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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1995-03-22, Page 35FARM & AUTO GLASS • windshields • door glass • tractor cabs • running boards • sun roof FREE MOBILE SERVICE Wheeler Auto Glass Div. of Wheeler Bus Lines Inc. Box 117 WINGHAM 357-1270 MATT GEORGE 1,00 S E ND rx 523-4742 Londesboro We carry full lines of... Farm, Fleet and Passenger Tires Extra Savings - Buy good quality Used Tires Duals 18.4 x 34 (2 Sets) 15.5 x 38 Peterson 16.9 x 28 Grader New 1 400 x 24 tires on rims 6 - 17.5 R25 Casings Truck 8 11R225 Goodyear on tubeless rims Used Farm Tires 2 - 18.4 R34 Taurus TO 2 - 14.9 x 29 Goodyear TO 1 - 800 x 20 2- 12.4 x 24 on Rims 2 - 18.4 x 34 Skidder Tires 2- 14.9 x 24 Rice Tires 2 - 11 x 38 Goodyear 2- 16.9 x 26 worn 2- 16.9 x 24 Dyne Torque Assortment of other used truck tires We'll- Keep You Rolling' Call 523-4742 After hours (519) 522-1629 or (519) 523-9190 Edgar's Feed & Seed Special Spring Prices Hyland 2272 (silage) $69.00 Plus 1 Free Bag with 10. Hyland 2298 (grain corn) Index 112 in Ontario Trials $112. a bag plus 1 free bag with 10. Special Blend of Plateless Seed $49. a bag. Hyland Corona 2550 Heat Units Maple Glen 2600 HU Soybeans Sundance 2650 HU Maple Arrows 2550 HU Marathon 2750 HU Maple DonoVan 2700 HU T 8902 2800 HU OAC Eclipse 2750 HU Hyland Ultra Alfalfa Carola Timothy Grass Seed Alfalfa Leaf Matua Bromegrass Hylite Brand Alfalfa Double Cut Red Clover Empire & Leo Trefoil WE CAN BROADCAST OR FROST SEED GRASS SEED We can deliver and we can order in bags or in bulk Niel Edgar 519-357-2122 Wingham Dealer for Jones & Newlije Feeds THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22, 1995. PAGE A15. .7- -7- AGRICULTURE f95 .> .> Love of animals lures city boy to the farm The best part Though Brenda and Dave Linton have built a thriving farrow to finish operation, they both agree they wouldn't want to get so big that they didn't have the time to enjoy the animals they both love. • By Bonnie Gropp You can take the boy out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the boy. There is probably no adage that holds truer. While young people may not always carry on the tradi- tion of farming, there is little ques- tion that the nostalgia for country living is ever present. It's a way of life, one of carefree memories, steeped with tradition and values. There's a freedom about growing up in the country that, while it may not keep the boy there, is forever cherished in his recollections. Continued from A13 and be organized." Fred agrees. "I look at it this way. An off-farm job is going to take time so that what you make away, you're going to lose at home. That's obviously not the way for all farm- ers, but that's the way it would work for us." There is no doubt that this part- nership is a success, with a total commitment on each side. Like the equal partner she is, Teuni gives 100 per cent to the job, knowing that her contribution makes the dif- ference. The couple sees to the overall operation of their business, This charm, this allure, however, is not something normally under- stood by city folk, who often con- sider rural life a backwoods existence, a social wasteland of dirty work and simplicity. There are of course exceptions. For some, like Dave Linton, grow- ing up in a city didn't blind him to the positive aspects of the business and the life of agriculture. Mr. Linton may have been raised in London, but there was little doubt even from an early age, that his heart was in the country. "I don't remember ever wanting to do even down to the maintenance. When additions were built to the barn Teuni was right beside her husband doing the cement work. One of the best advantages of working together on the farm, says Teuni, is the support. "When the two of us are working, the prob- lems never seem as bad. You share them and talk them over. It makes the burdens a little lighter," she says, though the two jokingly agree that the bales of hay seem to be get- ting heavier as the years go on. And does being together 24 hours a day pose any special problems for these two? "I wouldn't have it any other way," says Fred. anything but farm. I had an aunt and uncle who lived on the farm and I took every chance I got to visit them. In Grade 7 a teacher asked us what we planned on doing when we were older and I remem- ber saying I wanted to be a dairy farmer." It was his love of animals that first drew him to agricultural life. "When I was about six or seven I had chickens in our garage at home, but because of the straw in the garage the mice moved in and my mother said I had to get rid of them. I was heartbroken for awhile." Mr. Linton's enthusiasm was not necessarily understood by his peers; he recalls one classmate ask- ing him if that was cow dung on his shoes; but the advantages of a farm experience were not lost on them either. He attributes his summers on the farm with steering him in the right direction, noting that many of his friends made less of their spare time and ended up in trouble with the law. Also, the physical benefits of a summer of manual labour were evi- dent when he returned each fall. "I wasn't soft, I had built some mus- cles which showed up when I came back and played sports." After high school, Mr. Linton attended Centralia College where he took Agricultural Business Man- agement. Despite how quickly farming has changed over the years, the knowledge he accumulat- ed at Centralia, he feels, continues to be useful. "A lot of kids at Centralia said that what we learned isn't going to work, but I have found it has helped with things like problem solving, and the contacts have been invaluable. There may be many things I have forgotten, but I know Farm Stress Contributes To Accidents And Health Problems The suicide rate for fanners is 40.6 per 100,000 compared to 18.1 in the general population. where to find out." Two years after his graduation in 1971, he bought his first farm, a 50 acre property in Morris Twp. By this time, Mr. Linton had met his future wife, Brenda, who had been raised near Winthrop. "I had always liked this area better than the rural area near London so this is where we started looking. To me where I worked didn't matter, what was important to me was where I lived." Two years later, he and Brenda, whom he had married in 1974, pur- chased the larger farm next door to the one they had first bought: While farming Mr. Linton had also worked as a trucker and for the bean producers co-op. "I never worked for a career, just to support my habit of farming," he says. After two decades, it would seem that habit is thriving. Now a pork producer with a farrow to finish operation, he recently added anoth- er 50 acres of neighbodring proper- ty to his business. Every step he has made, he said, has been done as he felt he could afford it. Brenda added a full-time nursing income to Continued on A16 Wife gives 100% to the job