Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 16, 1995 TAG: 9507170005
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-18 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: TERESA OGLE SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES
DATELINE: FLOYD LENGTH: Long
This year, Terry became the second member of his family to win the state's Young Farmer Award - 40 years after his father, R.O., won the title from the Young Farmers of Virginia.
In 100 years, the family's beef-cattle and hay operation has grown to 500 acres, with another 100 rented for grazing cattle.
Over the years, Terry, 34, has shouldered the farm's operation as his father turned the cows and equipment over to him. But don't think it's a one-man show. His 75-year-old father still helps out a lot, as does his wife, Katie; his 3-year-old daughter, Ashley; and neighbors.
Terry wouldn't give up his farm for anything. "It's not the best farm by far, but it's been in the family for over 100 years. I know where all the rocks are."
And there are plenty of rocks. On the opposite side of the road from his house sit large piles of stones moved by earlier generations to protect the balers as they swept through the hay fields. When people used to ask his father if the Indians built the piles, he'd respond, "The Indians are too smart for that."
Terry remembers going out with his father when he was younger than Ashley, losing his bottle among the cows, and being butted by sheep.
Because he had always wanted a cow of his own as a boy, he gave his tiny daughter a white calf at her birth. Ashley will be able to pick her cow out in a herd just as her dad could find the cows with special markings that his father had given him.
Terry remembers always feeling useful. As soon as he was big enough to handle a pitchfork, his father had him collecting hay the baler left behind. And he used a scythe to cut grass near the fences that tractors couldn't reach. He'd also go into the fields to dig up thistles, spending all day looking for the musk thistle blooms that would earn him a quarter from his father. He helped build many of the buildings on the farm, planted trees and helped with the chimney on the side of his house.
There's plenty of room on a farm for a growing boy. Terry cleared his own fields for football, baseball and basketball.
Farming has changed in 100 years. In Terry's great-grandfather's day, things were done on a smaller scale; farmers were self-sufficient. One farmer would raise cattle, grow crops and sell milk and eggs to get by.
Now it takes money to make money on a farm. Like most farmers, Terry is incredibly efficient. An investment in large tractors, hay balers and hay rakes allows one man to farm more acres. It's a matter of trading capital for labor, says Terry. Even fencing to make more efficient use of his pastures can cost thousands of dollars.
He has to balance all the variables involved in making his living in a business that buys retail and sells wholesale. He is a manager, a scholar, an economic analyst and a man who loves his work.
But while a lot of small farms are struggling or failing, Terry is thriving.
"You need to spend your money where you'll get a good return. You have to maximize your efficiency. Whatever you do, you have to be really good at."
To Terry, farming has "the satisfaction of a garden on a grander scale." He likes the continuous cycles, watching things green up and get pretty. "Watching the crops and cattle is fascinating. The calves are cute, and the cows all have different personalities; I get attached."
The cows also are aggravating. "I have to feed them every day, even when it's cold and wet. They always give birth in bad weather."
There's always work to do, although it changes with the seasons. In the winter, he spends an hour feeding. Then he works in the shop, cuts wood, works on fences or the barns, remodels - a little of everything.
Summers are busy and stressful. "Everything has to be done at once, and the weather can mess me up. I can't get up hay when it's raining and muddy.
"We're tied down. We can't just run off for a week's vacation. The cattle have to be fed every day. We only get two paychecks a year, so we have to manage the money."
But Katie says, ``We have all of our needs taken care of and most of our wants."
Farming also gives him the opportunity to spend time with his family. He involves his wife and daughter in farming. For Katie, the farm has become a part of her life. "I feel like the land's a part of me."
The family also shares musical interests. R.O. plays with the Over-the-Hill Gang. Both R.O. and his son George play anything with strings: guitar, mandolin and banjo. Evelyn Slusher, R.O.'s wife, also plays guitar and sings with the group, which gathers weekly in homes for the sheer joy of the music and plays at festivals and nursing homes.
Farmers also can turn to neighbors for help. "When the cows need to be gotten up four times a year, I can call on my neighbors and family, and they'll come and help. We trade labor. Recently, we helped raise a barn for Curtis Sowers, who won this award last year."
Farmers in Floyd also share ideas. Their discussions revolve around crossbreeding, maximizing land, and machinery. Terry is working to raise cattle to sell to Midwest feed lots that are big without being fat. "While we're raising cattle, we're really selling our grass."
Much of Terry's expertise is in cultivating grass and hay to feed his beef cattle most efficiently. "I've developed a system of confining cows to smaller fields, so that they're forced to eat everything. When they've cleared the field, I rotate them to another. In this way, more clover and bluegrass grow back. I can also put more cows on less land. It solves a lot of problems, like fertilizing."
Professors with the Cooperative Extension Service headquartered at nearby Virginia Tech have worked with Terry on research on his rotational grazing, on new types of summer grass and farm efficiency.
Bruce Caldwell and Dan Hubbard at Floyd County High School, who work with young agriculture students in the Future Farmers of America and its adult offshoot, the Young Farmers, also help keep the farming community informed of new ideas and techniques. The Slusher farm, like its neighbors, has had to evolve and change with the times in its 100-plus years.
Once when a man wanted to buy the pile of stones across from the Slusher home, R.O. responded, "Those are my monuments." Like the stone, the farm itself has become a monument - to one family's hard work and husbandry.
by CNB