comfortable environment for the milking herd. In fact, in one barn, the cows have free access to enter and leave a set of “free stalls” bedded deeply with sand. In another barn, the “pack barn,” cows can lie down as they please on a thick layer of shavings. The Patrick family knows that good housing that enhances “cow comfort,” as the industry calls it, leads to happy, healthy, and productive cows.

Like most dairies, the Patrick family raises their calves in hutches that provide shelter and enable individualized feeding and monitoring of each animal. Heifer calves which have been weaned live together as they grow to breeding and calving age. Aside from caring for the animals, the family also must manage the crops they grow which include corn, soybeans, barley, wheat, triticale, alfalfa, timothy hay, and orchard grass hay.

Maple Dell certainly looks a typical dairy in its day-to-day functions, but its tradition of exhibiting top-notch cattle and supporting the Howard County 4-H program is rather extraordinary. Although most of the herd consists of Holsteins, one of the most common dairy breeds, one third of the cattle are red-and-white Ayrshires. The family exhibits both breeds. In fact, the Patrick family has been showing cattle for the past seventy years ever since David and James Patrick began taking their Ayrshires to fairs. Most recently, Maple Dell cattle have gone locally to the Howard County Fair, the Maryland Spring Show, and the Maryland State Fair. At the State Fair, the family has brought the Holstein Senior Best Three Females for two years in a row.

The Patricks have also traveled to the prestigious All-American Dairy Show and the World Dairy Expo. Their cattle have undergone the “classification” process which objectively appraises animals for a variety of traits on a 1-100 point scale. The outstanding EX-95 classification that has been assigned to three Holsteins and one Ayrshire bred by Maple Dell is a testament to the quality of the cattle the family produces.

Calf hutches provide shelter during cold winter weather.

It would be remiss to look at the farm’s breeding and showing achievements without acknowledging its contribution to the county’s 4-H program. The 4-H program in Howard County has long been a standout opportunity for youth to gain skills ranging from robotics to livestock judging. Farms in the county have dwindled and dairy farms are far more rare, but thanks to the Patrick family, youth with or without farming backgrounds have the opportunity to lease dairy heifers and exhibit them in the Howard County Fair, an event where the 4-H program shines and youth showcase their skills and projects over the course of a week in front of thousands of attendees from the community.

This cow and her herd mates are lying down on a bed of sand. Cows can enter and exit these bedded “free stalls” as they please to go eat, drink, or socialize.

For many years the Patricks have organized a dairy club education and showing program. Youth who join can keep their leased heifer at the farm if they do not have their own facilities. Twenty or thirty heifers from Maple Dell are leased out to children through this program each year. 4-H members who lease a heifer must keep detailed “project records” on their animal, including notes on care and reports on expenditures, and preparing the heifers for the fair is certainly is nothing short of a project. Heifers must first learn to be handled and walk quietly when led. They must also be brushed, bathed, and clipped, among other tasks. The process instills responsibility, confidence, and character in youth who participate in the process from start to finish.

The Patrick family is deeply rooted in their passion for excelling in their business, serving the industry, and engaging youth in agricultural production. This tradition was built by the dedication of parents and grandparents who had high expectations for their cattle and appreciated the value of 4-H programs, and today, the Patrick children and grandchildren carry on the tradition. Walk through the Howard County Fair in August, and you just might spot a barn aisle full of Maple Dell calves napping in the straw after a bath and waiting on their turn in the show ring.

Additional Resources for Readers:

Article about the 4-H leasing program at Maple Dell here

Article about Ayrshires at Maple Dell here

Dairy cattle resource from Virginia Cooperative Extension here

University of Maryland 4-H Program here

Meet Richlands Dairy Farm.

Posted on May 30, 2014 by laurab08

Like many farmers in Southside Virginia, the Jones family had been growing tobacco since the 1700s, but all of that changed three generations ago when Ray Jones came back to the farm after spending some time in Tazewell, Virginia. He renamed the farm “Richlands” after a town in that county and decided that dairy farming was the future of the family. Ray still lives and works on the farm with his wife, Shirley. Today, he is joined by his son Hugh and daughter-in-law Tracey, along with his granddaughter Coley, grandson Thomas who graduated from Virginia Tech’s Dairy Science program alongside his wife Brittany, and several other members of the Jones family.

Located in Blackstone right along the county line between Dinwiddie and Nottoway, the farm is one of few remaining in the region. Most of Virginia’s dairy production takes places in the Shenandoah Valley, west towards Franklin County, or down in Southwest Virginia.

Nonetheless, Richlands shares some common traits with dairies in these more distant areas. The milking herd consists of about Holstein 230 cows. The farm now milks twice a day like most other producers, although at one time the cows were milked three times per day.

Cow line up to get milked on both raised sides of the parlor; the milking staff stands at eye level with the machines while they are on the cow (above). Unlike most parlors, some of the milking system is housed in a basement below the parlor (below). The milk is cooled and stored temporarily in a bulk tank before pickup (bottom).

Unlike most dairies, parts of the parlor’s milking system are housed in a basement below the parlor, making for a much quieter milking experience for the cows and farm staff working upstairs. Cows that are brought in for milking only spend ten minutes or less with the machine attached before milking is completed and they are able to walk back to the barn to eat, drink, rest, or socialize.

Cows may freely choose to walk to this end of the barn to eat the ration that is delivered to them.

The barn for the milking herd at Richlands is also rather unique. In contrast to a traditional barn which is usually long with open sides with one or two long feed alleys and a middle row of raised stalls with dividers where cows can lie down, the “pack barn” at the farm consists of a high, light roof and a large, open, rectangular bedded area where cows can lie down to rest wherever they please instead of choosing an individual stall. The cows are walked from the barn to the adjacent parlor area at milking time. To eat, the cows walk to the feed aisle, stick their heads through an opening, and eat a mixture of silage, hay, grain, and other feeds that is specially formulated with the help of a dairy nutrition consultant. Ration formulation for milk cows requires precision and a deep understanding of digestive physiology and animal nutrition. Too much or two little of certain nutrients can cause the cow to drop in milk production, lose weight, or get sick; too many unnecessary ingredients can drive up costs.

This handful of “TMR,” or “total mixed ration” for the cows, primarily contains forages such as corn silage and hay. Grain and other feeds may be added to create a balanced diet that meets the nutritional demands of a lactating cow.

The consultant helps the farm keep the ration in balance while juggling changing ingredient availability and costs. Main ingredients like corn silage, hay, and triticale are grown on the farm. Sometimes the ration can contain ingredients like soybean meal, beet pulp, or brewers grains, which result when raw grains and other items are processed for other purposes, but these “by-product feeds” are excellent sources of nutrition for cattle and have the added benefit of preventing waste. Contrary to the belief that milk cows are only fed grain, cows require a high level of forage in their diets, some of which they obtain from corn silage and hay in their feed and some of which they eat when they are let out to graze on available pasture. The growing heifers, which will join the cows after they are old enough to have calves, spend nearly all of their time grazing, as do the “dry cows.” Each cow at Richlands is given a “dry” period of about two months during which she is not milked. This gives her udder a chance to recover and rebuild and allows her to rest as she prepares to have her next calf so that milk production begins again.

When a calf is born at Richlands, caretakers ensure that it receives colostrum, the first milk containing antibodies from the cow, within a few hours. Although some farms opt to keep calves in stalls or hutches with individual exercise areas, Richlands uses a group housing system where all of the calves eat, rest, and socialize together in large pens. The calf barn is kept clean and freshly bedded to reduce the chances of disease. Calves are very curious and quickly learn to recognize that humans are the bearers of milk. As they grow larger, they learn to eat forages and grains and eventually transition to a new area of the farm where they are able to graze with other older heifers. To increase efficiency and enhance the effectiveness of their calf nutrition program, the Jones family is considering the possibility of using an automatic feeder in the calf barn that tracks and regulates each calf’s consumption and allows them to drink multiple times throughout the day.

In a region of Virginia dominated by soybean, wheat, barley, beef cattle, and tobacco production, dairying has become rare. It is even rarer to find a dairy that has adapted to changing times and changing technologies like Richlands has. The family has also willingly become a knowledge resource to the community in recent years by allowing students to visit for field trips and loaning out calves for agricultural education events in the area, and the farm employs some local teenagers who are able to gain valuable work skills.

Ray’s original dream for his family when he returned to the Virginia farm was right on track. Dairy really was—and is—the future for the Jones family, and anyone who has met them can see the legacy they are creating. But even to passing drivers on 460 who will never meet Ray, Shirley, Hugh, or anyone else from the farm, the cutout wooden farm sign in the shape of Holstein cows on the end of the driveway serves as a reminder that the food in the grocery store comes from families across the state who have a lifelong passion for farming.

Additional Resources for Readers:

Virginia Tech Department of Dairy Science

VT Dairy-home of the dairy Extension program

Answers to Common Questions about Dairy Farming

Dairy Farming Today-FAQs about dairy farming

Virtual Dairy Farm for kids

Meet Robert Harper, Cattle Producer.

Posted on January 24, 2014 by laurab08

Robert manages cattle as part of a partnership called Cross River Farms, LLC. Robert’s operation is located at Dungeness Farm, which has fascinating roots in early American history. Dungeness was built by Isham Randolph in the early 1700s, and Thomas Jefferson’s mother was raised there. Today at the Goochland farm, Robert specializes in several aspects of cattle production. In addition to running a cow-calf operation that includes Red Angus cattle, he custom-raises Holstein heifers for a nearby dairy farm. He also manages a group of females for the Amelia Area Cattlemen Heifer Development Program. Heifers in this program are produced and owned by individual livestock producers from across the region, but they are brought together to live at Cross River after they are weaned. They are bred in December and undergo further development through the winter. In the spring, most return to the herds on their home farms where they were born. A few are sold in April to buyers looking for high-quality females for their cow-calf herds.

To keep up with so many cattle, Robert must carefully manage his feeding program to ensure that he has adequate pasture and hay available to the cattle throughout the year. Because each set of cattle on his farm has a unique purpose, Robert must tailor his feeding and management to suit the needs of each particular group. His brood cows in his cow-calf herd need enough energy and protein from feed to produce milk for their calves from birth until weaning. The calves, in turn, need to grow steadily before and after weaning so that they will perform well at a finishing operation later in life and provide high-quality beef for consumers.

However, the young female calves in the heifer development herd require a different approach. Unlike their counterparts that will not remain in a herd for many years and must instead reach a robust “finished” weight in a timely fashion, the heifers need to grow at a more moderate pace. The young heifers must build bone, fat, and muscle tissue at a rate that promotes longevity and sound reproductive traits in preparation for a future career living on pasture and raising their own calves on a cow-calf breeding operation. To meet this goal, the heifers are run on pasture and receive a daily ration of silage, commodity feeds, hay and grain to grow and mature in preparation for breeding. Robert periodically weighs the Cross River heifers to gauge their growth and make management decisions.

Once the heifers reach an appropriate age and body size and undergo a reproductive soundness check from a veterinarian, they are ready to be bred. Robert Harper and the rest of his fellow cattle producers in Virginia have the option to use a live bull for breeding or rely on artificial insemination. Both options follow the natural cycle for cattle reproduction, allowing females to produce one calf each year as they would do if left to their own devices. After breeding, cows remain pregnant for nine months before calving, and the calf nurses the cow on pasture for several months before it is weaned.

Unlike most horses and sheep which only can be bred during certain seasons, cattle cycle naturally throughout the entire year. However, instead of leaving the bull with the herd full-time and allowing heifers and cows to get pregnant and calve sporadically, producers aim to confine calving to a single season, often the fall, so that calves within a herd are all of approximately the same age and can receive the same health treatments such as vaccinations at the same time. This practice reduces stress on the animals by limiting the number of times that the herd must be brought in close proximity to humans for handling. For these reasons, Robert and the Amelia Area Cattlemen choose to breed the heifers at Cross River in December so that they will calve during the following fall season. To ensure that the animals can all be bred around the same time, they follow a heat synchronization program that causes all of the heifers to cycle on the same schedule. Once the group of heifers collectively comes into heat, they are bred. This herd is first bred using artificial insemination. This advanced, well-studied reproductive method puts little stress on the heifers and allows herd managers to bring cutting-edge genetics into the herd from bulls all over the country.

The heifers at Cross River wear heat detection patches. When the silver surface of the patch is rubbed off, the heifer is ready to be bred.

If a producer wants to use a live bull, he or she will not have to spend time synchronizing cow and heifer cycles or watching animals for signs of heat—the bull takes on this job himself. However, a locally-purchased bull’s genetic traits may not always be predictable, and the producer will need to rotate a new bull into the herd every few years to ensure that the quality of the herd and its collective genetic potential continue to progress. If producers choose instead to buy units of semen from a company that offers a catalog of bulls available for artificial insemination, they can select semen from bulls with well-documented performance traits that match their goals to improve traits like mothering ability, meat quality, animal build, or a plethora of other factors.

Bulls that are selected for use in an artificial insemination program are considered the “top of the line” in the industry and are subject to extensive performance testing and offspring data collection. Hence, producers like Robert Harper and members of the Amelia Area Cattlemen who choose to breed via artificial insemination have the means to improve their herds far more quickly and increase their genetic diversity far more easily than they could with a live bull. However, old-fashioned bulls still have their place and there are still many high-quality bulls sold locally that may never be featured in a semen company catalog. These animals are useful even to a herd that relies on artificial insemination, as not every heifer will successfully conceive through this means. Hence, the “cleanup bull” is turned out with the artificially-inseminated heifers so those that do not “catch,” or get pregnant, come back into heat and have the opportunity to get bred by the bull.

Like many producers, Robert likes to stay on top of the curve and adopt progressive practices that improve the health, performance, and longevity of his animals and the animals he custom-raises for fellow cattlemen across the region. His creative edge has allowed him to increase the scope of his operation over the years, but anyone who visits the Cross River Farms partnership at Dungeness can easily sense that Robert’s passion for working hard to raise high-quality cattle has been the ultimate force driving his success.

Additional Resources for Readers:

Getting Started in the Cattle Business in Virginia

Replacement Heifer Development Steps

Ten Steps to Buying the Right Bull

Artificial Insemination vs Natural Bull Service-Where are the Economic Benefits?

Meet Windy Springs Farm.

Posted on November 21, 2013 by laurab08

Operated by the Roberts family of Amelia, this farm is home to a herd of beef heifers, cows, and their calves. It is one of the many “cow-calf” operations that contribute to Virginia’s inventory of nearly 1.5 million cattle and calves. In fact, the cattle industry is ranked second-highest in the state, standing just behind broilers which bring the highest value in receipts. What many people do not know, however, is that not all beef producers in this area make a living raising cattle all the way from birth to harvest. In fact, cattle production is often divided into stages, and in the conventional industry different types of farms may specialize in different stages of cattle management.

All beef animals start out as calves, but before the calf comes the brood cow. Left to her own devices, a good female can raise a healthy calf if she is provided with pasture or hay that meets her nutritional demands while she is pregnant and when the calf is nursing. In fact, raising heifers and cows that subsist on grass and hay is by far the most efficient management system. Furthermore, a forage-based system where cows graze year-round in the field promotes healthy rumens in cows, provides a clean calving environment, and mitigates contagious diseases that can worsen when very young animals are kept in tight quarters. Contrary to some misconceptions, most cows in a conventional commercial production system are only given some feed when nutritional needs cannot be completely met by forage, and calves spend seven or more months with their mothers in the field consuming milk and pasture before they are weaned. This is the calf production step of the beef industry; farms that specialize in maintaining cows for breeding and raising calves from birth to weaning are generalized as “cow-calf operations.”

Weaned calves, now known as feeder cattle, may then go to a “backgrounder” or “stocker” operation. They may weigh several hundred pounds at weaning time on the cow-calf operation, but they may undergo a period of additional weight gain and adjustment to peer groups on a stocker operation. The final step is finishing, where cattle are fed to an appropriate weight and then processed for the wholesale and retail market. Virginia feeder cattle are often sent to states like Pennsylvania, Kansas, Iowa, and Ohio for finishing because these states offer an advantage in feed availability and processing.

Although the commercial cow-calf, stocker, and finishing operation sequence is most common, there are exceptions. Farmers who sell directly to consumers at farmers markets and other venues may choose to raise animals from start to finish and take responsibility for processing and marketing. This system is most common on small direct-market operations located in proximity to large numbers of urban consumers. Other farms may specialize in producing purebred animals for high-quality breeding stock, and some may specialize in raising show cattle, heritage breeds, or hobby animals. These operations are far less common than conventional commercial operations due to the nature of their production and marketing needs.

Virginia is fortunate to experience adequate rainfall during average years, and producers who manage their pastures diligently are capable of maintaining medium to high-quality forage for their animals nearly year-round. Amelia County, where Windy Springs Farm is situated, is no exception. In fact, crop production and cattle production overlap in Central Virginia where land is suitable for either use. Hence, Virginia has a reputation primarily as a cow-calf state and Windy Springs is one of many cow-calf operations in the region. Producers in this area often time breeding so that calves will be born in the fall of the year. However, some operations choose a spring calving season.

The Roberts family aims to have all of their heifers and cows calve around the same time so that each calf is at the same stage of growth as its peers. Why is this important? Cows and calves need treatments like vaccination and parasite control in order to remain healthy, grow properly, and prevent disease outbreaks. Windy Springs calves must also be tagged so that they can be identified and records can be made each time they are handled in the future. The herd must be brought through the farm’s handling facility for these tasks to be performed with minimal stress. If all calves within a group are approximately the same age, the whole group can receive certain health treatments at once. This allows the farm to be more efficient and reduces the number of times the animals must be handled.

Windy Springs has a handling facility designed to minimize stress. Animals start in a group pen and are walked down an alley towards a chute and a head gate, which humanely stabilizes the animal while it is treated. Good handlers like Johnny and Lawson Roberts rarely keep animals in the head gate for more than a minute even when completing multi-step tasks, and some chores performed at certain times of the year can be completed in just seconds per animal. Cows have a herd mentality, so they follow their peers in line as they walk towards the chute and they rejoin the herd immediately in the pasture after they are treated. The end result is a vigorous crop of calves that will remain healthy later in life when they are transported to another operation or comingled with new peers. Windy Springs Farm, like many cow-calf operations, takes pride in maintaining a high-quality herd of cows and working long hours to raise calves that excel on the farm and provide a top-notch product for the consumer.

Additional Resources for Readers:

Getting Started in the Cattle Business in VA

Beef Cow/Calf Herd Health Program and Calendar

Beef Cattle Management Publications

Meet Jennifer Ligon, Low-Stress Cattle Handler.

Posted on November 7, 2013 by laurab08

Jennifer is more commonly known as the agriculture agent for Virginia Cooperative Extension in Buckingham County and has become a leader in animal science and cattle industry programs both within her county and across the state. However, she has taken on a particularly important role as a proponent of low-stress cattle handling methods that improve animal welfare and prevent losses associated with poor handling practices. Virginia is home to many top-notch cattle producers. Some have innate cow-reading skills and have unwittingly practiced low-stress methods for years; some have learned and adopted low-stress methods later in life. The rest employ conventional methods, which is where Jennifer’s work comes in.

Because cattle are prey animals, they choose to maintain a large area of personal space. When a person enters this “flight zone,” animals feel pressure to move and restore their personal space. A skittish or untrained animal may have a flight zone extending several hundred feet out from its body. Over time, after repeated positive experiences with humans, this zone will become smaller and animals will tolerate closer distances to humans. The reverse is true if they encounter negative experiences. The dairy cow presents an example of an animal with a very small flight zone. Because she is handled daily and usually in a positive manner, her flight zone may only extend a few feet from her body. Some dairy cows may even allow themselves to be touched. Nonetheless, when a person steps into the flight zone of a beef animal, they apply pressure that causes the animal to move. When they step out of the flight zone, they release the pressure on the animal and it may no longer feel the need to move away.

As a rule, brood cows and their calves in Virginia spend their days enjoying pasture and hay. This production system for cow-calf operations is highly cost-effective and makes use of the state’s abundant forage. Producers are nearby daily to check on the herd, move the animals to fresh pasture, or bring in feed or hay. Cattle become accustomed to these routines. However, calves and cows occasionally need to be brought into direct proximity to humans in order to receive routine care such as vaccinations, parasite controls, tagging, reproductive soundness exams, pregnancy checks, and ultimately weaning, the primary cause of stress in a cow-calf operation. The only way to perform these activities safely is to bring the cattle into a handling facility, creating opportunities for stress if the cattle are moved too quickly or exposed to loud noises, fast-moving objects, or people encroaching too quickly or aggressively on the “flight zone.”

Conventional handlers tend to rely on vocal encouragement, arm-waving, and applying pressure from the back of the group in order to move animals from one pen to another or from a pen to the chute, where cattle are restrained briefly for treatment. Low-stress handling methods employ minimal noise, movement, and arm-waving. Handling methods matter during tasks such as emptying pens, where startled or stressed herds may continually circle past an open gate and frustrate handlers who wish to push them forward through it. A low-stress handler can accomplish this task more quickly by working from the front of the herd and briefly training animals to walk calmly or stop moving using pressure-and-release movements into and out of the flight zone. Once animals understand that the handler will remove the flight zone pressure when they step in the right direction, the handler can stand in one place off to the side of the group and direct animals through the gate calmly and efficiently. The same applies to moving cattle from a pen to an aisle or chute; a worked-up herd will feel forced when pushed towards narrow space. A calm animal may willingly choose to enter an aisle or alley when pressure is applied appropriately and the animal naturally chooses to step away from the pressure.

Over the past decade, low-stress handling has gained popularity and farmers throughout Virginia have attended educational sessions to become more adept at working with cattle in accordance with their instincts. Two 2013 events sponsored by Virginia Cooperative Extension featuring nationally-recognized cattle handling experts drew several hundred attendees. Virginia producers who become certified in the “Beef Quality Assurance” industry program attend educational recertification courses which emphasize low-stress handling as a key component of high-quality beef cattle production. Extension agents, university specialists, and veterinarians across the state support and facilitate these efforts. In particular, Jennifer Ligon has undertaken research to quantify the benefits of low-stress handling in comparison to conventional handling methods on cow-calf operations. In several locations, she compares the behavior of animals that encounter both handling methods during various tasks. She plans to evaluate impacts of stress, including weight loss during the weaning process. Jennifer also works closely with local cattlemen and organizes educational efforts that demonstrate low-stress handling methods.

Many consumers are concerned with the practices that are used to produce food. They can rest assured that low-stress handling methods promote calmer, happier cattle that are treated responsibly at all times. Low-stress handling has the potential to benefit cows, raise consumer confidence, keep handlers safe, and cut losses to improve profitability across Virginia’s cattle operations. With the help of industry leaders and agents like Jennifer, more producers are adopting these practices and reaping the benefits.

Additional Resources for Readers:

Getting Started in the Cattle Business in VA

Cattle Handling Pointers

Low-Stress Cattle Handling: The Basics

Meet the Hutchinson family.

Posted on July 31, 2013 by laurab08

Their farm, Deer Run, is located in Amelia County. Like many producers in the area, Robert and his wife Ruth Ann raise beef cattle and chickens, but their operation is rather unique. They market their products directly to consumers in the area who prefer to eat grass-finished meat and eggs.Their cattle consume pasture and hay year-round, and the family sells their meats at local farmers’ markets and via an ordering system. Their broilers and layer hens are raised on pasture, resulting in chicken and free-range eggs for their customers.

Raising animals this way requires its own set of management principles, and the family has spent considerable time learning and perfecting them. Grass-finished cattle must reach market weight on forages alone, whereas conventionally-raised cattle may eat both forages and grains. In order to help his animals reach market weight in a reasonable amount of time, Robert practices good pasture management to encourage the growth of high-quality forages. Tall fescue is common in Virginia and grows at the farm, but Robert has planted other grasses such as orchardgrass and bromegrass to improve some of his pastures. He has also mixed clover into his pastureland. Clover is a legume, just like alfalfa or lespedeza, and it contains higher levels of crude protein than most grasses. The added protein helps supplement what the grass may lack and helps maintain a steady rate of growth. Deer Run’s chicken flocks also enjoy it, and it benefits local populations of pollinators. Robert and Ruth Ann are also in the process of establishing more acres of silvopasture—pasture that contains both trees and forages. The trees serve as shade and are a harvestable crop in the future, and the grasses in between sustain the cattle below.

Like any farmer, Robert must provide for the needs of his plants, too. Pasture plants require varying amounts of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium as well as a slew of micronutrients to support regrowth after grazing or cutting. Some of these nutrients are provided by decomposing plant tissue that eventually becomes reincorporated into the soil. Some are provided by manure from cattle and poultry. Robert takes a soil test each year to determine his pastures’ nutrient needs. To fill in the gaps, Robert uses composted chicken litter from the farm and turns it into fertilizer. His clover also does some of the work. Legumes, including clover, have nodules on their roots containing bacteria that are capable of “fixing” nitrogen from the air and putting it back into the soil so that plants can access it. Since nitrogen can be costly to apply, the savings offered by legume plantings are significant.

Weeds are a challenge to all pasture managers because they compete with forages for nutrient resources and they reproduce rapidly by creating vast numbers of seeds. Deer Run Farm aims to prevent weeds by promoting desirable grasses. In other words, they rotate cattle between each of their grazed fields so that the plants are able to recover and outcompete weeds. They also reseed thin pastures and clip weeds, since some weeds eventually succumb to frequent cutting.

Deer Run farm is full of relaxed cattle and chickens busy foraging away in their moveable outdoor pasture enclosures. The Hutchinson family is one of many families who have creatively found ways to have a hand in taking their product all the way from the farm to the table.

Additional Resources for Readers:

Controlled Grazing of Virginia’s Pastures

Forage Establishment: Getting Off to a Good Start

Deer Run Farm’s Homepage

Central Virginia Ag Spotlight

Connecting communities to agriculture

Tag Archives: calves

Meet Bobby Maass, Cattle Producer.

Meet Ameva Farm.

Meet Bluestem Farms.

Meet Whit and Jennifer Morris.

Meet Maple Dell Farm.

Meet Richlands Dairy Farm.

Meet Robert Harper, Cattle Producer.

Meet Windy Springs Farm.

Meet Jennifer Ligon, Low-Stress Cattle Handler.

Meet the Hutchinson family.