University of Virginia Library

Stock-Raising and Feeding.

IT IS not claimed that Albemarle is a cattle county par
excellence, but stock-raising and feeding has a prominent
place in the general farming practiced by the best managers.
The advantages for this business are the same as those
specified for dairying, except that it possesses two additional:

1st. The prevalence of garlic or wild onion, a disadvantage
to the dairyman, is, from its very early and rapid growth and
nutritious qualities, a blessing to the cattle and sheep raiser;
awakening from its dormant state, begun the previous July, as
soon as the frost is out of the ground, it brings into vigorous
action the material for rapid plant growth stored in its ripened
bulb, and in fields where it is thickly set, gives a carpet of
green in February, and though it may be killed to the ground
by a subsequent freeze, persists in its rapid growth on every
warm day, and gives cattle a good bite in March. Many a
farmer who failed to secure a sufficiency of provender in the
fall, has been indebted to the wild onion for the salvation of
his cattle and sheep the next spring.

This rapid growth is maintained, though with decreased
energy until late in May, by which time the other grasses
have so far advanced that the onion may well be spared. It
is true that animals taken directly to the slaughter house from
an onion pasture, give meat of a bad flavor, but by keeping
them twenty-four to thirty-six hours on other food, this disappears
entirely. On farms where the onion abounds, the
cattle are generally sent to the pasture the last of March, or
early in April, thus shortening the winter feeding by several

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The second advantage is that on the Blue Ridge and its
spurs, on the Southwest Mountains and the Ragged Mountains,
there are large areas of very cheap mountain land,
which, as soon as the trees are deadened and undergrowth
killed, turf over with the rich blue grasses and white clover,
and from the coolness and absence of flies, resulting from elevation,
make the best of summer ranges. These mountains
are so interspersed through the county that most farmers,
who make cattle-raising and feeding a prominent part of their
system, own a mountain pasture, easily accessible from their
farms. On these the young stock spend the summer, while
the farms, relieved of the burden of pasturing them, are enabled
to produce the larger crops of hay, corn and other
produce.

There has been established at Charlottesville by Messrs.
Burnley, Smith & Burnley, a monthly cattle sale, where graziers
dispose of their feeding animals and stock up with young
cattle, and farmers buy such as they want for stall feeding and
sell their fat beeves. These sales are well attended by buyers
and sellers, and a considerable number of horses, cattle and
sheep are bought and sold each month either at auction or by
private sale, greatly to the convenience and advantage of
those who raise or fatten cattle in the county. There are
several fine herds of thoroughbred cattle in the county, one
owned by W. J. Ficklin, who is the son and successor of the
late S. W. Ficklin, whose reputation as a breeder of fine
horses and cattle was second to none in the State; another of
Shorthorn is owned by Warner Wood, Esq., whose farm is
near the University of Virginia. This gentleman recently
sold the largest and heaviest pair of steers ever raised in the
State. They were grade Shorthorn, bred and fed on Mr.
Wood's farm, near the University. At three years old the
pair weighed 8,000 pounds (I think) and when sold a few
months ago weighed 8,300 pounds (I believe). It is said they
were purchased for the purpose of being exhibited for pay, to

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Major R. F. Mason, whose farm is near Charlottesville, has
some fine Holsteins. There are numerous other high-bred
animals of different breeds scattered through the county, and
owned by various farmers.

Owing to the early introduction of the Shorthorns by the
late S. W. Ficklin, and his active exertions in disseminating
them through the county, the cattle are for the most part
good grade animals and well adapted for feeding into first-class
beeves, and it is a growing practice for farmers to feed a
lot every winter on ensilage, hay and grain, stalling them at
night in cheaply constructed stables, where they are well littered
and the manure carefully saved. This practice gives a
home market for much of the produce of the farm, and the
manure with which to improve it at the same time; and is
found to pay well in the long run.

The increased value of the animal, after four months of
judicious feeding, will generally pay $20 per ton for the corn
consumed, $10 to $12 per ton for the hay, and $3 to $3.50 per
ton for the ensilage, leaving the manure to pay for the labor
of feeding and use of the stable, &c. If the buildings are
well arranged this labor is very light, as the cattle are allowed
to run, in the day, on a sod field, where they have access,
usually, to spring water, and can pick over coarse forage,
straw, &c.

Cattle, suitable for feeding, cost, in the fall of 1887, 2½ to
3 cents per pound, live weight, and sold in the spring of 1888,
when fat, at 4 to 4½ cents per pound here. A good average
gain on 1,000 pound steers, from four months winter feeding,
is 200 pounds; thus a good 1,000 pound steer cost in November,
thin, about $30; in the following March, if well handled
and sold, he brought from $48 to $54.

The practice of putting up ensilage for winter feeding is
becoming very common, and engines and cutters can easily be
hired by those who do not care to incur the expense of buying
the machinery for filling their pits.

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The Revenue Commissioner's books show that 10,344 head
of cattle were listed for taxation in 1887; adding a fourth for
cattle not found by the Commissioner, and for young cattle
and beeves, and we have 12,900 head as about the true number
of cattle kept in the county. These are worth about
$260,000. There has never been a case of pleuro-pneumonia
or other contagious disease in the county, and the only infectious
ones that have ever troubled us have been outbreaks of
Texas fever, from infected cattle being ignorantly or carelessly
brought in amongst our healthy ones, this always disappeared
with the first frost and never reappeared unless freshly imported.
With more knowledge, and the exercise of more
care in this matter, we have not had a case of this now for
many years, and our cattle have been exceptionally healthy.

Live stock in 1880 (U. S. Census): Horses, 5,897; Mules
and Asses, 636; Oxen, 986; Milch Cows, 4,834; other cattle,
7,617; Sheep, 10,832; Swine, 20,302.