Swisher honored with White Service Award

By JANE W. GRAHAM
AFP Correspondent

WYTHEVILLE, Va. — The Virginia Forage and Grasslands Council presented one of its past presidents, Jerry Swisher of Fairfield, its most prestigious award, the Harlan White Distinguished Service Award, on Jan. 17 during the opening day of its four-day winter conference tour across the state.
Swisher has served agriculture and the forage industry in Virginia in many capacities during the year as a farmer, Extension agent, Extension dairy specialist, VFGC board member and president, and now as a dairy consultant.
A little insight as to why Swisher was honored was a spur of the moment comment from Dr. Carl Poulan, a retired Virginia Tech dairy sciences professor.
He recalled visiting the Ferrum College campus when Swisher was there on something of a recruitment trip for Tech.
“I never saw a young man ever ask so many good questions,” Poulan recalled commenting when his group started back to Blacksburg. “And he hasn’t stopped.”
Swisher retired as a senior Extension dairy agent in Augusta County in 2002.
He was the first dairy agent in Virginia and participated in the development of the area-programming concept, currently the model in Virginia.
A native of Fairfield in Rockbridge County, he attended Virginia Tech graduating in 1972 in animal science.
He then became Extension 4-H agent in Madison County and returned for a Masters degree in dairy science in 1981.
Swisher served in many capacities in support of the Virginia dairy industry.
He worked with preparing the 4-H dairy judging teams taking them to the national contest where they were first in 1994.
Swisher developed the concept of the Dairy Loafing Lot Rotational Management System and was recognized with the USDA Certificate of Appreciation Award in 1995.
Also he received the Distinguished Service Award from the National Association of County Agricultural Agents in that year.
In 1996, he received the Extension Excellence Award from the Virginia Tech Alumni Association. He organized and conducted the first Mid-Atlantic Dairy Grazing Field Day that has been conducted regularly since 1995.