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The Rural Voice, 1981-12, Page 23Pork heading south Pork Congress exhibitors and swine breeders who attended a meeting at the Stratford Coliseum heard the latest results of the work done by the Swine Export Committee. The big news is that Vene- zuela has ordered another 500 breeding pigs to be delivered in early December and Mexico has placed an initial order for 40. "We hired an export company to put together the first order to Venezuela and thirty-seven producers had pigs on that first planeload." explained Bill Nahr- gang, vice-president of the Pork Con- gress. "This time all 97 paid-up members of the Ontario Swine Breeders Association are being contacted to find out what they have available to fill these orders. We'll be looking for purebreds ranging from 75 to 110 pounds." Some members of the committee have travelled to Venezuela to check up on how the first shipment of pigs has settled in. They then went on to Mexico to finalize an order there. Slides of this trip were shown at the Stratford meeting. Beef quota pressure The Ontario Cattlemen's Action Group, who are promoting supply management for beef production, claim a significant victory in Renfrew County. Out of 200 members of the county's cattlemen's association, 143 voted for a quota system. Graeme Hedley, secretary manager of the Ontario Cattlemen's Association warns, however, care should be taken with the interpretation of such numbers. While all the figures may be accurate, he cautions there were 1,000 cow/calf producers enrolled in Renfrew in the Ontario insurance plan in the years 1977/78. Hedley doesn't doubt there is a shift to more support for quotas as there is much financial hardship in the beef industry. In Huron and Perth counties, there isn't much interest in changing the marketing system. At the annual meeting of the Perth Association, only 75 producers attended, including the 22 elected directors. The total enrolment in the cow/calf insurance plan was ap- proximately S00. Perth county has a significant number of beef feedlots too. They are in sixth place in all Ontario counties. Bruce Ward from the Grey county OMAF office, suspects that the strong support for supply management evident in Bruce, Grey, North Wellington and Renfrew counties may be due to the fact that most beefmen there have no cash crop or other enterprise to fall back on when livestock prices tumble. OFA Task force in action The Ontario Federation of Agriculture Task Force met in Hanover on October 21st at which time briefs were presented by the Federations in Bruce. Grey and Huron as well as from a real estate agent. an equipment dealer and private persons. From left, Jim McGregor, a Huron County beef producer. who told the Task Force why beef farmers are going bankrupt. Next to him are Tony McQuail and John VanBeers who presented the brief from the Huron County Federation. We have a good selection of boars and gilts of Yorkshire, Duroc, Landrace, Hampshire and Hybrid swine available for private sale. This is our 15th year of offering progressive pork producers Ontario's largest selection of R.O.P. and veterinary approved stock. Our herd is maintained as a closed minimal disease operation. 8th Production Sale Wednesday, December 30 Liz Bend Solhallan 312K Back Fat 10 m.m. 129 days 151 index $3525. Top selling boar 1980 Pork Congress 1 Boars, Open gilts,Bred gilts at the farm of Warren Stein 1 mile south and 2 miles west of Tavistock THAMES BEND FARMS LTD. R.R.B, Woodstock, Ontario N48 7W1 519-855-2942 or 482-2704 RICHARD AND WARREN STEIN THE RURAL VOICE) DECEMBER 1981 PG. 21