Loading...
The Wingham Advance-Times, 1965-05-06, Page 4Page 4-Wingham Advance -Times, Thursday, May 6, 1365 Record -Keeping Helps Evaluate Breeding Stock "Hog producers could make valuable use of limited record- keeping in selecting breeding stock replacements," declares f. G. Norrish, Department of Animal Husbandry, Ontario Agricultural College, Guelph, Too often, boars and gilts are selected as breeding ani- mals when little is known of their performance for such in- heritable characteristics as rate and efficiency of growth and carcass merit. By keeping records, greater attention can be given to these traits. Ta- tooing, tagging, or ear notch- ing will identify each sow and her litter at farrowing. "Obtain as much market information as possible on the pigs you sell in order to evalu- ate the breeding program, "Mr. Norrish advises. "Keep a record of the number of litters farrowed by each sow and weigh rhe litters at three weeks of age. This will measure the sow's milk -producing ability and the growing ability of the pigs." "Replacement boars and gilts should weigh 200 pounds in 175 days or less. Boars grow faster than gilts. Compute feed efficiency when all the pigs have reached 200 pounds." In choosing gilt and boar re- placements, evaluate the con- formation. Pigs with poor past- erns and light bones should he rejected, and swine lacking length, loin, and ham are also poor choices. Gilts should have at least twelve good teats, Probe boars and gilts for maxi- mum backfat at the shoulder and loin. Select the leaner ones and reject the others, For the technique in probing back - fat. a recent pamphlet, The Backfat Probe, is available from the Department of Ani- mal Husbandry, Ontario Agri- cultural College, Guelph. Churchill, Man., was na- med for John Churchill, a governor of the Hudson's Bay Company in the early 1600's and the grandfather seven times removed of Sir Winston Church- ill. CASH CROP OPPORTUNITY WANTED—A well equipped full or part time farmer to grow raspberries supplying this community and district with a quality pack as a company service dealer under our registered Trade Mark "Sun Dance." First time avail- able. Half acre limit to start. Fall planting only. Small investment if you qualify. For field inspection write be- fOre May llth. Give brief resume and phone. GREAT LAKES BERRY CO. 483 DREWRY AVE., WILLOWDALE, ONTARIO ('Metro Toronto) 6b Avoid Hairpulling .. . NOW IS THE TIME TO GET YOUR LAWN MOWERS AND ROTO -TILLERS INTO TOP SHAPE. WE ARE YOUR HEADQUARTERS FOR SMALL MOTOR REPAIR SERVICE. Also General Welding and Repairs to all Types of Farm Machinery. THE BLACKSMITH SHOP AGENTS FOR NEW AND USED LAWN AND GARDEN EQUIPMENT — SALES AND SERVICE BLUEVALE - DIAL 357-1099 M6 -13-20-27/J10&24 Improving Your Farm Water Supply BY V. I. D, SPENCER Agr. Eng. Extension Specialist Ont. Dept. of Agriculture Where has my water supply gone? What can I do to im- prove it? Many of you are ask- ing these questions. There are many answers and many ideas about where the water has gone. In most cases, the water has simply been pumped out and used. You probably have water on tap, or at water bowls, in al- most every building on your farm, You have a bathroom, with hot water for showers and baths. You may have an auto- matic washer or a milkhouse with hot and cold water for cleaning. Because this water is so handy you automatically use it. Another reason for increased water use on your farm is the increase in livestock numbers, You may have doubled or tripled the number of livestock on your farm in the last twenty years. When all these changes are combined, you realize that you have multiplied the amount of water used many times. When your well goes dry, it is often because you are sim- ply trying to get more water than your present well can pro- duce. Many of the wells which are being used today were dug in the nineteen -forties or earli- er. These wells were not de- signed to produce the large quantities of water required in the nineteen -sixties. Regardless of the reasons for your short water supply, your main question is, how to im- prove what you already have. Should you deepen your pre- sent well? Should you dig a new one? Should you dig a farm pond so you have an extra supply to use with your wells? The answers to these questions depend mainly upon the under- ground conditions at your farm. There are many types of underground conditions in Ont- ario. In some areas, there are only a few feet of soil covering the bedrock. If you are going to construct a well, it must enter the rock. Some types of rock yield a much greater sup- ply of water than others. Some types of rock yield clear pure water, while others yield min- eral or sulphur water. In other parts of Ontario, there are Water, Water Everywhere ...and not a drop to drink? NEVERFEAR... ... DAVIDSON 15 NEAR DAVIDSON'S NEW ROTARY DRILLING OPERATION (only one of its kind in On- tario) CUTS DRILLING 'TIME TO 1/3 OF TIME REQUIRED BY OLDER METHODS. TELEPHONE WINGHAM 357-1960 GUARANTEED WELLS AT LOWEST COST 4; f. Davidson's Well Drilling ROTARY AND PERCUSSION DRILLING ONTARIO'S FINEST WATER WELLS SINCE 1900 WRITE BOX 486, WINGHAM -- OR TELEPHONE 357-1960 many feet of soil covering the bedrock. In these areas you have a choice, you can dig or drill for water in the soil, or you can drill through the soil and into the bedrock. If there is very little water in the bedrock, or it is of poor quality, you will try to find your water in the soil above the rock, or collect surface wa- ter in a farm pond, The soil between you and the bedrock varies from place to place. It may be a thick layer or it may be thin, It may be nearly all clay, or all sand, or it may have streaks of sand, gravel and clay, If it is all clay, water will flow very slowly and it may be necessary to dig several large diameter dug or bored wells. If there are a number of sandy or gravelly layers, the water can flow much more quickly, and fewer, smaller dia- meter wells will likely be sat- isfactory, If your soil is very sandy, it may be difficult to keep sand out of your well. There are some places in Ontario where the soil over the bedrock will only yield small quantities of water and the bed- rock will only yield mineral water. In these conditions, we must rely on farm ponds for most of our water supply. Before you can decide how to improve your present water supply, you should know the underground conditions in your area. Your licensed well driller, your agricultural representative Should 1 Expand My Farm Business? G. W, Arnold Farm Management Specialist Ont. Dept, of Agriculture Many farmers ask the ques- tion, "Should I expand my farm business?" The motive for expansion presumably is to increase net profits. Net profit is a combination of unit effi- ciency plus volume. With unit efficiency low (low yields per acre and low production per animal), even though volume is high, net profits can be very low, if there is a profit at all. On the other hand, a farmer could have high unit efficiency but with too few units, he will starve to death. Then farmers' should be equally concerned about efficiency as about vol- ume. All farms have at some point a limiting factor, which makes further expansion un- desirable or unprofitable. The limiting factor could be land, labor, capital or management. Of these limiting factors, man- agement plays the leading role, It is the limitations of management which set agricul- tural production in the basic framework of the family farm. How big the farm business should be hinges largely on the operator's managerial skill. The right size of farm busi- ness varies greatly from farm to faun. Economies gained by increasing business size comes from (1) more efficient use of fixed resources such as labor, buildings and equipment; (2) savings from large volume pur- chases of production items; (3) more favorable marketings; and (4) performing and con- trolling more of the production and marketing functions. In answering the question, " Should I expand my farm business?", the farmer should assess his managerial ability with respect to his present ef- ficiency and volume, and base his decision on this assessment. Engineer's View On Tile Drainage R. G. Gregg Ont. Dept. of Agriculture In agricultural drainage sys- tems we are mainly concerned with two items, first the remov- al of surface flood water, and second, the removal of subsur- face water from the plant root zone. There are, however, many other benefits resulting from tile drainage, and they may be listed as follows: 1. Without increasing the size of farm, good drainage will make additional land available for crop production. Fields that have been too wet to work often become the most productive areas of a farm when properly drained. 2, Small wet areas in a field will obstruct the passage of farm machinery; drainage of these wet spots will make the farm operation run more effi- ciently. 3, Drainage promotes plant growth by increasing the root feeding area and water storage volume available to the plant. 4, When free water is re- moved from the soil in the spring of the year, the land warms up faster, thus promot- ing bacterial action and the formation of stable soil aggre- gates. 5. Also, plants grown on well drained soil are less sub- ject to heaving and winter -kill- ing. On poorly drained soils large "ice -lenses" form which heave the soil, breaking the roots and otherwise injuring the plant, In construction of drainage systems, open ditches and waterways are usually excavat- ed with drag -lines, backhoes or bulldozers; the machine used will be dependent upon the soil conditions encountered on the job. Field tile, however, should be installed with a tile drainage machine operated by a competent worker who will maintain proper trench grades in order that the tile will work to their peak efficiency. Museum May Be Project For Centennial GODERICH-Huron County may have a centennial project after all. An addition to the Huron Pioneer Museum in God- erich, cost of which has been estimated at $12,375, will be subject of an application to the federal -provincial centennial committee. Council at its March session accepted a re- commendation by the curator, J. Chisholm, for an extension to the present building of ap- proximately 80 x 60 feet, two storeys. A start on construction will await decision of the cen- tennial authorities. Meantime, an office at the front of the museum is nearing completion. Long urged by J. H. Neill while curator, the facilities are intended to im- prove the handling of young Visitors arriving in large groups. County council in March ac- cepted Mr. Neill's offer to con- struct the office building at his own expense. Cost will be about $1,500. Notwithstanding unfavorable weather, there have been more than 600 visitors at the mu- seum, an unheated building, al- ready this year. Mr. Neill does not think the new 50 -cent ad- mission fee for adults will make any appreciable differ- ence to attendance. Resignation of Reeve Ivan Haskins, of Howick, to become clerk of that township, leaves vacancies on county council's property and warden's commit- tees. They will not be filled until the June session convenes. SITTER RATES "How much do you charge for babysitting?" asked the young mother. "I charge 75 cents an hour for babies and 50 cents an hour for older children," explained the teen-ager. "Why are your rates for ba- bies higher?" "Oh, that's the carrying charge." and agricultural engineer, and the Ground Water Branch of the Ontario Water Resources Com- mission have information about your underground conditions, They must, however, know your county, township, lot and con- cession before they can find your information, When you know your under- ground conditions, you can then decide how to improve your present water supply, Your final decision will depend upon what you have now, the uses that you have for the water, the costs involved and the equip- ment which is available in your area. wool. Real ,r the hrj;hest returns fur yo.,r ,vuul Oy paln,nhling y.pur ()Nn Qrg niZatiUn SHIP COLLECT TO Our Rel.istered Warehouse No 1 Weston, Onlariu Obtain sacks and twine withOut charge from Morley McMichael R, R. 2, Wroxeter Norman McDowell & Son Auburn or by writing to CANADIAN CO-OPERATIVE WOOL GROWERS LIMITED 40 St. Clair Avenue East, Toronto 7, Ontario, Cream, Eggs and Milk Pickup OR DELIVER TO BLUEVALE CREAMERY Phones: WINGHAM 357-1639; Wroxeter 15J1 D. A.. ROBERTSON. ,,,eu.uy v tv rrb 4 Problem Water? Don't Worryl We have a complete line of water condition- ing equipment and are equipped to handle all domestic and commercial problems. ENQUIRE ABOUT OUR TANK EXCHANGES AND RENTAL UNITS WITH OPTION TO PURCHASE. REMEMBER, if you have problem water and would like to enjoy soft, iron free water call YOUR HOME IMPROVEMENT MAN You don't have to buy it to try it! CULLIGAN WATER CONDITIONING Phone 524-9571 GODERICH, Ont. 'It's A Must For Poultry SHUR-GAIN 13% ALL -MASH PULLET DE- VELOPER supplies all the necessary nutrients required by the growing birds. By restricting the energy level, this feed will aid in retarding the maturity of the growing pullets. This energy restriction will result in pullets being in good condition to assure top egg pro- duction in the months ahead. Drop in and we will discuss the complete SHUR-GAIN Pullet Feeding Program with you. SHO, feed service Wingham Feed Mill DIAL 357-3060 WINGHAM, ONT. r tr 4 4 a. 4