DATE: Tuesday, June 3, 1997                 TAG: 9706030298

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B11  EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 

DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE                   LENGTH:   51 lines

COOL, DRY SPRING FORCES RANCHERS TO BUY MORE FEED FOR THEIR CATTLE BEFORE SUNDAY'S RAIN, THE CENTRAL PART OF THE STATE WAS 5 1/2 INCHES BELOW NORMAL.

David Jones bristles every time he hears a weather report warning that rain is threatening to ruin outdoor activities.

As a cattle rancher and Madison County supervisor, Jones has been waiting all spring for that dousing, and lamenting that forecasts for rain hadn't come true very often before downpours arrived on Sunday.

``When weather forecasters say that rain is going to ruin a picnic or an outing, we just want to get a baseball bat and beat somebody,'' Jones said. ``You can be the best farmer in the world, but if it doesn't rain, you're going to be as bad off as the worst.''

Only a year after surplus rainfall that lasted through the summer brought record yields of corn and soybeans in Virginia, the central part of the state was 5 1/2 inches below its normally expected rainfall before Sunday.

And even torrential rains over most of the state on Sunday still left most areas well below their normal expected rainfall by the start of June.

Last year, the area was more than 4 inches above normal by now.

But this year's dry spring, accompanied by unseasonably cool temperatures that averaged about 7 1/2 degrees below normal at night, has retarded the development of nutrient-rich pasture grass, forcing ranchers to feed their animals.

``You've got to take care of them or they won't take care of you,'' said Louisa County dairy farmer David Fisher. ``But you can't spend all your money in feed. There's other things out there that you need to pay for, too.''

In a year with healthy rainfall, Fisher said, pasture grass would allow him to greatly reduce the amount of $270-per-ton grain he buys to feed his cattle. But this year, the pastures are dry, almost bare.

The cool weather also has slowed the development of crops.

``Things just don't grow real well when it's that cold at night,'' Jones said, adding that the conditions also kept some farmers from even tilling their fields and putting their seeds in the ground.

Farmers and ranchers could feel the effects all the way to next winter.

James Riddell, a Louisa County agent for the Virginia Cooperative Extension Service, estimated that the season's first cutting of hay, which helps feed the animals in winter months, is just two-thirds what it should be.

Jim Lawson, deputy state statistician for the Virginia Agriculture Statistics Service, said other areas are reporting a half-cutting.

Greene County farmer Thomas Shelton said he planned to plant a second crop of hay in one field but the weather forced him to change his plans.

``As soon as I took the hay off and baled it, I turned the cattle in there,'' he said. ``I did it just to give them something to eat.''

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