VFGC taps Fugate as state’s top forage producer

By JANE W. GRAHAM
AFP Correspondent

DUFFIELD, Va. — Charles W. Fugate came home to Fugate Farm here Jan. 17 grinning.
He had been to Wytheville for the Virginia Forage and Grassland Council 2012 Winter Forage Conference where he was surprised by being named Virginia Forage Producer of the Year.
VFGC President Robert Shoemaker presented the award to Fugate in recognition of his development of a grass-based beef cattle farm in Scott County near the Tennessee-Virginia border.
Fugate farms on land that has been in his family since 1814.
The Karst soils and rolling hills present special challenges to the farm operation that has been part of his life even when he worked a day job at Westmoreland Coal Company in Big Stone Gap.
One of those challenges is fencing. Rock is so close to the surface it is sometimes impossible to set posts by normal means.
They end up being bolted to concrete bases.
He described his 560-acre farm as being in a bowl with limestone and clay soils which he divides into five sections to allow for rotational grazing of his heard of 207 cattle.
Since his retirement from Westmoreland, Fugate is described as spending “most daylight hours nurturing the land, working his cattle, and the unending job of mending fences and battling the cedars.”
The essay nominating Fugate, submitted by his daughter, Christy F. Smith of Cape Charles, Va., tells the story of the Fugate farm.
“The majority of the beef cattle are Angus and/or Angus crossed with Charolais and Hereford,” she wrote.
Since the tobacco buyout, the Fugates have concentrated on the beef cattle.
“They have focused solely on a practical and yet intense and diverse forage and grazing system,” she wrote.
“Now an average of 207 head of cattle is grazing on the high quality forage base of the Fugate Farm,” the nomination continued.
This includes 110 cows, 70 calves, seven bulls and 20 steers.
“Corn silage is grown on approximately 20 acres which is stockpiled and used to feed Fugate beef cattle,” Smith wrote. “Pastureland consists of close to 350 acres and hay land makes up the remaining 130 acres. Tall fescue is the dominant grass type along with the benefits of leguminous ladino cover. Rotational grazing created with cleverly designed fencing systems is used in order for pasture recovery.”
Fugate explained to those gathered in Wytheville that the lay of his land makes designing and fencing his paddocks challenging.
He said he utilizes stockpiled forages leaving the last cutting of hay on some land and only cutting some hayfields once. Hay is baled using net wrap and the majority is stored in barns.
He uses a bale unroller to feed on poorer ground, and never in the same spot, in order to spread the nutrients of the manure from the gathering feeders.”
Smith reported that all the land is limed and fertilized according to a certified nutrient management plan tailored for this specific farm.
“Through the process of nutrient management planning, Mr. Fugate realized he could save money by cutting back on lime since his pH was relatively high and use the savings to build up his phosphate in the soils,” the nominating document reads. “Through cover crop cost share, he was able to plant a rye cove crop so his corn land wouldn’t lay fallow throughout the winter, losing topsoil.
“Using funding from CREP, ponds were fenced off and trees planted, keeping the cattle from ‘enriching’ the water and wells with watering troughs built in more suitable areas.”
Fugate earned a degree in business from Emory and Henry College in Emory, Va., and went on to Appalachian State for a Masters degree in business administration.
While working off the farm, he remained involved in it, living there with his wife Ann, and their granddaughter Ana.