The Rural Voice, 2000-10, Page 3R.V.
Editor: Keith Roulston
editorial advisory committee:
Bev Hill, farmer, Huron County
Diane O'Shea, farmer, Middlesex Cty.
George Penfold, associate professor,
University of Guelph
Gerald Poechman, farmer, Bruce Cty.
contributing writers:
Gisele Ireland, Lisa Boonstoppel-
Pot, Bonnie Gropp, Ralph Pearce
Bob Reid, Mervyn Erb, Sandra
Orr, Carl L. Bedal, Janice Becker,
Andrew Grindlay, Sarah Caldwell
marketing & advertising sales manager:
Gerry Fortune
advertising representative:
Merle Gunby
production co-ordinator:
Joan Caldwell
advertising & editorial production:
Dianne Josling
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Behind the Scenes
Examples of working together
We all make mistakes, but some of Some people already take
advantage of niches. Tom Jackson,
who farms in Lambton County, raised
birds of a different colour: ring -neck
pheasants. Sandra Orr visited him to
talk about his operation.
With provincial legislation to
enforce nutrient management plans
expected later this fall, the question
arises, who will pay the cost.
Enforcement will be expensive,
predicts Gary Davidson, director of
planning and development in Huron
County. He told his council it might
cost $500,000 a year in Huron if the
county has to create a department to
monitor NMPs on a year-round basis.
Will it be up to local counties to pay
the tab? Will there be user fees? We
have a story on Davidson's
comments in our News section.
Thanksgiving means turkey and
Bonnie Gropp has collected some
new recipes for the giant bird. Patti
Robertson talks about adding fall
colours to your colour scheme. And
Rhea Hamilton Seeger talks about the
importance of fall cleaning in your
garden.0
us learn more from our mistakes than
others. When Roger Cook made the
mistake of not supervising the
logging or his Stratford -area woodlot
20 years ago, it changed his life.
After seeing the devastation caused
by careless logging, he dove into the
subject of woodlot management.
Today he's a leader in the Huron
Perth Woodlot Association and
makes working with wood not only a
hobby but a part-time business. As
part of our woodlot management
section, we visited the Cook farm.
The woodlot is finally being
recognized as more than just a few
acres at the back of the farm, but a
valuable cropping area that can
provide just as good an income, over
the long run, as field crops. It is, in a
way, a niche operation. But what
about other niche markets? With all
sorts of new identity preserved crop
varieties providing new opportunities
for farmers, do we have all the
information needed to take advantage
of emerging trends. Ralph Pearce
explores the issue.
Update
Dry/liquid manure barn built in Ontario
Back in April we carried a feature story on a new type of barn built in the U.S.
that might be a possible solution to the management headaches that go along
with the convenience of liquid manure technology. Now a similar barn has been
built near Exeter.
Barry and Brian Miller have built a 1100 -head barn that raises the floor up
above ground with the liquid manure falling down to a deeper than normal
manure pit at ground level. The pit is half-filled with straw or wood chips to
absorb the liquid. The resulting mixture is aerated both by a cross -draft from the
ventilation fans on the sides of the manure pit and from a system of PVC pipes
encased in the floor with holes to allow air to infiltrate the straw or woodchips.
This constant aeration eliminates the danger of pit gases.
The barn will need to be cleaned out only once a year when a skidsteer can
take all the manure out to be spread by a dry -manure spreader. Since the Millers
already have a beef operation, they had all the equipment needed for handling
dry manure.
The day before the pigs went into the new barn, members of Huron County's
Agriculture and Public Works committee toured the facility along with others
who took part in a small-scale open house.
"I was very encouraged by the number of people in the industry who were
interested in this new technology," said Mason Bailey, reeve of Blyth and a
former president of the local Federation of Agriculture.
Impressed government officials are looking at ways to make such barns more
attractive. The Millers spent about $20,000 over the cost of a traditional barn.0