The Rural Voice, 1980-04, Page 11Jim McNaughton of R.R.6, St. Marys
stands beside one of his inventions -- a new
way to feed cattle, and looks out over his
herd. (Photo by Ranney)
Beef big business!
Jim McNaughton tries to cut fertilizer costs
BY DEBBIE RANNEY
Although the beef industry now appears
to be big _business, it takes a lot of
innovation and good management on the
part of the farmer to make it that way.
Rural Voice talked to three such innovators
in Perth County
Jim McNaughton of R.R.6, St. Marys
has applied innovation in his beef cattle
operation to try to cut down on fertilizer,
feed and energy costs.
The McNaughton farm is 100 acres in
size, with a feedlot for 200 to 300 cattle and
150 market hogs. Jim took over the farm
from his father in 1966, converting it from a
dairy operation to a beef feedlot.
Mr. McNaughton does some custom
work such as silo filling and quite often
that's in exchange for people doing work
for him such as baling hay. The
McNaughtons also grow crops of beans,.
peas and for Canadian Canners in Exeter,
although how much of this they grow varies
in acreage from year to year. With the
by-product, , the bean and pea straw, Mr.
McNaughtoi, feeds a small cow -calf
operation of about 15 or 20, but said when
he's supporting that many he also has to
buy some feed.
Most of Mr.McNaughton's innovations
have been experiments in energy conserva-
tion, including re search into wind power
and methane production. but he decided
for the capital investment it would require,
it wouldn't be feasible until more research
is done.
He has put some of his energy research
into his house, however. Through the use
of insulation, window shutters and heating
with wood, he has cut his consump-
tion of oil from 700 to 172 gallons a year.
But, he has also tried to cut down costs
in his farming operation. Because of the
terrific amounts of nitrogen used on the
fields, he experimented by planting alfalfa
between rows of corn on one acre of land.
He did this for three years.
There was a small decrease in the corn
yield the first year. In the second year, the
crop yield was equal to the rest of the corn
and the third year crop was equal to the
second years'. He said the alfalfa was
sufficient to supply the nitrogen the corn
needed. He found visual observation
that the second year crop was just as good
a crop without the nitrogen and therefore
he had decreased his fertilizer
tremendously. Last year he tried this
experiment on a bigger patch of about
eight acres, but due to the dry climatic
THE RURAL VOICE/APRIL 1980 PG. 9