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me years, mci\ear held different jobs away from the farm, earning a salary and spending weekends and holidays helping his father. They learned a lot about farming and a lot about life as they went along. Following his father’s death in 1984, McNear became the farm manager for both holdings. When he retired from his job as Zonipg Administrator for Fauquier County in 1992, he finally became a full-time farmer.
Recently, McNear has concentrated on the Angus/black baldy combination for all his commercial breeding activities. “We pretty much stayed away from purebreds. It takes a lot of money and salesmanship in marketing.” Of the 20-plus purebreds in his herd, three are Angus bulls he purchased from Newbill Miller’s Ginger Hill stock. “I do try to use goQd bulls,” McNear emphasized. ‘That pays dividends. There is a lot of difference in your calf crop between a mediocre bull and a good one.”
McNear hopes to be able to expand his operation “to where I could afford some help. I’m not getting any younger.”—
His three daughters, Jennifer, Susannah, and Laura, “all love farming. AH helped while "they were- here and all think they want to come back here. They understand, though, that they have to go out in the world and make a little money, so farming can be an avocation not a vocation. I can’t make a living at it. My (three kids can’t.”
With his additional pasture, McNear is considering other management options. His choices zero in on th$ bottom line. He could buy cows for breeding, or fatten steers to sell in the fall.
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