The counties involved in this study belong to the Piedmont Plateau. Soils are largely from crystalline rock and except for small areas of Davidson and Lloyd types, the soils are derived from acidic rock. The soils of this area are deficient in phosphorus but are fairly well supplied with potassium. In most cases lime and phosphate are the limiting factors in securing high yields of pasture and forage crops, and in getting stands of certain legumes. / Master of Science

Records of production for 1168 cows were obtained from six herds tested in Dairy Herd Improvement Associations in Virginia for this study. The records were corrected to a mature equivalent basis, converted to four per cent fat-corrected milk, and averaged for each of the 862 cows used in the 89 families in the six herds. Each group of cows with three or more consecutive generations with records of production were identified and called “families”. The original cow in each family was called the “foundation cow”. The statistical analysis of the data for milk production, reproductive efficiency, and longevity was made by the method of analysis of variance. Significant differences between families were observed in Herd 4 and Herd 6 for milk production; however, when the data were classified by sire and by family, the variability between sires was highly significant and the variability between families was not significant. The other four herds did not exhibit any significant family differences. Only Herd 4 showed any significant difference between families for reproductive efficiency; the differences between families for the remaining five herds were not significant. No significant differences for longevity were observed between families in any of the six herds. Average relationship within a family was estimated for each family in a herd. In this study, average relationship within families ranged from 15 per cent for 34 animals in Herd 6 to 52 percent for 6 animals in Herd 5. Herd 2, Herd 4, and Herd 5 had higher within family relationship values than the remaining three herds. The herds with high family relationship values used inbreeding and linebreeding to concentrate the relationship within the families while the remaining three herds use sires not so closely related. Reproductive efficiency for the six herds ranged from 12.2 months to 14.5 months calving intervals, with an average of 15..9 months for all herds. Longevity for the six herds ranged from 6.4 years to 5.5 years with an average of 7.5 years for all herds. / M.S.

no abstract provided by author / Master of Science

Beef cattle production in Virginia has increased steadily during the last few years. This increase has been brought about in a large part by the increase in the price of beef by a definite trend toward more livestock to provide profitable utilization of non-productive lands and to serve as a good source of cash income. / Master of Science

Explanatory feeder cattle basis models were developed for 16 different Virginia markets by season, futures contract month, weight, lot size, sex, breed and USDA grade differentials. The models are more disaggregated and explain up to 80 percent more of feeder cattle basis variation than any previous research. Since the variables in these explanatory models are all known in advance, these basis models are also predictive. Basis estimates from these models make it possible for a Virginia feeder cattle forward pricing agency to offer forward price and minimum price contracts to small size operators. / Master of Science