Look What’s to see on Virginia farm management tour
Mclntires specialize in Angus cattle
WHITE POST VA. - If not for a
twist of fate, one of Virginia’s top
beef cattle farms might not be in
existence today.
P.T. Mclntire, owner of P.T.
Mclntire and Sons, Inc., can
vividly recall the events that led
him into the beef industry. “I was
really interested in dairy far
ming,” he admitted. “I wanted to
make some money and I thought
milking cows would be the way to
doit.”
The Clarke County farmer had
even gone so far as to plan his
milking parlor when fate stepped
in. “The man who was going to buy
my milk had an appointment at the
farm, but he never showed up,”
P.T. said. “I took that as a signal.
It turned out to be the best thing
that ever happened to me.”
Mclntire’s three sons also played
a role in his decision to enter the
beef business. “The boys got in
terested in beef cattle through 4-H,
so we started putting a few cows
together,” said the 63-year-old
cattleman.
From those humble beginnings,
the Mclntire farm has grown into
one of the most respected Angus
operations in the state. As such, it
was chosen to be a part of the 1984
Virginia Farm Management Tour
on Saturday, July 21. The farm will
be open to the public from 9 a.m.
until 4 p.m.
Mclntire chose to specialize in
CLEARBROOK, Va. - Dairy
farming seems to be in the blood of
the Stiles brothers.
The Frederick County farmers
are third-generation dairymen
who own and operate Waverly
Farm, one of the top Jersey farms
in the nation.
Because of their ability to
maintain a highly profitable and
productive farm, the Stiles family
was chosen to be part of the 19M
Virginia Farm Management Tour
in Frederick and Clarke counties.
Brothers Kenneth, Mike, Paul
and Tracy are partners in an
operation that was started by their
late father, Robert.
“Our Dad milked Jerseys on our
grandfather’s farm in Maryland,”
explained Mike, age 35. “After our
grandfather’s death, the farm was
sold and Dad began looking for
another farm to buy. ’ ’
The elder Stiles’ search took him
to West Virginia and the Eastern
shore region of Maryland before he
found what he was looking for in
Clearbrook, Va. “Waverly Farm
had been operated as a dairy, so
the buildings were already here.
All we had to do was bring in our
cows and start milking,” explained
Paul, age 33.
So in 1967, the Stiles family and
150 Jersey cows moved to Waverly
Farm. One of the first family
decisions at their new home in
volved renaming the farm or
keeping its original name of
Waverly.
STEPHENS CITY, Va. - If
Dudley Rinker was a gambling
man, there’s little doubt he’d come
up a winner. The 30-year-old or
chardist seems to have a knack for
beating the odds.
For example, in 1975 he relied
upon his seventh sense when he
began experimenting with unusual
trellised apple trees. The system
had been used in Europe for many
years, but was virtually unheard of
in Virginia’s apple country.
The technique not only brings
trees into production sooner, but
Angus cattle because of their
popularity and desirable
characteristics. “Angus are good,
hardy cows and will winter on
roughage that a lot of other cows
won’t,” P.T. said. “They’re also
good mothers, good milkers, easy
calvers and are polled, so we don’t 1
have horns to contend with.”
With sons Danny, Doug and
Scott, the elder Mclntire cares for
a herd of 125 purebred Angus
cattle, as well as a commercial
herd of 500 cows and heifers.
To accommodate their large
beef herd, the Mclntires farm 3,550
acres of land-2,400 of which is
rented. “We’re spread out in a ten
mile radius with about 15 different
farms,” explained Doug, age 38.
“Each of us have different farms
and cows we’re responsible for.”
In the farm’s purebred division,
about 90 of the registered cows are
bred artificially to superior bulls in
the Angus breed. “We breed to
increase frame size, but don’t want
to lose any performance or
maternal characteristics,” said 33-
year-old Scott.
The breeding program has been
one of the strengths of the Mclntire
farm for several years. The family
has won the coveted Angus Get-of-
Sire award for the best offspring of
a sire for animals tested by the
Virginia Beef Cattle Improvement
Association (BCIA).
An Aberdeen Angus, P.S. Power
Farming is in their blood at Waverly Jerseys
“We decided to keep the name of
Waverly and our Dad always joked
that the real reason was because
no one was willing to climb the
silos and paint a new farm name on
them,’’ laughed Mike.
Shortly after the move, the Stiles
brothers began entering into the
dairy business. Only one brother
and one sister chose to leave the
farm.
“It was Mother’s dream that we
all attend college,” recalled Mike.
“Both Paul and I had been ac
cepted to college, but at the last
minute decided not to go. Dairying
was the only thing we had ever
wanted to do.”
Two of the brothers, however,
did attend college. Kenneth, age
44, is a University of Maryland
alumnus and Tracy, age 28, is a
graduate of Virginia Tech. Both
brothers majored in dairy science.
“You need an education to farm
today,” Paul said. “We learned a
lot from 4-H when we were young,
but the formal education Kenneth
and Tracy received has been in
valuable.”
The four brothers also attribute
much of their success to their
father, who died in 1974. “He laid a
good foundation for us to build
upon,” Paul said.
Since 1967, the Stiles brothers
have increased their herd average
from 8,000 pounds of milk per cow
per year to over 13,700 pounds of
milk and 649 pounds of butterfat
per cow. Milk is collected twice
Trellised apple trees make the difference
also offers more production per
acre than conventional methods.
“A lot of people didn’t think it
would work, but I felt sure I could
make them work,” Said Dudley.
“Now they’re my pride and joy.”
As general manager of Rinker
Orchards Inc., Dudley has a lot to
be proud of. The third-generation
farm, known for its quality fruit, is
a popular pick-your-own stop. In
addition, it has been chosen to be a
part of the 1984 Virginia Farm
Management Tour, Saturday, July
21, and will be open to the public
Play, was bred with Mclntire cows
and sired six bulls with an average
weight gain of 1,105 pounds each
the greatest weight gain of any
group tested in the 1982-83 period.
The bulls gained about 3.5 pounds
per day during the test period.
Performance testing of their
cattle is a standard practice with
the Mclntire family. “It’s a tool we
use to measure our progress,”
Doug said. “It gives us a chance to
compare our cattle with the cattle
of other breeders.”
And in most cases, their cattle
compare very favorably. The
White Post farm has had the top
selling bull and one of the top
gainers on test at the Culpeper Bull
Test Station several times.
The Mclntires have been just as
successful with their commercial
herd by breeding to suit the ever
changing market. “I’ve seen
market demand go from one ex
treme to another,” P.T. said. “We
used to want cattle short and
blocky, but that’s not true
anymore.”
By the use of cross-breeding,
Mclntire cows have remained in
constant demand at the market.
“We used a popular
Hereford/Angus cross a few years
ago,” Doug said. “Now we
naturally breed Chianina-cross
bulls to our Angus cows.”
A large Italian breed, the
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Paul, left, and Mike Stiles look over their milking herd of 160 superior Jersey cows
daily in a ten stall side-opening
milk parlor, then marketed
through Maryland and Virginia
Milk Producers Co-op.
The milking herd consists of 160
superior purebred Jersey cows. In
fact, the farm is home to ten “Hall
of Fame” cows whose records top
20.000 pounds of milk per year or
1.000 pounds of butterfat in a
from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m.
Started as a general farm by
Dudley’s grandfather, the land
was transformed into orchards by
his father, Ray. “He decided he’d
rather be in the apple business
than in livestock, so he sold all the
cattle and planted the farm in
trees,” Dudley explained.
His father suffered a stroke in
1972, the same year Dudley
graduated from high school. The
elder Rinker died a year later,
leaving hi' wife, Ruth, with the
P.T. Mclntire inspects some of his purebred Angus cattle.
lactation. The entire herd is on
Dairy Herd Improvement
Association (DHIA) test.
But the production of quality
milk isn’t the only concern of the
Stiles family. Approximately one
third of the farm income comes
from the sale of breeding stock-an
area in which Waverly has earned
a national reputation.
orchard. “Mother taught junior
high, so she really couldn’t look
after the orchard,” Dudley said.
“Someone had to do it, so I stepped
in.”
Still in his teens, Dudley sud
denly had responsibility for the
180-acre family orchard, as well as
a leased orchard. “Fortunately I
had the help of a man who had
worked here for 30 years, as well
as other growers in the area,” he
recalled. “They took me under
Waverly also has the distinction
of being the only farm in the U.S.
with two living National Grand
Champion Jersey cows. The family
favorite, Sybil Surville Jessee, is
one of the highest living scored
cows in the Jersey breed and is a
two-time National Grand Cham
pion. Another Waverly cow, W.F.
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their wing.”
The young orchardist wasn’t
exactly a stranger to the business,
however. He and older brother,
Randy, has leased their own or
chard since junior high. “Our
father thought it would be good
experience, as well as educational,
for us to operate our own
business,” Dudley said. “Randy
didn’t care for the orchard
business, but I did.”
The Frederick County youth
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