The Rural Voice, 2004-07, Page 62People in Agriculture
Harry Hayter dies at age 81
Thomas Henry "Harry" Hayter of
Dashwood, founder of Hayter Turkey
Farms, died peacefully at the
Dashwood farm home that was also
his birthplace on June 6. He was 81.
As well as building the family
turkey farm into a well-known
processor of turkeys and turkey
products, Hayter was involved in his
community. He was a member of the
Ontario Federation of Agriculture,
the Huron County Cattlemen's
Association and the Ontario Turkey
Producer's Marketing Board.
Locally, he served on the Huron
County Board of Education, the
board of the South Huron Hospital in
Exeter, the Dashwood Medical
Centre Board, the Dashwood Men's
Club and the Grand Bend Probus
Club. He had been an elder and
chairman of Zion Lutheran Church.
He is survived by his wife of 52
years Frieda Susanna (Rader),
daughter Joanne and her husband
Paul Maguire, Grand Bend; Janice
and her husband Brad Oke, Grand
Bend; and son Tom and his wife
Elaine of Dashwood. He was
predeceased by his daughter Jayne.°
Jim Ginn gets stewardship award
The efforts of Goderich-area
farmer Jim Ginn were honoured with
a national Stewardship Award when
he and his wife Brenda travelled to
Calgary recently.
"Jim has had considerable positive
impact on the ecosystem health in his
local area (including multiple
wildlife benefits) through actions on
his property that demonstrate
responsible stewardship practices and
activities within the community that
influence the knowledge, attitudes
and actions of others," said Steve
Bowers, Huron Stewardship Council
co-ordinator and Rural Voice
columnist who nominated Ginn.
Ginn took over the family farm
from his father Gerry, a former
warden of Huron County. Necessity
proved the mother of innovation in
this case when he was struggling to
make a go of it because of worn-out
equipment and the fact he was
farming alone. He borrowed a no -till
drill from the Maitland Valley
Conservation Authority to
experiment with a new way of
farming. He found he was able to
crop 200 acres of corn and soybeans
economically and still get good crop
yields.
Learning the lesson that "ecology
and economy go hand in hand", he
took new interest in his 100 -acre
woodlot and became a founding
member of the Huron -Perth Woodlot
Association. But he went further than
just good management of his
woodlot. To honour his father he
planted some trees through a special
program of the Ministry of Natural
Resources — 18,000 of them.
"It was just a few acres in his
memory," the humble Ginn told
Shelley McPhee Haist in Focus.
Bowers says the management
practices Ginn has developed take on
added significance because the 300 -
acre Ginn property backs onto the
Maitland River and is bordered on
one side by Ginn Creek.
In the 1980s he began fencing
livestock out of watercourses,
wetlands and woodlands. Also later
in the 1980s he took 30 acres of
marginal land out of crop production
and reforested it.
He has built low-level stream
crossings to minimize the impact of
livestock crossing the stream. He
also built crossings in the woodlot to
reduce the damage of woodlot
management activities.
As part of an Ontario Soil and
Crop Improvement Association
program, he gave a plot of his land
over to an American Chestnut
plantation in an effort to revive the
species.
He has been involved with
neighbouring property owners in the
Ginn Creek "Adopt A Creek"
initiative. He's encouraged
landowners along the small
watershed to work together.
A municipal councillor in Central
Huron, Ginn has spoken to a number
of groups about his stewardship
practices.°
OIA awards
30 -year pins
Several prominent western
Ontario farm leaders received pins
to recognize 30 years of dedication
and service to the Ontario Institute
of Agrologists recently.
The recipients, members of the
western branch of the 11 -branch
OIA, were led by former Ontario
Minister of Agriculture and Food
Jack Riddell and Art Bennett,
former Deputy Minister of
Agriculture.
Others receiving pins were Ken
McGregor, former Huron County
Ag Rep Don Pullen, former Perth
County Ag Rep Alan Scott and
Ian McAllister.°
Spirit of community
helps family clean up
after storm
When a violent storm hit the
farm of Rick Packer east of
Londesboro on May 22, the Packer
family learned the spirit of rural
co-operation is still alive and well
in their community.
On Monday, May 24, about 200
people arrived on the Packer farm
to help clean up the destruction.
"They were everywhere picking
up debris," Packer said. Even in
the sodden soybean fields where
water was in places a foot deep,
the helpers were gathering up
potentially dangerous objects.
"I figured it would take a week
to get things cleaned up. They had
it done that day," Packer said.
The volunteers included
members of three area churches:
Auburn's Huron Chapel Evan-
gelical Church, Gorrie Bible
Fellowship and Bethel Bible
Fellowship as well as friends and
neighbours.
While other tornadoes that day
garnered more publicity, the
evening storm that touched down
at the Packer farm destroyed a 40 x
100 foot drive shed and a 5,000 -
bushel granary. The winds also
ripped the roof from the Packer
home and totalled the pool and one
vehicle while damaging a second.°
1
1