The Rural Voice, 1979-07, Page 31Advice on Farming
Incentive program grants
up to 40 per cent
,/l,griculture and Food Minister Bill
Newman has released the details of the
Ontario FarmProductivity Incentive Pro-
gram. The program, which was announced
in the Speech from the Throne in February,
will provide grants totqualifying farmers
for soil management category, elibible
projects include erosion control devices,
such as grassed waterways and terraces;
manure storage systems for both liquid and
dry manure; alternate livestock watering
facilities which will protect the quality of
adjacent watercourses. Also, grants are
available to farm associations for educ-
ational or demonstration projects in any of
these three categories. This part of the
program will be supervised by the Soil and
Crop Improvement Association.
Grants for erosion control and alter-
native watering cover 40 per cent of the
eligible expenditures to a maximum of
$1,500. For manure systems, the grant is
40 per cent up to $3,000. The maximum
aggregate grant for erosion control, alter-
native watering and manure systems is
$3,000. Special arrangements for assis-
tance with educational or demonstration
projects must be made through the
ministry or the local Soil and Crop
Improvement Association.
To be eligible, a farmer's principal
residence must be in Ontario and he must
either own or lease the land on which the
improvement is to be made. In addition,
gross agricultural income from the farm
must be at least $8.000 for the 12 months
preceding the application. Partnerships
and corporation are also eligible, with the.
maximum grant being the same as for
individuals.
In the production facilities category, all
beginning farmers are eligible. Also,
farmers who did not use the full $3,000
available to them under the old capital
grants program may qualify for the unused
portion.
Structures covered by this part of the
program are buildings to house fur bearing
animals; dairy, hog, beef, sheep and
poultry barns; fruit and vegetable storage
suuctures; grain and feed storage facilities
greenhouses; maple syrup structures; milk
houses; mushroom houses; silos; tile
drainage and tobacco kilns.
The grants cover 40 per cent of the
eligible costs to a maximum of $3,000.
Partnerships and corporations are also
eligible for these grants on same terms as
individuals.
The Farm Productivity Incentive Pro-
gram began in April and will run until
March 31, 1984. A brochure containing full
details of eligible projects and application
procedures will be available soon from
local offices of the Ministry of Agriculture
and Food.
One safeguard -
buy pigs from
farmers you know
One way swine farmers can safeguard
against getting haemophilus pneumonia in
their herds is to buy swine from farmers
they know haven't had cases of the new
disease or from "clean" sales barns.
This advice comes trom provincial
veterinarian F.J. Harden of Ridgetown
who is concerned with losses from the
acute pneumonia in Lambton, Middlesex,
Huron and Perth counties.
Mr. Harden said recently he knows a
farmer with 500 pigs who in the last three
months has lost more than 50 to haemo-
philus pneumonia.
The disease was only detected in Ontario
about two years ago and has escalated
alarmingly in the last 11/2 years. The
Centralia office has heard from 150 farmers
reporting the disease, about 12 have
reported to the Ridgetown office and nearly
20 at the Gue;ph offices.
Although most diseases can be con-
trolled by antibiotics, they aren't always
successful in the treatment of this type of
pneumonia. Mr. Harden said another
problem is that often there are f':w signs
that the animal has the disease. "In many
cases the animal is just found dead all of a
sudden," he said.
Haemophilus pneumonia can't be trans-
mitted to humans and usually only infects
pigs weighing 100 pounds or more
Mr. Harden said the last Canadian
outbreak of the pneumonia was reported in
Saskatchewan in 1971.
Throw protein
to the wind?
Ontario farmers may be blowing away
valuable protein by using open forage
wagons, according to Jim Weeden, Ontario
Ministry of Agriculture and Food agricul-
tural engineer.
He says producers could be losing as
much as 444 kilograms per hectare (400
pounds per acre) of forage leaves using
open wagons. Based on current protein
prices, this represents a loss of about $10
per hectare ($5. per acre).
"Because of the high protein content in
forage crops—up to 20 per cent if
harvested correctly—it is important to
conserve what is taken off the field," Mr.
Weeden says.
Forage leaves are lighter than the stalks,
so they can be picked up easily by cross
winds, and blown out of the wagon. Since
most of the protein content of forages is
contained in the leaves, losing the leaves
can reduce the protein content of the feed
significantly.
"Sixty-eight per cent of the protein in
alfalfa is contained in the leaves, while
leaves of grasses contain about 57 per cent
protein," says Mr. Weeden.
To help eliminate this loss of valuable
protein, Mr. Weeden recommends install-
ing a roof on the forage wagon, together
with side vents which should extend from
the middle of the wagon to the back end.
The vents should be lined with wire screen
or mesh no larger than one-half inch.
Another way to conserve the forage
harvest is to extend the blower to eliminate
the effects of cross winds. Mr. Weeden
says it is important to watch the blower to
make sure it is not shooting the crop away
from the wagon.
Harvesting the crop when it is too dry
will also add to the loss when the crop is
blown into the wagon. Leaves and other
fine particles are picked up by the wind
more easily when they are dry.
THE AURAL VOTCEIJULY 1979 PG. 29