The Rural Voice, 1999-07, Page 12GREY BRUCE
FORESTRY SERVICE
MANAGED
FOREST TAX
Incentive Program
Let us help you apply for the
Managed Forest Tax Incentive
Program.
We offer three options..
1. Approval Process only, by our
accredited Managed Forest Plan
Approvers.
2. A partial plan that- includes a
resource inventory and the
Approval Process.
3. A completed, bound, plan that
includes your objectives, a resource
inventory, required maps, a 5 year
schedule of management activities
and the Approval Process.
Deadline for year 2000
plans is August 31. 1999
Call now for more information!
A Co-operative Program Between:
Grey Sauble
Conservation Authority
R.R. #4, Owen Sound N4K 5N6
(519) 376-3076
gsca@bmts.com
Saugeen Valley
Conservation Authority
R.R. #1, Hanover N4N 3B8
(519)364-1255
svca@bmts.com
8 THE RURAL VOICE
Robert Mercer
From forest bush to farm bales
It was indeed a pleasure to visit
and view a farm with the family who
could talk about the rewards of their
hard work. And I mean hard work.
There is nothing wrong with pride
from hard work.
This June I
visited the
Emblem's Dairy
Farm at the end
of Beaver Creek
Road, 17 km.
from Port
Alberni on the
west coast of
Vancouver
Island. I, along
with close to 100
other farmers
and industry
participants were
privileged to be
shown over a farm that had been
laboriously hacked out of the bush
over the last 4.0 years.
This first class forage dairy farm
was supporting a milking herd of 90
100 milking cows from 140 acres of
tillable land, of which 110 were
irrigated.
The management of the farm is
fairly typical of Vancouver Island
were grass is easy to grow, and grains
difficult. All concentrate is purchased
in, and formulated to match the
protein and mineral balance in the
forage.
Set in the Alberni Valley this flat
patch of vibrant green contrasts with
the darker evergreens that grace the
steep slopes of the Beaufort
Mountain Range that starts almost
where the fence line ends. In mid-
June the local hills of that Range still
had snow on their tops which was
unheard of for the past 40 years. The
record snow pack this year has been
slow to melt. The snow was visible
on the logging roads and in the clear-
cut timber sections. As the clouds
rose with the late morning sunshine
the hills broke into view.
The Emblem family have owned
the land since 1961 and have torn out
tree stumps, dug out boulders, blasted
out ditches and used, wherever
possible, their own labour and
ingenuity. All buildings are made
from timber off the land, and the
gravel from the glacial deposits is
used in the laneways and on the farm
drive and yard. Ron Emblem
mentioned in his quick rundown of
the farm operations that they have
completely worn out one stone picker
that might just have another year in it
with help from a little welding and
TLC.
The arable part of the farm is on
the valley floor. It has an excellent
water supply that allows for irrigation
of the 110 acres on a 10 -day
rotational basis. The soils are almost
handmade from the effort given to
them as they were claimed back from
mother nature. These forest soils are
treated with the maximum
applications of manure that is spread
from the large slurry holding tanks to
build up the level of humus.
The farm is on a glacial moraine
with changes in the soil mix every
three to five acres. It runs from gravel
to sand, to peat, hard clay and marine
sediment. The hardpan has been
broken up with deep sub-soiler and a
front end mounted massive V-shaped
(homemade) 30" deep single double -
sided plow. The regular -tine sub-
soiler is pulled by one of the larger
tractors and crosses the field four
times before Ron feels that the
hardpan is broken up and the sub-
soiler is down to the full 30 inches.
There is lots of tractor power on
this farm, some old and some new.
There is a large Cat for much of the
clearing work and'even a fire engine.
The farm shop is impressive, as all
repairs are done on the farm and
much of the replacement parts are
crafted there too. Close by is the new
fuel storage shed that meets all
environmental standards including
being fully spill proof.
Ray Emblem, the father, has now
handed over the day-to-day
management of the farm to the sons
and has incorporated the farm to
make the transfer between