The Rural Voice, 1996-06, Page 53Summer experience
Wage Assistance
Program continues
The Ontario Ministry of
Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs
Minister, Noble Villeneuve, has
announced the return of the Summer
Experience Wage Assistance
Program (SEWAP) again this
summer. The government will invest
$1.25 million to support 1,500 jobs
for Ontario youth this summer.
SEWAP offers eligible farmers
$3.00 per hour in wage assistance for
a maximum period of seven weeks.
Eligible farmers must create a new
job that lasts six weeks and provides
30 to 40 hours of work a week. The
individual hired cannot have worked
more than 15 hours per week since
March 31, 1996 and cannot displace
any regular, full or part time
employees. SEWAP jobs are open to
young people, hired after May 27,
1996, aged 15 - 24 or 15 - 29 if the
person has a disability. Immediate
family members are not eligible for
the program.
Applications are available
throughout Ontario at OMAFRA
offices. All applications must be
submitted with the employer's valid
Farm Business Registration Number
and the $25.00 application fee, and
must be received by July 22, 1996.
Funds are limited, so apply early.0
Ontario fairs have
new judging
standards book
The Ontario Association of
Agricultural Societies is pleased to
announce the publication of a revised
"Judging Standards for Foods,
Clothing, Quilts and Handicrafts".
The booklet has been updated by a
committee appointed by the
Homecraft Division of the Ontario
Association of Agricultural Societies,
with input provided by a number of
judges and others from the Ontario
Fairs and Exhibitions Industry.
Assistance was also provided by the
Ontario Ministry of Agriculture,
50 THE RURAL VOICE
Advice
Food and Rural Affairs.
The result is an up-to-date
publication which will provide
consistency in the judging of foods,
clothing, quilts and handicrafts at
Ontario Fairs and Exhibitions. The
booklet identifies accepted standards
and the desired qualities of the items
being judged and should therefore be
of interest to experienced judges,
judges in training, exhibitors and fair
committee members.
To obtain a copy of this booklet,
send $5.00 (includes GST, postage
and handling) to OAAS Homecraft
Division, Mrs. Betty Lester,
Secretary, RR 1, Lindsay, Ontario
K9V 4R1 or contact Bev Fry, RR 1,
Ripley, NOG 2R0 519-395-5732. If
you are interested in becoming a
judge, contact your local agricultural
society.0
Introducing new
plant species into
pastures
By Scott Banks
OMAFRA Pasture Advisor
Introducing new plant species into
a pasture is often referred to as
pasture renovation. Some of the
main reasons to introduce new
species are to increase the forage
yield, improve the forage quality and
to lengthen or extend the grazing
season. Many of these goals can be
achieved to a large extent through
more intensive pasture management
to utilize the forage currently being
produced. A pre -requisite to
establishing any species is to have
adequate fertility and to correct any
pH problems before seeding any new
species.
In terms of introducing new
species, the easiest thing to improve
many old predominately grass
pastures is to introduce a legume like
white clover or bird's -foot trefoil.
These plant species will benefit these
pastures by supplying the nitrogen
requirements of the pasture plants
and improving the crude protein level
and quality of the forage being
produced. Alfalfa is sometimes
added to pastures because of its
ability to produce forage during dry
periods when other species go
dormant. With both clover and
alfalfa, bloat is a concern and needs
to be managed. Frost seeding clovers
is usually successful. Some farmers
have successfully established trefoil
by frost seeding, feeding small
amounts to grazing livestock or
topdressing some seed on manure to
be spread on the pasture, but trefoil
and alfalfa are generally best no -tilled
into a stand.
Often grass species like
orchardgrass, reed canarygrass or tall
fescue are desirable to be added into
an existing sod. Orchardgrass and
reed canarygrass are more drought
tolerant than other species like
bluegrass. Tall fescue is a grass
species with good fall production and
is a good grass species for stock -piled
winter grazing. To introduce new
grass species while keeping the
existing stand, the best results have
been from first controlling the
vegetation of the existing sod by
grazing the stand as short as possible
before seeding and using a no -till
drill to get good seed -to -soil contact.
The spring is generally the best time
because there is usually more
moisture, although some producers
have had success with August
seeding.
Mob -grazing can also be
successful for small seeded grass
species like orchardgrass. Mob -
grazing is the use of high stocking
rates for a very short time of about
one-half day and just enough soil
moisture to allow the grass seed to be
worked into the soil about 1/4 inch by
the livestock hoof action.
Whatever method of establishing
new pasture species, you must use
good grazing management to keep
these species productive and in the
stand or your effort will be for not!O
Tips for intensive
pasture systems
By John Field
OMAFRA Beef Advisor,
Peterborough
The following are some pasture
tips for intensive systems.
• Flexibility as to the size of
paddocks is important with emphasis