There are more beef cattle in Albemarle County than pigs, goats, sheep or even chickens, but income from cattle sales––as well as other animal agriculture––remains a small part of the County’s agricultural economy. Fruits and berries are the powerhouses of our rural economy, bringing in three times the yearly local cattle farm revenue.
Local beef farmers rarely depend solely on farm sales––most work at other jobs––and many will say their love for this way of life is their main driver. Most of these farms are small, especially when compared to the huge cattle operations in the West and Midwest. The average Albemarle County cattle farm has fewer than 100 brood cows, and most have closer to 30. The average cash flow for them and for all types of farms continues in an unmistakable downward direction.
The 18,134 cattle and calves counted during the last agricultural census in 2022 represent a great deal of hard work for a per-cow return of anywhere from a few hundred dollars to a minus amount, depending on weather, the cost of fertilizer and hay, and what agency is computing profit versus expense. And, also according to the census, farmers are getting higher prices for their cattle sales, but expenses have gone up at a faster pace.
Tom Stanley, an extension agent who focuses on farm business management, has an anecdote that illustrates the imbalance between farm income and expenses.
“In 1973, when those big round balers came out, a farm with 11 steers could probably afford one. Today, a farm would need at least 28 steers to make enough to buy one.” With no control over the weather, and little control over the cost of equipment and hay, many small farmers find themselves slipping behind.
Albemarle Extension Agent Carrie Swanson would like to change that. Swanson specializes in animal science, and she’s part of a working group promoting “Graze 300,” a project exploring ways to help farmers keep their cattle on grass as long as possible, with a goal of 300 days without them needing hay.
“By far the biggest expense––she estimates 50-75%––of cow-calf production costs is from feeding them in the winter,” she said. “Most of our livestock farms use supplemental feeding for four months, some as many as six months.”
One way the extension service recommends to achieve the goal is stockpiling cool season grasses, which also improves water quality, nutrition, and organic matter, and results in fewer bare areas in fields. The best time to start, according to the extension service, is in August. The general idea is to separate fields, intensely grazing or clipping those planned for stockpiling, then removing the cattle from that field, fertilizing and allowing the cool season grasses to grow through the fall. They’ll keep their digestibility and nutrition through the winter, and farmers can use them when other fields are depleted. “Of course, all this depends on ample water,” Swanson said. She said the recent drought was pretty typical of a Central Virginia July, but the intense heat made it much more destructive.
“We can still recover nicely from this drought,” said Stanley, who said he looks at tropical storm trajectories every morning. “We need at least one good rain every 10 days to re-establish grass.” He said there’s at least one farmer in the Piedmont area who manages his pastures well enough to feed hay for only two weeks in February.
There are other strategies, too, to approach nearly year-round grazing. Those interested in learning more about extending the season for their cattle are invited to contact Swanson at [email protected]. Also welcome are sheep, goat, and horse farmers.
Highland Steers bring Top Price at Summer Auction
There’s a legend about how some Highland County rivers and valleys got their names, although there’s no official documentation. Farmers from as far away as what is now Central Virginia would drive their cattle westward to the cooler, moister mountains. The calves tired first, and farmers left them at the river which is now the Calfpasture. The cows managed farther, and reached the Cowpasture river valley. The bulls were able to continue westward and reached the river now known as the Bullpasture.
A sale of a large lot of Highland County steers was the highlight of the most recently reported sales at Staunton Union Stockyard. Nearly 200 steers, ranging in size from 700 to 800 pounds, were sold for $302-$326 per hundred pounds.
