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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1961-02-09, Page 7uron Students at Ridgetown (By KEN RYAN) 23rd annual Farmers' Week estern Ontario Agricultural S: �1, Ridgetown, opened Mon- dJan. 16, with the official op - e oh the new $500,000 Agron- • Building. A ribbon -cutting ony, conducted by Mr. E. L. oodley, was held, with the William Stewart, newly-ap- d provincial cabinet minis - t performing the honors. The o al dedication was performed b 'adre W. A. Young, of the Guelph, before a crowd of 600. G. Bennett, Chief Agricultur- ficer for Ontario, introduced inister of Public Works, the Ray Connell, Mr. Connell ented that the construction w buildings for an institute Western Ontario School, was se encouraging application to uture of agriculture. e plaque for the new building unveiled by Hon. William art, who said management d be one of the deciding fac- of the future of agriculture. H. Brown, an instructor at .sclpol, gave instruction on 1 arrangement, and also dis- c' ." ed the subject, "Landscaping Home Surroundings," in a ial hdrticultural session, The Vsession, held in the Animal andry Building, had an atten- e of about 400. W. W. Snow, man for this session, intro - d Or. D. N. Huntley, head e Field Crops Branch of the in Guelph. r. Huntley's topic, "Experiment ons in a Changing Agricul- t''," proved interesting and in - f ; ' ative. In his topic he men - ed that‘ - Canadians could buy fgod for a smaller percent - of their earnings than could other nation, Understanding ts is one •oL'the first factors, wed "by the' development of h . plants considered in experi- etal work. All plants growing ,Ontario, except coru, is foreign :this province, and may be con- ereda artificial, because without n the existence of these plants Id not occur, said the speaker. ost people consider plant food manure or commercial fertiliz and are correct in this consid- btion. What many people do not ow is that the plant has the ility to produce most of its own , Ad providing conditions for plant, in which it can produce s food easiest, is an important tor in crop production. Dr. tley concluded by stating that and management and the fol - ng of a good cropping program e two most important factors in owing a top quality crop. A, D' McLaren, an instructor at e school, gave the crop recom- endations for 1961. These re- mmendations, for Southwestern ntario, included oats, wheat, bar - y and corn. John Curtis, also a hool instructor, explained a dis- ay set up by the Department of gricul¢ure on the Ontario Pas - re Competition. He said the or- anization had really expanded 'nee its start in 1958 with almost.. members, to 1960 with almost 00 entrants. Herb Watson, from Peel County, as the winner of the provincial ompetition in 1960. Through sound anag ment, a soil testing pro - ram, spring and fall fertilization, nd the use of the proper varie- Qes, Mr. Watson was able to pas - e an average of 1.7 cows per cre. This acre of pasture fed the ows to produce five tons of milk, r milk with a value of $400. This an Enviable record, and through ire program which Mr. Watson ses, I feel that many other farm- rs would be able to come close this record, said Mr. Curtis. ivestock Day Dr. J. C. Renu ie, of the OAC, uelpfi, addressed the Livestock ay crowd of 600 on "Your Breed - M g Program." He showed a very teresting group of slides' ot1. the enetie standpoint of livestock reeding. Some of the things ex- )ained by these slides were the rinciples behind the hereditary isof an an animal like the iyy**'red riactor" in Holsteins, "dwarf - m" in beef breeds, and the de- rmining of the sex of the off- pring of an animal. In his talk on dairy cattle, Dr. ennie stressed management, • and the keeping of accurate records in 'order to attain all possible pro- fits. Or. Rennie stated that every barn of a beef cattleman should be equipped with an accurate set 1(!�,,f scales, and they should be used krequenily. , In almost every case, better re- sults were attained at experimen- tal stations with the use of per- formance tested bulls than were attaitled with cross -breeding. With Cross -breeding in a small herd, there is not enough females avail- able to make efficient use of the Selection of replacement females. With swine, cross -breeding is *ore important than it is in beef production. Selection of good fe- ak is a most important factor swine production. The total lit- er weight at weaning time is one point which will give a breeder a Very good idea of which pigs will ltdake the 'best mothers. The sows 7th low litter weaning weights ould be culled. The gilts should selected from the top litter eaA+ing weight groups, and also ts of a desirable type should be nsidered in the breeding pro - am. Dr. K. A. McEwen, the second eaker on the afternoon's pro - am, expanded on the topic, wine Diseases Can Be Costly." ter explaining the history and mptoms of "Crazy Pig Disease" d the three types of scours, he ve the methods which a farmer taid use in preventing almost all eases in swine. These methods e gradual changes in any ration, ing baby -pigs iron often, sani- on, ventilation, isolation in the ! of a disease, and the clean - and disinfecting of the housing a regularly. . W. Underwood, instructor at school, pleased the audience KEN RYAN, Walton, (left) was winner of the awards for high student in Agricultural Engineering and second student in Farm Accounting and Farm Management at AOAS. John Baan, Wal- ton, was winner of the Huron County Award for 1961. He is a first-year student. with his topic, "Healthy Hogs In- crease Profit." Mr. Underwood mentioned that intestinal infection and the cholera problem as the two diseases presenting the most problems, and the ones costing the most through medication and death. Pig pneumonia and rhinitis, two diseases quite common among all pigs, can be controlled by isola- tion of each litter. Research has proven that 90 per cent of the farms have pigs with rhinitis pres- ent, so as you can see, the con- trol of this disease is very impor- tant, said Mr. Underwood. Mr: Underwood concluded by stating that one litter of pigs on test this year at the school averaged 202 pounds at 140 days of age—a re- cord worth working for in the fu- ture, I feel. Farm Management The chairman for Farm Manage- ment Day was G. S. Moggach. G. E. hunt, St. Thomas, Ont., a pro- fessional farm manager, who also operates a 900 head feeder cattle lot near, Peterboro, was the first speaker. With the help of charts, Mr. Hunt covered all aspects of his topic, "Farm Business Administration and Financing." The first ques- tion asked by Mr. Hunt was, "Why are you farming?" Is it because your father was a farmer; because you wish to become socially prom- inent in your neighborhood; be- cause you can use farming as a crying towel; or is the reason you are farming is because you wish to make money? Farming is becoming more of a business and less a way of life, Mr. Hunt added. Competition is becoming much stiffer, and a lot of people get the wrong idea of who their competition is. Actually, the person you are trying to beat is your neighbor. Contrary to what some people engaged in agriculture believe, your farm problem can be solved, and as one will realize at the pres- ent time, there are many farm problems to be solved. Many be- lieve, just because they seem to be producing more efficiently and moving ahead more rapidly, that they are at the peak of.farming, but the real fact is that there is always room for improvement. Mr. Hunt went on to explain that there are four sections into which farming could be divided. Crop production was the first phase of farming mentioned. For every dol- lar spent in crop production, whe- ther in tillage methods or fertiliza- tion ,the greatest return for invest- ment should be the aim. With live- stock production, Mr. Hunt em- phasized keeping records. Some- thing that is becoming more and more prevalent among men en- gaged in agriculture is "pencil farming". This is the actual set- ting down and figuring out the most economical method .of pro- duction. Concerning buildings and equip- ment, Mr. Hunt stated: "Capital should be substituted for labor to Iower cost and to improve output." The mechanization of almost all fields of •farming today allow the labor cost to be cut to a minimum. Many people go out and buy new machinery, and erect new struc- tures just to keep up to their neighbors, and do not figure the advantage, financially, of this new purchase. In many cases, this per- son could ha.ve operated a lot more economically with the old equip- ment or building. Labor efficiency, the fourth sec- tion of farming, is thekey to all business profits. Labor • efficiency is actually the output per man. With the new modern methods of operation, the labor output per man has really advanced in a very short time. Mr, Hunt, at this time, brought in a little slogan which can be applied to farming: "Know + $ Doughs $ = Go." The four sections I divided the farm into are not sufficient to give today's farmer profit. Besides these four factors, which formerly were enough, there are four add- ed. You might compare them to cars, Mr. Hunt said. "In the days gone by, the Model T was a popu- lar ear. This car had four cylin- ders. As time went on, power in the automobile was desired, so the -number of cylinders was in- creased, until today we have eight - cylinder vehicles. Farming has in- creased in the same way. There are now eight factors to consider. The final four are the basis of a good, sound, profitable business." Business organization is the legal arrangement of a farm. It in- volves a lawyer, for working' out farm partnerships, or for any legal advice. An accountant is involved, as well as a good insurance sales- man. The farmer in the future is going to have the ability to procure fairly large amounts of capital and manage it successfully. This fact alone is going to separate the men from the boys. Financial analysis is the prepar- ing and the keeping up to date of a balance sheet. This balance sheet should be the basis of the farming business. Budget planning is the doing of a little paper work in order to find out the most eco- nomical method of operation. Many enterprises are being carried out in Ontario at the present time, and are actually losing the farmer money, although he does not re- alize it. Income and expense re- cords should be kept along with the inventory changes. This gives the operator of a farm a clear pic- ture of profit. Farming is now one of Canada's most competitive busi- nesses; and the use of records for business management and future planning is going to be one of the essentials of this farming enter - prize in the future. As to the future, of farming, Mr. Hunt quoted a London business ex- ecutive as saying: "There are not opportunities in other businesses that there are in farming." Re- cently the Financial Post, a lead- ing paper in the business world, stated: "Farming in the future looks bright." The Wall Street Journal, just recently, published a cartoon with the following caption under a little boy sitting on a fence: "No other major producer faces the possibilities open in the field of agriculture." The present farmers should be able to see that there must "be something wrong with their method of operation if they are not profiting from their endeavours. Although prices at the present time are not the best, with proper management a farmer can make quite a substantial earn- ing. In order to make this earn- ing even greater in the future, when the prospects of farming could not look better, management is going to be the factor which has to be improved. Many farm- ers are not equipped to manage their farms properly, and my ad- vice to them is to get some pro- fessional help if they desire to stay in business in the future. Andy Stewart, school instructor and manager of Highland Farms at Morpeth, spoke on "This Chang- ing Agriculture." Mr. Stewart had collected some material and sta- tistics of 'what farming will be like in the future, and the advances which had been made in practical agriculture over the past few years. His first comment was that agri- culture was making rapid and logi- cal strides. The growth in population in Can- ada during the last 10 years has been five million people. The gross national product has been doubled, and despite just about one-half the rural population now compared with 1950, the gross farm produc- tion was increased 50 per cent. In Canada, the production per man is greater in agriculture than in any other industry. Mr. Stewart credited this in- creased output per man to mech- anization, along with other fac- tors, but one significant statistic proving this is that during the last 20 years the value of machinery on the farm has increased 250 per cent. That is to say that there is two and a half times as much ma- chinery engaged in farming,, today as there was in 1940. As you can see, we have made greater strides in the past 20 years, but what lies in the future? asked Mr. Stewart. Some of the fore- seen changes diagnosed by Prof. P. Beeson, of Perdu University, were related by Mr. Stewart. "More beef and milk can be pro- duced from an acre of corn than from any other crop. In the fu- ture, you are going to see the har- vesting of the whole corn plant. There is going to be increased use of alfalfa, and' the change to de- hydrated, pelleted roughages. Crops will be harvested and stored in the form in which they are to be utilized. The crop, take corn for instance, will be picked, shelled and ground right in the field. This product then will be transported and stored ready for automatic feeding, The hay baler is going to be replaced with a pelleting ma- chine. The hay will be cut, dried and pelleted right in the field. We will be able to preserve high mois- ture grains with the addition of HURON COUNTY STUDENTS at Western Ontario Agricultural School were winners of a number of scholarships. Shown here are; left to right, Wayne Jackson, Blyth, winner of the award for best all-round student; Glen Greb, Zurich, winner of the Huron County Award for 1960; Clair" Cox, Bayfield, winner of the award for high student in Civics for the final term in April of 1960. chemicals." Mr. Moggach, chairman and fin- al speaker on the program, really surprised a lot of the audience with the substance of his topic, "Selection and Use of a Farm Tractor." The tractor, with a few exceptions, represents the largest single investment in equipment on most farms, and in many cases its cost will equal or,exceed the value of all other farm machinery. Sec- ondly, this tractor operates prac, tically all other equipment; the job these machines do depends to a large extent on the tractor' that is powering them. The increasing trend seems to be toward a diesel machine, so Mr. Moggach compared the cost of owning and operating, a diesel tractor with a gasoline model. He said that most people think that a diesel- tractor is more efficient to operate,- and they actually are, but not to an extent to which most people think. Most purchasers of a new diesel tractor compare this machine with the old gasoline trac- tor they traded off. Actually this is wrong. The new gasoline trac- tors are much more efficient than were the old ones, and in order to get proper results from the comparison, the gas and diesel tractor must have close to equal power, and be the same age. With results collected, Mr. Mog- gach proved that it would take at least six years to pay for a diesel tractor over a gasoline tractor. This was with a 32 -horsepower LDA UMBER o��a5 AWAHC[ Seaforth Lumber Ltd. THIS VALENTINE'S DAY , s ...make 'your hom happier place to 1►ve!` Gifts for your dome! Remodel Your Kitchen • Utility and charm in beautiful birch, fir or poplar cupboards—. finished or unfinished.. Make your work day brighter! Ask for a free estimate on a new kitchen for you, a.. 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In a 48 -horsepower tractor, four years are required to pass before . any advantage can be seen from the diesel, and with the 60 -horsepower model, about three years are re- quired to realize advantage of the diesel over gas. With the diesel tractor, one fac- tor — cleanliness — is the deciding point of the operating efficiency. Since the diesel tractor has such precise mechanism, it is very necessary that the fuel be care- fully screened. Without this care- ful looking after of the fuel, a diesel tractor will, by no means, operate very well. The final day session of the Farmers' Week was split into two groups—the Poultry Session and the Weed Control Session. The Weed Control Session was attended by an 'audience of over 300 stu- dents and cash crop farmers. John Curtis, instructor at the School, gave a' few pointers on "Weed Con- trol in Forages and Pastures." Slides which were shown at the THN SAN EXPQSI' QL 416,01 •Q I'i!; ftlf . h310.4 end of his speech. proved the need for weed control jal. fo ragee, the use of the proper chemical; and the necessity of 'careful operation- of perationof the sprayer. Prof. G. Anderson, ' of the On- tario Agricultural College .in Guelph, spoke on "Weed Control in Corn." He mentioned that there was an increasing use of chemf call in weed control. Prof. An- derson gave the recommendation¢ for chemicals, and gave the value of using granular chemicals for weed control. He stated that the granular chemicals were very good, but that the applicators were very inconsistent. R. Frank was 4he final speaker, and gave points 'on "Weed Con- trol in Beans and peets." He men- tioned the progress chemicals had made in the control of weeds in beets and beans, and that there were not a lot of chemicals which were very good for the control of weeds 'in sugar beets. Soils ' Day The chairman for the Soil* Day was C. S. Baldwin, of the Soils Department of WOAS. The Tues- day session witnessed an attend- ance of close to 700. Stan Wonno- cott, a district farmer, was the first speaker. Speaking on "Farm- ing In a Cash Crop Area," Mr. Wonnocott stated that a farmer should 'receive five per cent .re- turns on his investment, plus a reasonable income for his labor. If he does not, he would be better doing something else. "Machinery should be traded in before it is worn out to avoid costly repairs," the speaker stated. Mr. Wonno- cott concluded that farming was a business, and it should be treated as so. Prof. L. R. Webber, of the OAC, spoke on "Soil Conditions As Af- fected By Tillage and Cropping Practices." The one point that Prof. Webber stressed was that the farmers were working their land too much and decreasing .he soil structure and lowering the capacity of a soil to granulate. This causes a crushed condition, loss of organic matter, etc. Pack- ing of the soil has been increased by the use of heavy machinery. Prof. Webber concluded with the fact that the soil should be culti- vated as little as possible to con- serve it. , The final speaker was R. E. Clayton, instructor at the school. His topic, "Farm Ponds—An Asset or Liability," was illustrated by the farm pond display. He stated that a darn: pond Can be Of pe11t advantage of ,madagett Ppoperl,Y suji,p4r tg proteetiop for Itr0, stili Plywg 'w tqt for liv000.0k0 Slvhig recreation, 3414 :also; give lou supply for rregatlpn, . LEMONS— TAX and P4#RVRI, $ER'VI Ali ' ' PUQNEs ivg1A$Evi' CECIL pAyL 676 67$ and FUEL OIL Wm. M. Hart Phone 784 Seaforth FRESH BAKED TastFor y Eating CLEARY'S I.G.A.- IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII111111 We write all lines of INSURANCE Fire - Auto Wind Liability and Life Manufacturers Life Insurance John A. 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