The Rural Voice, 1978-08, Page 22POS tsfrom Ethel
fence in Canada
Ethel may be just a small place but it's
got the market cornered in the selling of
fence posts.
Gordon Ross of Ethel who makes the
posts sells them to wholesale buyers across
Canada. The posts are thin steel poles not
longer than a year in length with a wire
attached which gives the livestock an
electric shock if they get too close.
The steel from which the fence posts are
made is all prime material from Hamilton,
said Mr. Ross. "Most of the steel is high in
carbon with lots of- spring and it doesn't
bend as easily as ordinary steel, so it's
useful for fence purposes."
Steel prices fluctuate drastically ac-
cording to Mr. Ross. "It's a case of supply
and demand. We buy when the price is
right. Right now people are stockpiling
steel. There's a threat of a strike in the
steel industry and 1 expect prices will
continue to go up."
The Ethel Service Centre is a three-man
operation which was started by Mr. Ross in
1973 and although he sells fence posts all
across Canada Mr. Ross said there's very
little demand in Quebec and the Maritimes
as they have ample wooden stakes. On the
other hand ever year there's a build-up in
the volume of orders from Western
Canada.
Winthrop
GENERAL STORE
Open Mon. -Sat. till 9:00 P.M.
Grocery & Hardware
Work Boots
- Rubber Boots
CEDAR POSTS
FENCE SUPPLIES
45 Gal. Steel Barrels
-Gas-
DOUG
Gas-DOUG & GAIL SCHROEDER
527-1247
The centre buys its steel in coils and
although most buyers have their steel
straightened in Hamilton, the Ethel
company has its own straightener.
Wings for the fence posts are cut out of
scrape of sheet metal by Mr. Ross himself
in the early part of the week. The wings are
welded to the ends of the fence posts and
hold the posts solid when driven into the
ground.
Bob Pierce, one of the two men, Mr.
Ross employs at the Ethel Service Centre
does the welding.
It takes the men an entire day to make
enough posts to fill the paint wheel. It
holds 2,100 posts and is filled to capacity
daily. The paint wheel will hold over 3 tons
when fully loaded and takes 3/4 of an hours
to turn and spray paint the steel posts.
Mr. Ross who is originally from
wingham worked at the Canadian National
telegraph station agency for 15 years until
it was closed. Later he worked in the
automotive trade and during the slack
winter months while looking for something
to do he came up with the idea of making
the fence posts.
Boredom linked
to soil erosion
Boredom on the part of tarmers has
caused hundreds of acres of Prime
agricultural land in Southern Ontario to be
lost due to wind and water erosion a grain
it 22 THE RURAL VOICE/AUGUST 1978.
ZWAAN' S
WELDING AND
EQUIPMENT
Bldg. 25
Winnipeg Rd.
Vanastra
482-7931
Next to Bayfield Boats
SALES AND
SERVICE OF
Livestock Racks
Edbro Hoists
Grain Bodies
Fifth -Wheel Trailers
General Repairs
conference in Chatham was told recently.
Charles Baldwin of the Ridgetown Col-
lege of Agricultural Technology told the
conference that some farms in South- -
western Ontario are "flat, barren and
windswept" because their owners have
nothing better to do than rework the soil
and plow it, exposing the subsoil and
planting every inch of the field instead of.
leaving parts fallow to allow for proper=
water drainage.
Baldwin said some farmers level their
fields several times a year and plow it twice
a year instead of once because they have
nothing better to do. "The biggest thing
cash croppers have to overcome is time on
their hands."
No Barriers
He said that because the land is
overworked and the subsoil exposed there
are no natural barriers to prevent the wind
from blowing away good top soil and heavy
rains cause gullies to form on the upturned
soil. When the water runs out of the gullies
it takes the fertile top soil with it, leaving
behind the exposed sub soil, he said.
He said the problem is compounded by
farmers who plow close to the edge of their
property and close to the gullies instead of
leaving a grassy buffer zone.
Baldwin said that if farmers planted
trees and shrubs on their property to form
a windbreak and if they left grassy strips of
land fallow to absorb rain water, erosion
process would be greatly reduced and the
land values would increase.
Strickland
AUTOMOBILES
JEEP
TOYOTA
AMERICAN
MOTORS
STRICKLAND
AUTOMOBILES
Goderich
(519) 524-8841
524-8411
524-9381