The Rural Voice, 1998-06, Page 12•AUTO •TRACTOR •TRUCK
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• All tires in stock
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• Farm implement
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- Sales -
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DESBORO TIRE SALES
1 mile east of Cty. Rd. 3
2 1/2 miles south of Desboro
519-363-5682
8 THE RURAL VOICE
Guest Column
Elation and lamentation
By Adrian Vos
As farmers said last year: "Next
year will be better." Now they are
filled with hope that this better year
actually will come true.
This hope
makes it
possible for
many farmers
to work 10 to
16 hours a day
trying to get the
seed for the
various crops in
the ground in
time, to ensure
maximum crop
yields. When
the middle of
May comes
around, their
thoughts turn to
speculation wha the price
or the price per hundred
meat might be.
One bright spot was the price of
lamb and kid at the Easter market
which elated these producers who
had these animals for sale. A dark
spot is the ratite market. The
optimistic promise of six or seven
years ago has proven to be a chimer
that turned for many into a
nightmare.
One must feel sorry for the
optimists who reportedly sold all of
their swine herd, sows and market
hogs, to fill their barn with emus at
53,500 a three -month-old pair. Now
that the promotion sale prices are
history and the emu meat prices are
barely above beef prices, these ratite
farmers have birds for sale and no
market to sell them to. The promise
of the emu co-op has not (yet) come
true and emu farmers are left to
market their own emu meat. This is a
near impossible challenge because
marketing is something farmers know
little about. They have largely
depended on their marketing boards
to find markets and to get the best
possible prices.
I know, for we bought a single
pair of emus at the promotion price.
We knew then that prices would
plummet just as the promotion prices
per bushel
weight of
of mink, chinchillas and other exotic
species have. We therefore decided to
buy a single pair and to build our own
herd from there. Now the time has
come to sell the meat from a few
birds slaughtered at a government -
inspected abattoir and we can only
hope to sell this extra -lean meat to
health food aficionados and slimming
advocates.
There is not exactly a Zine -up of
people at our gate, elbowing to get
the mcat first. Imagine then the big
investors with hundreds of birds to
slaughter and sell the meat. They
simply cannot survive. Until a niche
market has been developed it will
take time, just as the market for
organic farm products took time to
develop.
As a former pork producer for
some 30 years and OPPMB director
for 12 years 1 follow, with fascinating
interest, the radical changes that have
taken place in both hog marketing
and hog production. Rules are relaxed
and I note that the children of former
advocates of supply management are
among the strongest promoters of
freer marketing. I cannot help but
wonder if the new trend to marketing
is retrograde or progressive. I am
afraid that the few small producers
that are left and who were the initial
reason for the forming of the hog
board, are largely forgotten.0
Adrian Vos, a long-time contributor
to The Rural Voice, raises birds of
all sizes in his retirement.
The Rural Voice
welcomes letters and
will publish as many as
space permits.
Write: The Rural Voice
Box 429, Blyth, ON NOM 1H0
or e-mail us at
norhuron@huron.net
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(ESTABLISHED 1968)
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•AUTO •TRACTOR •TRUCK
k wd11103 AA
ti-
ams o•
to
TIRES
for every
application
• Road and Farm
Mobile Service
• All tires in stock
• Installation while
you wait
• Farm implement
rims
- Sales -
- Service & Repairs -
_%
DESBORO TIRE SALES
1 mile east of Cty. Rd. 3
2 1/2 miles south of Desboro
519-363-5682
8 THE RURAL VOICE
Guest Column
Elation and lamentation
By Adrian Vos
As farmers said last year: "Next
year will be better." Now they are
filled with hope that this better year
actually will come true.
This hope
makes it
possible for
many farmers
to work 10 to
16 hours a day
trying to get the
seed for the
various crops in
the ground in
time, to ensure
maximum crop
yields. When
the middle of
May comes
around, their
thoughts turn to
speculation wha the price
or the price per hundred
meat might be.
One bright spot was the price of
lamb and kid at the Easter market
which elated these producers who
had these animals for sale. A dark
spot is the ratite market. The
optimistic promise of six or seven
years ago has proven to be a chimer
that turned for many into a
nightmare.
One must feel sorry for the
optimists who reportedly sold all of
their swine herd, sows and market
hogs, to fill their barn with emus at
53,500 a three -month-old pair. Now
that the promotion sale prices are
history and the emu meat prices are
barely above beef prices, these ratite
farmers have birds for sale and no
market to sell them to. The promise
of the emu co-op has not (yet) come
true and emu farmers are left to
market their own emu meat. This is a
near impossible challenge because
marketing is something farmers know
little about. They have largely
depended on their marketing boards
to find markets and to get the best
possible prices.
I know, for we bought a single
pair of emus at the promotion price.
We knew then that prices would
plummet just as the promotion prices
per bushel
weight of
of mink, chinchillas and other exotic
species have. We therefore decided to
buy a single pair and to build our own
herd from there. Now the time has
come to sell the meat from a few
birds slaughtered at a government -
inspected abattoir and we can only
hope to sell this extra -lean meat to
health food aficionados and slimming
advocates.
There is not exactly a Zine -up of
people at our gate, elbowing to get
the mcat first. Imagine then the big
investors with hundreds of birds to
slaughter and sell the meat. They
simply cannot survive. Until a niche
market has been developed it will
take time, just as the market for
organic farm products took time to
develop.
As a former pork producer for
some 30 years and OPPMB director
for 12 years 1 follow, with fascinating
interest, the radical changes that have
taken place in both hog marketing
and hog production. Rules are relaxed
and I note that the children of former
advocates of supply management are
among the strongest promoters of
freer marketing. I cannot help but
wonder if the new trend to marketing
is retrograde or progressive. I am
afraid that the few small producers
that are left and who were the initial
reason for the forming of the hog
board, are largely forgotten.0
Adrian Vos, a long-time contributor
to The Rural Voice, raises birds of
all sizes in his retirement.
The Rural Voice
welcomes letters and
will publish as many as
space permits.
Write: The Rural Voice
Box 429, Blyth, ON NOM 1H0
or e-mail us at
norhuron@huron.net