HomeMy WebLinkAboutFarming '88, 1988-03-30, Page 31FARMING ’88, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 30, 1988. PAGE 7.
Support of families big edge for young couple
Continued from page 6
are ready to go as with the fat cattle
market.
He enrolled in the Beginning
Farmers Assistance Program from
the Ministry of Agriculture and
Food and has gone to one of the
lectures under the program but
admits the main attraction was the
interest rate reduction under the
program. There is a lot of bookwork
involved in the program with
cashflows, inventory reports, and
accrural accounting but banks are
now insisting on a lot of this
information anyway, he says.
While banks have been the brunt of
much criticism from farmers he
says he’s never had any trouble
and never considered switching
banks. Yes, banks want a lot of
paper backup these days “but who
doesn’t want more paperwork’’.
Sheep shearers school planned
A sheep shearing school will be
held in the A.M. Barr Arena at
Kemptville College of Agricultural
Technology on April 22,23, and 24.
The school will cater to both the
novice and the experienced shear
er.
There will be six qualified
instructors on hand for the three-
day event and participants will
have the opportunity to develop
and/or polish their skills with the
benefit of the instructbr’s exper
tise. Each participant will shear at
least 10 sheep as well as attend
demonstrations, informal lectures
and film presentations.
The school gets under way at 7
He has taken advantage of
government programs to help
build a new manure storage facility
and for farm safety repairs but he
doesn’t go around reading up on
every new program to see if it has
something in it he can take
advantage of. There are more farm
programs now than any time in
history he says and some are good
but he just doesn’t know how many
people are really being helped.
Away from the farm he belongs
to only the Ontario Cattlemen’s
Association havingdropped his
membership in the Ontario Feder
ation of Agriculture because of its
promotion of “the Grenville Resol
ution’’ which called for a vote on
supply management for the red
meat industry. He feels the OFA
should mind its own business and
let the commodity groups decide
p.m. on the Friday with a three
hour evening session followed by a
full day on Saturday, beginningat8
a.m. from 6 p.m., and ending
around 3 p.m. Sunday.
Accommodation for Friday and
Saturday evening is provided in the
college residence and 3 meals on
Saturday and two on Sunday are
included in the registration fee of
$150.
If you are a shearer or would like
to get started shearing, this school
is for you.
To register or for further infor
mation, phone Debbie at (613)
258-8376.
themselves how marketing should
be handled.
He’s happy with the work of the
Cattlemen’s Association on the
other hand, particularly its battle
against European cattle imports,
although that work may be endan
gered by a GATT ruling. He
doesn’tfeel the need to join groups
to share his problems saying that
he gets plenty of chance ttntb that
at the local curling rink (he's been
active in sports playing for Wing
Your stockyard cafe
Brussels 887-9035
ham intermediate teams for sever-
alyears and still playing slo-pitch).
For other young farmers getting
into the business the best advice he
can give is to get the support of
theirfamilies. Hecouldn’t have
made it on the farm without the
support of both his own and Barb’s
family, he says.
Although having a family in
farming helps, he says there are so
many types of farming opening up
these days from fish farming to
specialty crops that even someone
from a non-farm background has a
good chance to get into the
business. “When you talk about
farming, you don’t have tobe big,’’
he says. It’s not like out west where
farmers talk in terms of 5,000 or
10,000 acres.
Having travelled west the last
few years tobuy cattle hesays, he is
always glad to get back to Huron
county. “We live in a pretty nice
part of the country”.