Fifty years ago, Alvin Harmon answered an ad in the Richmond Times Dispatch for a dairyman. He got the job, and has been an important part of the Middleburg Agricultural Research and Extension center ever since.

"Over the years, I moved from the dairy farm to beef cattle to agronomy," he remembered. "When Dr. Kronfeld took over, he started the equestrian program and that became our main focus. Agronomy and beef cattle were phased out as we worked hard to find ways to improve nutrition of the horse through research such as pasture and growth studies.

Middleburg's MARE Center is one of thirteen Virginia Tech Extension facilities in Virginia. Each center is responsible for research into one area of agricultural development. Nutrition has always been the focus of the center located in Middleburg.

Today, there are 100 horses, mares, foals, stallions and weanlings under care at the MARE center in Middleburg. The focus of the nutrition research is to determine how to improve endurance and over-all health in the horse.

Harmon is a Research Specialist at the MARE Center.

"Originally, we did nutrition studies on the dairy cattle and the beef cattle. We are painstaking in our research methods and, although technology has made a big difference, keeping track of the milk production or the strength of the skeletons that came back to us after the beef cattle were sold was our main mission at the MARE center," Harmon explained.

Now that horses are the main focus, there is much less pasture research and immensely more lab work for research assistants like Alvin Harmon.

"Although I had never worked in a dairy before, I had passed all the FFA classes and requirements before I accepted the job here," Harmon noted.

"It took a little getting used to be at the farm by 4:30 a.m every day., but my wife, Betty, and I have grown to love this place."

Alvin and his wife have lived at the MARE Center since he accepted the job. His retirement involves purchasing a house nearby and moving to a new home. "My wife loves it here. She likes the new house, but she's sad to leave. She loves the mountains and I love the sand," he reminisced. "When we arrived, we were very young, and we raised our children here. She's going to miss it terribly."

The equestrian business is very different now than when the research began at the MARE center. Previously, a study could take three-to-four years with lots of averaging and re-analyzing before the results were final. Today one person can do what four-to-five people used to do and the results can be published in papers within a year to ensure that grants and funding are received to support further work at the center.

"Today a professor can do a paper in a year or less," Harmon said.

"That is of real importance to our revenue stream."

Although he insists he "…does not allow himself to become attached…" to the horses at the center, Harmon admits they are all "very loving."

He and his wife focus their affection on their Chow dog and Persian cat, two outdoor cats and their Koi fish.

"I know everybody thinks their animals are the best," he smiles, "but ours rule the roost!"

The MARE Center offers many seminars on nutrition and related subjects that provide an opportunity for the equine community to learn about the research findings first-hand. Many are at the Center itself, and others take place locally, regionally and internationally.

"It's wonderful work," Harmon explained. "I loved helping the farmers make a better product. You really feel like you're accomplishing something, but it is intensively driven by record keeping and it takes a certain personality to maintain the quality of research we're after."

Dr. Kronfeld has retired and Dr. Ray Gore is beginning his tenure as Director of the Center. "It's been a grand job, and I've enjoyed working with the directors, their students and the staff here," Harmon concluded. "But I'm glad to be retiring. We have four acres that I look forward to clearing and tending, and I am confident that my 'honey-do' list will be long."

"Betty will want flowers and I'll have lots to do inside the house," he said laughing. "Our two daughters, Valerie Waters and Andrea Thompson, our five grandchildren, Scott, Corey, Brandon, Angelique and Elena, and our two great grandchildren will also keep me busy."

"We've traveled all over the United States with our daughters," he said. "We missed only five states when our girls were young."

According to Harmon, times have changed the personality of communities.

"Everyone is so rushed and busy now that nerves are on edge and no one has time to sit and talk on a Sunday afternoon." When he owned the video store at the corner of Route 50 and Zulla Road in Middleburg, he indicated that his subscriber list was pretty impressive. He closed the store because it just wasn't fun anymore.

Although he's had a triple bypass and several operations, Alvin Harmon is in fine fettle and looking forward enthusiastically to the next chapter in his life.

"Alvin is quite an historian," said Donna McDonald, Public Relations and Marketing coordinator at MARE Center. "He can answer almost every question about what goes on here."

"He is caring and knowledgeable about the land and the animals," she continued. "He works well with everyone and we all look to him for advice."

Alvin's talents and friendship will be missed.