1. Four Winter Beef Forage Conferences Were Held January 17-20, 2012 in Wytheville, Weyers

2012 VFGC Report

1.  Four Winter Beef Forage Conferences were held January 17-20, 2012 in Wytheville, Weyers Cave, Gordonsville, and Chatham. Four hundred and eight people attended. Kathy Voth of Livestock for Landscapes was the Keynote Speaker. Scott Hagood from Virginia Tech, Chris Teutsch from Virginia Tech’s Southern Piedmont AREC, and local producers from each location also participated.

2.  Three Winter Crops Conferences will be held in December 2012. Keynote speaker will be Dr. Kumin Kung, a corn silage expert from the University of Delaware. Other speakers will be Dr. Wade Thomason, an extension specialist of corn and small grains from Virginia Tech, and Dr. Virginia Ishler, an expert in ration efficiency and cropping strategies from Pennsylvania State University.

3.  Three fencing schools were held at Chatham, Roseland, and Abingdon with thirty attending each location. There is a waiting list for next year’s fencing school.

4.  Three summer forage tours were held in the Shenandoah Valley in May, Craig County in June, and Delaplane, Virginia in August. At each location a local farm producer was hi-lighted show casing their farming operation.

5.  The Southern Piedmont Equine Extravaganza was held in Blackstone, Virginia in April. Over one hundred attended. Scott Purdum of Advantage Horsemanship was keynote speaker. Chris Teutsch of Virginia Tech’s Southern Piedmont AREC, Marty Adams an equine nutritionist and horse feed manager of Southern States, Theresa McManus of Keymon Farms’, Deborah Crane, and Brandy Phelps, DVM, also spoke.

6.  The VFGC will host the 2013 AFGC National Farm Tour May 22-24 in Madison, Virginia. Farm tours along with a visit to Montpelier, home of James and Dolly Madison, are planned.

7.  The VFGC publishes a quarterly newsletter entitled “The Virginia Forager” which keeps producers, agri-business, and members abreast of up-coming events, and agricultural information. The newsletter is mailed out to over five hundred and sixty individuals in five States. The summer issue had a special printing and mailed to over five hundred dairy producers.

8.  VFGC teamed up with NRCS and produced a very successful grazing video and no-till video entitled “Gaining Ground”. The videos highlighted successful farmers and have been distributed through the internet, farmer conferences, “Virginia Farming” television show and RFD-TV.

9.  Several farmers and others were honored during the year. Jerry Swisher received the VFGC Harlan White Distinguished Service Award for his 30+ years for service to Virginia agriculture. Charles Fugate was the VFGC’s producer of the Year. Fugate Farms began in 1814, producing beef cattle, hogs, hay/pasture, corn and tobacco. The current operation consists of about 500 acres.

10.  The Harland E. White Scholarship has been established to support undergraduate and graduate students at Virginia Tech that wish to pursue a career that promotes a better understanding of forage and grassland agriculture in Virginia.

11.  Two different surveys were completed in cooperation with NRCS and DCR to determine how farmers participate in cost share programs that promote water quality on agricultural lands.

12.  Long-range strategic planning was initiated by the Board of Directors to better understand the needs of VFGC members and how VFGC could more efficiently promote forage production agriculture in Virginia. The Board met in October and will meet again in February 2013 to finalize a long-range plan for VFGC.

Report by Margaret Kenny,

VFGC Administrative Assistant