Appalachian Grazing

I only have a minute here but I've wanted to write a little about the sights seen along I-77 and I-64 in southeast Ohio and West Virginia. We drove this route on our vacation a couple weeks ago.

When in the moutains, one thing I immediately noticed was all the grass-farming going on. The old woven wire fences were in good repair and holding in cattle and horses. Around here, the old fences are generally sagging and don't contain anything but row crops. You all know how hard those corn and soybeans can be to keep in.

It's impossible to say whether these Appalachian graziers are practicing a more natural husbandry merely because that's all their land is suitable for or if they have deeper reasons. Probably a bit of both...