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The Rural Voice, 1999-05, Page 40Farmers in the Know, Know Jamesway®.. . ■ Volumaxx• Big 9 ng Silo Unloader For ifnmatched performance, distribution choices, and ring drive convenience. ■ Advanced Engineering Special materials and key features give you smooth, easy operation. Long life and low maintenance are "standard equipment." Call us 15000• about 1 he $40UNo ON Abors CaII your local dealer: LYNN LOWRY FARM SYSTEMS LTD. R.R. 1, Kincardine, Ont. 519-395-2615 We handle Everything (Almost) Your Jamesway Dealer is a silo unloader expert. He carries a complete line of Jamesway unloaders and has the specialized training and parts to keep them working for years to come. He's also a feedroom and feeding equipment expert who knows your silo unloaders are an important part of your feeding system. There are more Jamesway unloaders working on North American dairy farms than any other brand. So i1 you're looking to replace your old unloader, check with an expert - your Jamesway Dealer. Rissler The Original Wooden Conveyor and Taper Board Feeder • Wood Construction with oak rails or optional Poly rails • Simple installation - Simple maintenance • #55 or #62 Steel detachable chain with Poly flights • Adjustable slip clutch, cast sprockets, greasable bearings • 3 coats polyurethane on surfaces in contact with feed • Painted exterior surfaces • CONVEYOR available up to 170 ft. length • FEEDER available up to 80 ft. length • 12 1'2" to 30 1 2" widths OPTIONS • Inclines • Declines • Dropouts • Covers • Hoppers WE ARE THE DISTRIBUTORS FOR RISSLER MANUFACTURING For your local dealer call: OLIVET SALES & SERVICE RR #2 Drayton, Ontario NOG 1P0 ELMER M. BRUBACHER (519) 638-2555 Fax: (519) 638-2031 36 THE RURAL VOICE depend on horse -power and small- scale equipment, is a very manageable use of their land. The farmers sell the crcam for cashflow and feed the skim milk to veal calves and hogs. /t's a totally different strategy than main stream agriculture where even the farmer with a 35-50 cow herd is increasingly considered too small to be economical but for the OId Order farmers its a viable one, Bennett says. The majority of OId Order Amish make a living on Tess than 80 acres and 30 per cent get by on Tess than 75. Bennett related the story of one family that supported five children and one set of grandparents on 43 acres using small scale dairy and vegetable production. The key to Old Order farm economics is diversification In another case a family with a 14 acre farm grossed $30,000 from eight acres of vegetables and $11,000 from selling eggs from 500 hens — and because their input costs were low they got to keep most of it. "The key is diversification," says Bennett of the Old Order economy. Though he has modern conveniences, Christian Ropp farms by the same philosophy as the OId Order farmers. He has a 100 -acre farm with 72 acres clear. When he took over the farm from his father in 1958 he shipped cream in the winter and milk in the summer except on Sundays. After shipping milk in cans was halted, he went out of dairy altogether because he didn't want to go to a bulk tank and pipeline. For a while he tried a cow -calf operation but his purebred milking polled Shorthorns produced more milk than the calves could use. He bought cream quota and went back to shipping cream, feeding the skim milk to livestock. The Ropps' problem began in the mid -eighties when the family headed to northern Ontario and sold their 15 cow herd. They sold the quota to two farmers with the understanding they could buy it back if they wanted to. They kept one cow to keep their