Alternative Agriculture (1989) / Chapter Skim
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3 A Diversified Crop and Livestock Farm in Virginia: The Sabot Hill Farm
3 A Diversified Crop and Livestock Farm in Virginia: The Sabot Hill Farm
Pages 275-285
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From page 275... ...
The Fishers produce hay both as cattle feed and as a cash crop. They plant approximately 125 acres in an alfalfa-orchard grass mixture grown on Madison soils and normally harvest from 3.5 to 4 tons per acre.
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From page 276... ...
The Fishers' primary focus, however, is on maximizing forage production, the main feed input to their beef cattle. PHYSICAL AND CAPITAL RESOURCES Soils The topography of Sabot Hill runs from flat cropland along the James River to rolling to steep hillsides, which are primarily in permanent pasture, hay, or forests.
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From page 277... ...
Corn yields on these upland soils rarely averaged over 80 bushels per acre during good years, and the yield was half that during dry seasons. Through strip cropping and converting much of the highly erodible land to permanent pasture and hay ground, and through the use of no-tiliage planting equipment, the Fishers have been able to cut soil erosion to 4 tons per acre.
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From page 278... ...
The Fishers' irrigated corn crop on 75 acres yielded 165 bushels per acre during a severe summer drought in 1986; their nonirrigated bottomIand corn crop yielded 100 bushels per acre that year. Buildings and Facilities The Sabot HiD Farm has an extensive set of buildings and facilities.
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From page 279... ...
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From page 280... ...
Faced with this realization, the Fishers decided to change their primary goal from that of cash grain farming to forage production and to alter the farm's cropping system. Their experience in South America led them to believe that there might be some value in intensively haying Johnsongrass, especially if it could be interseeded with a legume.
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From page 281... ...
Green Cabbage, entire 9.4 2.2 8.1 0.06 0.03 Clover/m~xed grasses, 27.3 3.0 18.9 0.16 0.08 hay stage Corn fodder, dent (all 30.0 2.5 21.0 0.09 0.08 analyses) Johnsongrass pasture 25.0 5.2 15.6 0.22 0.07 Orchard grass pasture 23.0 4.3 17.0 0.14 0.12 Pearl millet pasture 21.0 1.8 13.0 Soybeans and pearl 24.5 4.2 15.9 millet pasture Turnips, roots 9.0 1.1 7.8 0.06 0.02 Turnips, tops 15.0 2.0 10.8 0.49 0.06 NOTE: A dash indicates that data are not available.
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From page 282... ...
Last year the Sabot Hill Farm sold about 1,500 tons of regular bates of hay as weD as about 600 tons of large round bates. Forage yields per acre vary considerably depending on whether the hay ground is harvested only twice and then planted with soybeans or whether it is hayed all season long.
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From page 283... ...
They observe that the vigorous growth of the small grain root systems actually serves much like a shallow subsoiling, loosening up the sod to allow improved water penetration. They believe that the animals also get improved nutrition from the seeded crop (compared with unimproved pasture)
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From page 284... ...
They try to use as few purchased inputs as possible on their farm to maximize the land's potential without harming the soil or polluting the environment. During the interview for this study, Sandy Fisher, who is president of the Virginia Soybean Producers Association and a member of the local soil and water conservation district board, observed that in Goochiand County, few farmers are willing to cut back on corn because they are reluctant to lose their corn base, on which corn price support payments are computed.
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From page 285... ...
The relatively large size of the farm may provide the Fishers with enough economic stability to experiment with alternative production systems. Finally, the farm is a diversified operation, with its primary sources of revenue being the sale of stocker cattle and hay, with some income from the sale of corn and soybeans.
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