The Rural Voice, 1980-06, Page 15here we have 150 acres."
Is there anything they don't like about
living on the farm? Patrick has a quick
answer -"picking stones -don't mention that
word!" Rita Moylan said her husband
usually rounds up a bunch of neighbour-
hood kids to help with the stone picking
each spring. While the sociability may be
great, Patrick points the hazard of the job -
"blisters." The only thing the children can
think of that's equally unlikable is picking
cucumbers.
Don Moylan , farming the land where
he was raised. said when it comes to jobs
around the farm, "in some ways, thcy can
do more than when we were kids, because
it's been made easier." Mr. Moylan said
tractors today, for example, arc much
easier to operate and much safer with the
closed -in cabs and a better position for the
operator.
He said he wouldn't think of letting
Patrick use the tractor he had used as a
boy, but feels his son is relatively safe "as
long as he's within seeing distance."
Also, Don Moylan thinks "the jobs that
they can do today are more interesting than
when we were kids." For an example, he
said horses didn't always behave as they
were told, and you were pretty well
dependent on their disposition.
Don's father used horses on the farm
until Don was 12 years old, and "many a
team of horses ran away with a wagon."
The difference between tractors and horses
however, was that "a team of horses
could run away, but they wouldn't go
anywhere that wasn't safe and they had to
stop eventually, while a tractor goes until it
can't go any further."
John Hicknell, a student at Central Huron Secondary School, Clinton, stands beside the
tractor he drives on his father's dairy farm outside of Seaforth. (Photo by Gibb)
families are aware of the need to be
careful, Don Moylan believes there's still a
need for more education in farm safety
equipment. He said people still stand in
unsafe positions when hitching their
equipment to tractors or stand directly
behind equipment being pulled by tractors.
"It doesn't take any more time to work safely"
Today, chores like putting down the hay
are much e tsiLr, Don Moylan said. A
generation ago. a child couldn't pull the
heavy bales out of the barn mow.
Mr. Moylan also doesn't think the
hazards today are any greater than
when he was young.
"With all the equipment today, we've
been made aware of the need to be
careful." He credits the Farm Safety
Association for a good deal of this
awareness.
The beef farmer said machinery in the
,past was also more hazardous than it is
today, with power take -offs more common.
He said he's always been safety conscious
after working on construction and seeing a
number of co-workers with hands and
fingers missing.
But while most farmers and their
"We just simply get in a hurry. but it
doesn't take any more time to work
safely," he said.
Don Moylan hopes his farm, too. will
stay in the family, "perhaps more from the
historic view than anything else." Btrt he's
also afraid the opportunities to take it over
as a growing concern are going to be
slimmer when his family is old enough than
when he took it over.
The farmer doesn't like to sec what
vertical integration and the growth of
corporate farms is doing to agriculture in
the province. His land has been a family
farm since the Moylan family came to the
Huron Tract. and he hopes that tradition
will continue.
As his daughter said, one of the best
things about the farm, is "there's lots of
space...'
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THE RURAL VOICE/JUNE 1980 PG 13