The Rural Voice, 2005-08, Page 56PERTH 1!T
County Pork Producers NEWSLETTER
Russ Danbrook, President
519-356-2385
. The Rural Voice is provided to Perth
County Pork Producers by the PCPPA
Some things should change, some shouldn't
Any opinions expressed herein may
not necessarily reflect the views of
the Perth County Pork Producers'
Association.
I have had a lot of trouble writing
this article, lots of ideas come to
mind but they never seem to evolve
beyond a paragraph before the idea
well runs dry.
As luck would have it the mail
arrived and with it the Voice of the
Farmer. The front page article was
about Leona Dombrowsky becoming
the new Provincial Agriculture
minister. The first thing that came to
mind was not whether she will do a
good job, but how long before she is
replaced by someone else? If my
memory is correct not since the NDP
government under Bob Rae has an
Agriculture Minister lasted longer
then two years before being replaced.
It reminds me of my days in the auto
sector where the company I worked
for changed its Materials Manager
almost yearly.
The other write-up on the front
page was about a threshing
demonstration with a picture of an
old Oliver 77 tractor and a vintage
Massey binder. How times have
changed in farming. Sure the basics
stay the same, till the land, plant,
harvest, feed the animals, ship to
market, etc. but how things are done
have changed and are changing
faster and faster and seemingly
becoming more complicated.
It does not seem that long ago that a
60 -sow farrow -to -finish on a hundred
acres was a big operation. Now 1
think the government might almost
classify that as a hobby farm.
As the average farm operation
increases in size so would the
work load if not for the continuous
improvements to available
technologies.
Technology has done great things
for agriculture. Something as simple
as flex augers in our finishing barn
saves us an enormous amount of time
feeding. I never realized just how
much time until just a few weeks ago
when the heat and humidity caused
the feed to bridge in two of the four
bins. It took roughly two hours of
hammering the bins with a rubber
mallet to completely fill all the
feeders. 1 did this three times a day
for a week. Normally a quick check
of the feeders is all the work that is
required.
What about liquid manure? In our
old sow barn we cleaned out the pens
with a scraper. shovel and skid steer
and then strawed the pens. It took one
person about an hour and a half a day
to complete this. In our finishing barn
with a liquid setup all that is required
is a complete wash down when the
barn is empty.
To me these two simple
technology changes are great.
They save a lot of time and manual
labour and are well worth some
of the negatives that come with
them.
Having spent all this time stating
how things change, there is always a
certain amount of time where things
in this sector need to stay the same.
good or bad.
Just like in agriculture.
governments are always changing but
just like agriculture there is also a
time when things need to stay the
same. As for the Minister of
Agriculture. Tots might perceive the
continuous change as good. new
faces bring new ideas. I do not see It
that way.
Agriculture is a very big. very
diversified sector. How can the
minister of agriculture truly get a feel
for what needs to be done and what
changes to make if they are not left in
the position long enough to learn the
ropes. There is a time for change but
you also have to leave those changes
in place long enough to he truly
effective.0
.Suhmined by
Bert J. Vorstenhos h tin
PERTH COUNTY PORK PRODUCERS'
PORK PRODUCTS
• Smoked Pork Chops • Fresh Pork Chops
• Stuffed Loin Chops • Smoked Sausage
• Smoked Cheddar Sausage • Bacon Burgers
• Teriyaki Pork Steaks • Vittorio's BBQ Sauce
AVAILABLE FROM:
Steve Hulshof (Kinkora) 348-8167
Walter Bosch (Monkton) 356-9000
Ted Keller (Mitchell) 348.9836
AUGUS r 2005 53