Interviewer: Heather Witt
3/19/20, 10-11am
How did you end up in the Ag Reserve?
Dr. Anderson grew up in College Park, Maryland. His Dad worked for the USDA. During his childhood summers, he would visit his Grandma and Great Aunt on the Eastern Shore where he was introduced to farm life. This is where his interest in agriculture and animals began. His relatives suggested he should become a Veterinarian. He attended the University of Maryland College Park for two years, then transferred to the University of Georgia Veterinary School (Class of 67). When he applied to Vet School, there were only 3 schools on the East Coast (University of Georgia, University of Pennsylvania and Cornell). The University of Georgia would accept 10 students from Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina, as well as, 20 students from Georgia for a total class of 60. Mr. Anderson worked at NIH in Bethesda during the summer months. When he graduated, men of his age were being drafted and recruited to fight in the Vietnam War. To satisfy his military obligation, he became a member of the Public Health Service and served at the NIH Animal Center in Poolesville on Elmer School Road. One year later in 1968, he purchased a home on the corner of Big Woods Rd and Beallsville Rd.
Could you describe your veterinary practice? Any interesting clients or cases?
Dr. Anderson started a mixed veterinary practice (large and small animal) named Peachtree Vet Clinic in 1972. When he began there was no emergency veterinary services in the area. His practice was continuous one and he was on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This type of practice did not produce an environment for much leisure. The first 20 years of his practice he was the sole practitioner. His clinic was located in Poolesville during the seventies at the current Thrift Shop location. He later relocated to the property across from Lewis Orchard. He sold the equine part of his practice in 1992 and sold the clinic in 2008 to the VCA (Vet Clinics of America) who closed in 2020. The building is currently vacant.
His biggest client was Al Marah Horse Farm with around 240 Arabian horses, located on Peach Tree Rd between Beallsville and Barnesville. He had a large Equine part of his practice and was at Al Marah almost every day. They had a large breeding business, probably the largest for Arabian Horses in the world at that time, with over 100 foals born a year. Al Marah also had beef cattle on property located near the Boyds Quarry. Mrs. Garvin “Buzy” Tankersley was the owner. She eventually bought a farm in Tuscon, Arizona near the Grand Canyon and moved all her horses and Cattle there in 1976.
His most memorable equine case started with a barn fire in the 80’s on Sugarland Rd. Straw in the barn caught on fire due to an electric heater on Thanksgiving night. The heat from the fire caused a plastic 2×4 sky light in the roof to melt and subsequently fall on the back of a polo horse named Willi. The horse was in barely alive with a severe burn wound on the back and could hardly breathe. The owner wanted to try to save her. They transported the horse back to the Vet Clinic where she stayed for 5 months recuperating from her injuries. It was a miraculous recovery and they became best buddies. Willi never played polo again, but he became a great trail horse for the family. He also saved a horse that was hit by a train. He remembers the horse cases the most because horses could get into a lot of trouble and their owners bonded with them more than cows that stay out in the field.
Dr. Anderson’s cow cases involved many strange diseases. One example is called Grass Tetany that starts in the Spring when the grass that grows near the water grows too fast and has no time to develop adequate amounts of Magnesium. The cows that consume this grass become deficient in Magnesium resulting in large, 1200 lb cows rolling around in the field. It was difficult to treat the cows in this state, but once he gave them some electrolyte therapy, they bounced back quickly and he looked like a hero to his clients. Another example is Milk Fever when cows who have just given birth become low in Calcium and present with a quiet presence with no strength and unable to stand up. Giving the cows a calcium treatment produced fast results, getting them back to normal in no time. The number of Veterinarians in the area that treat cattle has dwindled to only 1-2 in the region today.
Could you talk about anything that you’ve seen remain constant or change in the Ag Reserve over the last 40 years?
The horse population in the Ag Reserve does not seem to have decreased per Dr. Anderson. He notes that there used to be many more horses in Potomac, which used to be his first stop of the day. Many homeowners who had only a couple of acres of property would keep a couple horses in the back yard. Once the older generation moved away, the newer generation tended to get rid of the horse stalls and pave the area for a tennis court.
Dr. Anderson described the Ag Reserve at this time as having over 20 dairy farms who shipped milk. Today there is only one left, his neighbor the Johnson Dairy Farm. His second biggest client was Spring Valley Farm, located where Nothing Fancy Farm is today. Spring Valley Farm had about 300 heifer cows plus baby cows for a total of around 500 cows. Spring Valley Farm was owned by the Rolfe family and included property on both sides of Rt 28. The founders passed away in the early 70’s and the property was bought by a beef business which ended up selling the property around 75. The Dairy Farm business in the Ag Reserve suffered from low milk prices. The margin of profitability is small with equipment costs and workload high.
