The Lucknow Sentinel, 1981-07-22, Page 23;o.
City dwellers and antique hunters scan
the auction sale advertisements looking
for bargains. Check the pages of your
favorite newspaper . and you . will find
farm sales are taking up more and more
space,
'What is a bargain to some, though, is
the shattering of hopes and dreams to
others; not always, mind you, but
sometimes,
. Auctioneers stometimes ;have a better •
idea or what is going on Out there in the
boondocks than many other observers of
the fent scene, They are keenly aware of
prices for farm livestock, fee, hay and'
machinery. . " . •
They also have a .pouchful .of horror
stories..
A beef 'farmer near us, after 30. years of
. farming, was forced by a • bank to .
liquidate", He was helpless to prevent it.
High interest rates with a'subsequent
lowering ot equity caused.theproblemri.
• At first, hewas not bitter about it,
Later, when bank • officials did some `
surprising ' things, he felt he had been •
taken for a ride. •
The bank wanted: its money. Fair.
enough, but .officials put -.0 price. on his'
herd that was' ridiculously low; No one
took into consideration the increased
value of. his cow -calf operation'between
•
limetnaw $01001110
22,., i 19
orror stories
Leitoot ,6tbW Ido hone' Wail 6wF..N3S 7t
theatimeef the foreclosure.' and when a
number of calves were born.
The bank got its. money, The farmer
feels he got shafted.
Another case 'was also documented by
an auctioneer friend of mine, The
foreclosure proceedings started, Another
farmer made a bid for the blue silo on the
farm, He felt the price, was reasonable.
When he started to remove the' silo, he
found it almost fill of feed.
He toldthe bank officials that the feed
in the silo was worth ahnost as much as
he paid for the silo.
"What do 1 do with this feed?" he
asked,
Thebank said it was his problem, not
theirs, and the original owner again got
shafted.'
The reason? For the auctioneer, it was..
because the bank officials knew next to
nothing abot t farnming. They had no idea
of the increased value of the cony -calf
herd. They saw theibontents of thesilo as
a nuisance.
The original owners osuld have come
outof the bankruptcyy perhaps owing ;a
Tittle less and some other creditors
besides the bank . may have received
more money,
Now that the government has moved to
name a committee to review . farm
foreclosures, some improvementcan be
expected. Henry :.Davis,\ a beef farmer
from the Barrie area, appears to have
the credentials to help farmers. He. was.
named to the committee in raid -June. He
hasindicated a certain amount of
reluctance for the job. He may be caught
in that damned -if -you -do and damned-if-
you-don't
amned-if-
y sition.
The�workaf reviewing foreclosures oswrae has
been in the hinds of three civil Servant..
The new 'commlttee will certainly have
its hands full if we 'can believe alt the
Stories: in agricultural circles..
.The recently -announced; program to
give beef farmers X40 a head, for every
animal marketed in 1 . 0 will be a step in
the right , direction. The program is ex=.
pected to cost'nmre thant$30 million.
•The program will certainly help some
beef farmers. Ralph Barrie, president of:.,
the federation of agriculture;, Said far-
mers cannot' expect. governments to. bail
out farmers for all their losses but the ,
program is :"rich enough to help some
people.
What is desperately needed right now
is a low-interest loan program to help
farmers in financial difficulties.
Y do notthink for a moment that far-
mers enjoy being forced to belly up to the
public trough for help, They would rather
see a low-interest loan program than be
given. government handouts. They, are
still a fiercely. independent group. 1 am
convinced they would prefer that all
government subsidies be dropped, even
in milk* if it were:at allpossible.
But until such thea as the general
public is ready,, willing and able to pay
full price for a11- food products, those
subsidies will remain.
Clean fans
combat heat
When it's hot outside, it's
even hotter inside so effi-
cient ventilation systems. in
livestock barns are especial-
ly important during the hot,
summer months, says Dr. J.
R. Ogilvie, director of the .
School of Engineering at the
University ofGuelph,
Ariirnal barns need three
to five times as much air in
summer as in winter. Max-
imam air circulation .. is
essential to keep barn
temperatures close to out-
side temperatures.
Check. and clean all. fans
before summer heat hits,.
says Dr. Ogilvie. "Shutters,
Motors and screens need
cleaning, and all air inlets.
should be:kept wide open and
free of obstructions so fans
have ample air. • • • 1..
"Cleaning is easier in the
sumssimertirne, but a lot of
people ignore it," says Dr.
Ogilvie. "clean fans will pre-
vent overheating," Check
belts on larger, slow -speed
fans to ensure they are not
slipping.
"This is also the time to
consider energy efficient fan
Motors," says Dr, Ogilvie.
Energy efficient' (EE)
mri tors offer an energy wir-
ing alterative, especially
with motors working 24
hours a day. They use
Substantially less energy
than conventional.'motorss to
move the same amount of
air. Barns should also be
checked for excess air inlets.
"When it's hot, the tenden-
cy it to fling open all the
doors and.windows,"
says
Dr. "Ogilvie. "But then you
have natural ventilation and
you might as well shut off all
thefans."
Too many open windows
and doors, combined with
fans, can result in short cir-
cuiting, Air enters through
an opening near a fan only to
be drawn out by the exhaust
, • fan before it circulates in the
building. Avoid large open-
• ings near fans.
Also, watch fordead spots,
of air in the barn. You can
tell if air is circulating pro-
perly by,;walking around the
barn --- and Smelling for
freshness.
Pork producers- should
recognize the need for indoor
circulation, especially in far-
rowing barns, says Dr.
Ogilvie. Farrowing. crate
walls can create a stale'air
zone, increasing the heat
stress on sows ready to far-
row. •
Indoor fang, can direct' air
over animals and .increase
air, circulation in the' barn.
For further information in
ventilation problems . in
livestock and poultry barns
contact your local
agricultural office.
Cane
wotoe tion'a7 .
name...
*front page 5
to rediscover the similarities
;and timings. that Canadians
share in benefits and con-
cerns from the Atlantic to
the pacific and the farthest
reaches of the north.
The association is guided
by a 12 member Board of
Directors, elected from the
membership and each direc-
tor serves a three year team*.
The Board Meets eight tunes
a year,. with the Executive
Committee carrying the
authority of the Board of
Directors in the interim.
The association employs a
staff of 12 in its Oakville of -
flee* directly serving the 217
members in Ontario and
English language Quebec •
and indirectly serving the
5g1 community .newspapers
across Canada.
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