The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1915-09-12

0ApoAt ssecis. i ne Otner lot Is
grain fed during the months of De-
cember and January and is disposed
of to the local butchers in Bristol In
the months OF February and March
Thereby they are turning off just twice
as many steers on the ga me acreage as
any other farm. to my knowledge
Now, how do they accomplish this !?
They practice regular rotation OF
crops on their blue grass pastures and
in this manner produce straw for
manure and bedding purposes They
also harvest an abundance of hay
such as clover, timothy. alfalfa and
orchard grasses. They raise every
year over one hundred acres of corn
which Is converted into silage. and
by the way. the Nestors have four
concrete silos on their farms each
holding 200 tons of ailage. and this fe
what makes their winte- beef cattle.
inquiry convinces me that they have
taken decided step forward in The
production OF beef stock and beef cat
tie and that they are in a position TO
produce beef cheaper than any other
stock farm in Southwest Virginia I,
takes the same amount of help and
the same amount of land 70 turn of
lonly one set of steers per year: thus
1t Is easy to note that by turning off
bNS sotS, IttdIi'iiS dIf the IertlDZer on
the land, they are doubling their own
income on the same fixed charge az
II they devoted their time and energy
exclusively to blue grass fed and
finished cattle
Mr.. Nestor fully confirmed my be-
lief when he stated that # the cattle
finishers of Virginia would devote
more time to raising their own steers
and OBTAINING the heifer calves on the
farm. that the live stock industry
would be much more profitable than
1t Is at the present time. and that
they would be able to turn off heavier
and better steers and one year earlier
than Is done by, the fnisher who pur-
chases his stock in the plateaus OF
Virginia and North Carolina
In response to the inquiry whether
the cattle fed on silage put on flesh as
pidly as those finished on blue grass,
was informed that the fall cattle.
when fed on proper ration, will put
on eighty pounds a month. which is
equal to the increase obtained from
the blue grass pastures. They feed on
an average Of forty pounds of siiage
and seven pounds Of cotton seed meal
per day.
Sheep.
In sheep husbandry the Nestors also
are heavily interested They keep the
year round about 500 ewes: these ewes
yield from 400 to 500 lambs each
spring; they sell on contract mark ct
at from $500 to $500 each when from
ninety to one hundred days old.
They started building up their
flock from the ordinary mountain
sheep. but gradually are introducing
new blood, whereby they are increas-
ing the weight of their mutton sheep,
ar all fvn~ cd -. ~. 4
from their breeding stock. They now
have thirty pure bred Hampshire
sheep; they form the nucleus for the
of this flock. They keep
nothing but registered rams; conse-
quently. they are producing very de-
tsifable mutton sheep and are able to
put It on the market younger and
cheaper than most of the sheep hus-
bandmen of Virginia.
Their flock will clip from seven to
eight pounds of wool per head. they
regard this as sufficient returns for
the maintenance of the flock
Hogs.
To show that This farm Is operated
absolutely on business basis. the Mes
tors also are interested in the raising
of hogs.
After years OF experimenting. they
have come to the conclusion that the
Berkshire is the best all-round hog and
better adapted to their purposes than
any other breed that they could place
on their farm.
They generally sell about one hun
bred head per year, and make them
at practically no cost up to weigh,
of zoo pounds. This is done by rum
ming them into the corn fields. the
pastures the alfalfa lots and wherever
there may be product going te
waste.
Conclusion.
might dwell at greater length on
the accomplishments on this farm
but it IS not necessary. A trip to the
Wyndale Stock Farms by those in
terested in any branch Of general
agriculture and animal husbandry will
convince the pess,mist that business
methods can be and is being applied
Ito farming by these gentlemen, and
that II we had more farms operated
along the same lines as Wyndale, we
would have better and more live stock
and the owners would be better salts
fled with the net returns on the capital
ltnyested
! What the blue grass farmers Of vir-
ginia and elsewhere need is the APP
plication OF brains--rot brawn--in
= s--.FSss5. !,