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The Rural Voice, 1979-07, Page 40Brenda and Jim McIntosh with Roger Morrison BY DEBBIE RANNEY Roger Morrison, 20, thinks educational training in agriculture, like the course he took at the University of Guelph, is helpful in doing farm work, and his employers Jim and Brenda McIntosh of R.R.3, Seaforth seem to agree. Roger, who just graduated from the Ontario Agricultural College has been working on the Mclntosh's poultry farm for about eight weeks now. Farm work isn't new to Roger who came from a beef farm at R.R.1, Lucknow. But it's only the second time he's worked with a poultry operation His education, however, seems to have given him a broader scope in doing all types of farm work. He says his course, Farm Operations and Management, explored the different types of farm operations and went on field trips to poultry operations, fertilizer plants, egg grading stations, meat packers, seed grading and feed mills nearly every type of operation havinfr to do with farming. Roger found his job at the McIntosh farm through the placement services at the University of Guelph. He decided to look for a job off his father's farm because he said right now his father's beef operation is too small. He has a twin brother who is also working outside the family farm. They're going to work, earn some capital, and maybe go back into farming at the home farm a little later, Roger said. The Mclntosh's have a poultry farm but they do grow corn, and a bit of winter wheat and barley. Roger's jobs are to gamer eggs, work on the land, mix all the feed and grind it, and an assortment of all farm duties including fixing equipment, driving the tractor, and in the fall he will probably be drying corn, milling it and maybe doing some plowing. Roger believes that, "you miss a lot, if you don't go to school. "They teach you quite a bit about running books, looking objectively at how to set up, and how to decide which is the most profitable farming situation. "It shows you quite a bit about what other farms are like and gives you a lot of insight into the farming industry -- from the farm gate on to the consumer, which you wouldn't otherwise PG. 38 THE RURAL VOICE/JULY 1979 The Young Farmer Employers say Guelph grad makes good farm hand see," Roger said. Right now, Roger plans to work for a couple of years. Later on, he plans to set up operations around home with his father and an older brother who's farming beside his father. Then he plans to either gradually get out on his own or go into partnership with them. He thinks maybe he'd like a beef farm or a bit of a cow -calf operation. "The cow -calf market is pretty good right now. It just depends what the agricultural scene is when you start," he said. Roger said he might try working on another kind of farm in the future, but right now, the McIntosh farm has opened his eyes to chickens. It's not his first exposure to the birds though, as he once worked on a broiler outfit for awhile with George Underwood of Wingham. Roger says having a farm operation of his own would be a nice thought but for now he says, "I'm trying to develop my skills more than anything, for when I start to farm on my own. "This seemed a real good place to start. The opportunity was there," Roger said. The McIntosh's, for their party, said they had had other farm educated help in the past and they found out that those with some education were doing a better job, so they put their name in at the University of Guelph. A professor at the University, Earl Hunt, mentioned the job to his students and two of them were interested. He thinks the agricultural education shows that the people who take it are willing to tackle something. "It shows up in their work. They're not afraid of going at something and doing a job," he added. "We realize someone like that is out to get experience, probably to get money. That type they've got the drive and ability to do the job," Mr. McIntosh said. "As long as they're willing to stay two or three years, that's better than somebody who has no get up and go. That's the area of their interest, if they're down there, at Guelph," he added. The Mclntosh's have 600 acres of crop and a 27,000 production quota on hens, plus they have the raising and feeding of pullets to keep them busy.