The Rural Voice, 2002-05, Page 301
Barrie Metals Ltd.
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220 John Street
Barrie. Ontario
Li\ 2L3
Owen Sound Tel: (705) 728-I643
Tel: (519) 371-0803 Fax: (705) 725-8212
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519-233-3218
HILL & HILL
FARMS
Varna, Ontario
26 THE RURAL VOICE
group housing sow barn can be built
for from $660 per sow space for a
-100 sow barn to $500 for a 1,000 sow
barn using liquid manure. For a dry
manure, centre -scraped barn the cost
if $755 for 100 sows down to $535
for 1,000. By comparison it will cost
from $971 per sow for a 100 -sow
barn to $971 for 1,000 sows for a
barn with stalls.
"We put sows in crates to
maximize productivity and we'll take
them out of crates for productivity,"
he said.
Blackwell urged the farmers to
take pride and joy in their profession.
"You are the reason I do this work,"
he. said. "Pigs aren't my favourite
species but you're my favourite
people." ,
There's no more honourable
profession than raising livestock, he
said, noting that in the Bible, God is
compared often to a shepherd and it
was to the shepherds the word of
Christ's birth was first given. "And
the town was full of tax collectors,"
he joked.
But having praised the
producers and profession,
Blackwell said pig farming is
not a good lifestyle because too many
farmers work too hard and don't take
enough time off for vacations. "The
reason family farms are disappearing
isn't because of the money," he said.
"Kids don't stay on farms because
their parents don't take a vacation.
"Even if you've trained your kid
perfectly (to be just like you) he'll
meet some sweet young thing and in
two weeks he'll forget everything
you ever taught him," he joked. "If
you want your son or daughter to
take over the farm then take a
vacation every year. You've got to
show them they can have a decent
lifestyle." '
He gave some tips on how to
make this easier, suggesting everyone
should aim for high -health pigs. This
didn't mean you had to depopulate
your barn and start from scratch but
you needed to work toward cleaning
up disease in the barn so you can use
less livestock medicines and make
life easier, he said. If you're going to
have a part-time worker take over
while you're on holiday, you don't
want to have to give them a lesson in
livestock medicines.
He suggested batch farrowing as a