The Rural Voice, 1986-06, Page 41Ian Robertson is the fourth generation to live on the 125 -acre farm home near Tara. He and his parents
Bob and Edith Robertson formed a corporation several years ago.
Robertson generally waits for
two hours of sunshine before cut-
ting the hay in the morning to pre-
vent nitrate poisoning. "We've
never run into a problem with
nitrate poisoning, but we know
farmers who have," he says. Hay
that is cut one day is baled the next
day, usually at about a 25 per cent
moisture content. "We did bale
some that was far too high in
moisture content, but it didn't
keep well," he says.
The drying agent and preser-
vative was developed specifically
for legume use and is not effective
for grasses, according to Robert-
son.
Robertson was satisfied with the
quality of his preserved hay last
year, and more important, the
cows liked it too. The protein con-
tent was high, and, because the
alfalfa and red clover were baled at
a high moisture content, the
valuable leaves stayed on the
stalks. Robertson is optimistic
about the future use of the hay
preservative. "I think it's going to
be a good thing, but we'll know
better after we've used it for two or
three years," he says. "We've only
used it one year and we can't prove
its worth. If we had one really wet,
rainy season where we had to use it
every day, then it would pay for
itself very quickly. There's no
question, it does preserve the hay,
but it's one more cost too," he
says. "It's difficult to come up
with exact cost figures in one year,
but I feel it's going to be a paying
proposition," he says.
Although the majority of
Robertson's hay was baled at 25
per cent moisture content last year,
some second cut hay was baled at a
far higher level of moisture but did
not keep. "The drying agent will
get rid of water, but it will also
take in water, and if it rains before
you get the hay baled, then it's
worse," he says. "You've got to
guess the weather, but it's general-
ly easy to predict what it'll be like a
day ahead."
Robertson has had many in-
quiries about the drying agent and
preservative from interested
farmers, but not everyone is as op-
timistic as Robertson was when he
was contemplating its usage. "One
farmer was interested, but only un-
til he heard that it will remove the
paint on his machinery. Then he
said no to it." The hay preser-
vative is very acidic. "Acid is a
wonderful paint remover and it'll
just peel that paint off like you
wouldn't believe, but only in the
area where it hits," he says. He is
willing to contend with a haybine
that has changed colour from red
to pink and has lost a little paint
due to the spray.
Robertson's experiments with
new ideas is not limited to the
farming operation. He is presently
heating his house with a water to
air heat pump in the basement. A
three -ton compressor forces well
water through coils of copper pipe,
removing heat from the water, and
storing it for use throughout the
house. "The heat pump is actually
a refrigerator in reverse," he says.
With the help of his son-in-law
who owns his own refrigeration
business, Robertson constructed
the heating unit. A three -ton com-
pressor pumps the 49°F well water
through a coil of copper pipe
where it is cooled to 39°F. The 10°
of heat is stored in a special com-
partment of the electric furnace
until it is needed throughout the
house. The quantity of heat
recovered is dependent upon the
volume of water that is pumped
through the system. "It uses a lot
of water, but we have a good
well," he says. The excess, cooled
water is removed down the drain as
waste.
Despite having a large, old farm
house, and high oil heating bills in
the past, Robertson finds that his
heating costs are now low. The
JUNE 1986 39