The Rural Voice, 2006-12, Page 3About this issue
Troubles here, troubles there
Desperate times call for desperate measures and so
farmers in Huron County are taking them. The Huron
County Federation of Agriculture is calling on the county's
farmers to withdraw their permission for their farmland to
be used for snowmobile trails, in hopes of increasing
pressure on provincial and federal governments to
implement the much needed Risk Management Plan.
Will the farmers' rebellion spread to other parts of the
province? How will their urban neighbours react? Will
politicians listen this time when they haven't before?
Shawn Loughlin explored this issue for an article this
month.
While our troubles in rural Ontario sometimes seem
insurmountable, imagine living in a world where a gift of
two hens and a rooster could make a substantial change in
your standard of living. That's the situation in parts of the
world where World Vision Canada is using gifts of money
from Canadians to improve the lives of families by
providing them with chickens, turkeys, pigs, sheep, goats,
cows or even a water buffalo. We have a story on the effect
this can have on Third World communities.
Christmas wasn't always as complicated as today here
in Canada either. In pioneer days there was neither the
money or the expectations of today. There was no
marketing industry creating the guilty feeling that you'll be
letting your loved ones down if you don't buy them some
expensive gadget or bauble. We took a look back at
Christmas in pioneer times in an article for this month.
The busy round of annual meetings for county
Federations of Agriculture in midwestern Ontario is over
for another year. Busiest guy around has been OFA vice-
president (and perhaps president by the time you read this)
Geri Kamenz. He spoke to the Bruce, Huron and Perth
Federations. In our news section we have his comments at
the Bruce Federation's 60th annual meeting.
In her recipe column this month, Bonnie Gropp looks at
various ways to use cranberries in everything from main
courses to desserts.
Patti Robertson tells how one couple decorated their
home for Christmas.
Rhea Hamilton Seeger, in her gardening column,
outlines all the little things you can do at this dreary time
of the year.0
Update
Age verification lags
At various times we have reported the urgings of beef
industry officials that farmers take advantage of the age
verification program to register the ages of their animals
but apparently it has been a hard sell.
According to the Canadian Cattle Identification Agency
only 143,000 beef cattle have been registered in Ontario
out of a total of 787,000 head registered in the province
(the rest are dairy cattle).
On a nation-wide basis, 3.4 million head of cattle have
been registered and age verified in the CCIA data base.
Beef cattle make up 57 per cent of the total.
In Ontario the Ontario Cattlemen's Association has
contracted Beef Improvement Ontario (BIO) to deliver and
manage an age verification program.
The Market Access Program is a $3 per head incentive
program that helps defray the cost of ID tags. To be part of
the program producers must register and age verify their
2006 calves. In addition they have to attend quality
assurance workshops and provide evidence they have a
veterinarian -approved vaccination program in place on
their farms.
Despite the fact close to 4,000 application forms have
been handed out to producers at meetings and shows, only
about 200 had been returned to BIO.O
Rural Voice
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