The Rural Voice, 1998-12, Page 52Bruce drought costs
average $25,000 per
family, survey shows
Surveys of the drought -stricken
area of Bruce County show a loss of
$25,000 per family, Gerry Poechman,
outgoing president told the
Federation of Agriculture's annual
meeting in Ripley, November 6.
In his farewell address, Pocchman
said close to 100 families had filled
in the questionnaires circulated by
the Federation in an attempt to tally
the toll of this summer's drought.
Losses include feed that had to be
bought to feed cattle, cattle sold at a
loss or wells that needed to be
drilled. Effects of the drought
continue, he said, with some wells
still going dry and feedlots being left
empty because there is no water or
feed for the animals.
More and more townships in the
Bruce and Grey Counties are
declaring themselves disaster areas
because of the drought, he said.
On top of the drought there is the
"ticking time bomb" of disastrously
low pork prices, Poechman said. The
crushing effect of the drought and
poor prices was likely to create
problems for farm families, he said.
He urged Federation members to
reach out to their neighbours in
trouble.
"If you see somebody who is
hurting, go and talk to them. If it's
not appropriate for you to talk to
then, ask someone else to do it."
And Poechman urged people who
were doing fine not to make
judgements about the management
ability of neighbours because
conditions this year were so unusual
that people on one concession could
have rain while those on the next
didn't. For some people in the
Cheslcy and Paisley areas this was
the second year in a row they had
been hit by drought, he said.
Peter Canning, of Clifford, OFA
executive liaison for Bruce County
said it had been difficult convincing
people from other parts of the
province that they should support
farmcrs who were hit by drought in a
48 THE RURAL VOICE
News
relatively isolated region of Grey and
Bruce but "they didn't know they
were dealing with Bruce County
people".
As evidence of the fact Bruce
County's voice is being heard,
Canning pointed to a pronouncement
from Noble Villeneuve, Ontario's
Minister of Agriculture, Food and
Rural Affairs, that a top priority of
Agricorp was to develop a better crop
insurance program for forages. Most
farmers in Bruce didn't carry
insurance on their forages because
the program was seen to be a good
investment.
"Hay doesn't have any value until
you don't have it," Canning said.
In accepting one of two awards
presented to him and his wife Judy
on the evening (see the people page),
Tony Morris, OFA past president
urged people to keep their spirits up.
"If we continue to laugh, if we
continue to have fun, that crosses all
boundaries."
Perhaps in the belief that laughter
is good medicine the Federation
chose Neil McGavin of Walton as
guest speaker and he regaled the
audience with stories while slipping
in a few concerns about farm safety
and promoting the 1999 International
Plowing Match in Huron County.
Murray Clark of Kincardine was
acclaimed the new president with
Jayne Dietrich of Mildmay as vice-
president and Rick Robson of
Kincardine as second vice-president.
Regional directors are Allan
Smith, Tara, for Bruce North, Bob
Bregman, Teeswater, for Bruce
- South and Lloyd Schnurr, Walkerton
from Bruce West.O
Link needed between
manure producers,
manure users
Agriculture needs to find a way to
bring together large livestock
operators who produce a surplus of
manure with cashcrop farmers who
could use the manure to fertilize their
crops says Don Hilborn, by-product
and waste management specialist
with the Ontario Ministry of
Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.
Speaking to the poultry producer
update meeting in Holmesville
October 28, Hilborn said the
traditional link between keeping
livestock and growing crops has been
broken in modern farming. Most
poultry producers no longer grow
their own feed, he noted. Yet manure
is a valuable commodity even if it is
a big problem for large livestock
operations.
"The economics are here to make it
(brokering manure to cash crop
farmers) viable in the future,"
Hilborn said. He said the day could
come when "I could call up
somebody and say I need fertilizer
and get a choice of manure or
chemical fertilizer."
Society would be more accepting
of large livestock operations if they
knew there was a system in place for
handling surpluses of manure,
Hilborn said. Dry manure from
chicken farms would be the easiest to
set up a brokerage system for, he
said.
Looking at the components of
manure from a broiler farm, Hilborn
said the accumulated value of the
manure is about $32.85 a ton for
nitrogen, phosphorus and potash
applied to a rotation of corn and
soybeans. The corn would make use
of the nitrogen in the first year at a
saving of $8.75 in nitrogen purchase
needs. The phosphorus is worth $9
each year for two years while the
potash is worth $6.10.
The phosphorus, not the nitrogen,
is the limiting factor Hilborn said. It
can't be used up by the crop in one
year so the most broiler manure that
could be applied is four tonnes per
acre every two years. That would
mean a broiler producer with 50,000
birds would need 110 acres of corn to
take the initial application and 110
acres of other crops like soybeans to
use up the residual phosphorus.
If a farmer doesn't have that much
cropping acreage, or if he has even
more birds. then some way of getting
the manure to cashcrop farmers who
could use it would be valuable.
Farmers must begin to look at the
usefulness of nutrient management
plans instead of just looking at them
as a restriction to get past in order to