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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1983-01-19, Page 19LESSONS ON WELDING MAINTENANCE — The first of a 10 week course on welding maintenance was held Thursday night at Centralia College of Agricultural Technology. From the left are Eric Devloeminck, instructor Herman Wulterkens, Kelly Johnson and Joe Desjardine. T -A photo He stood on the platform of the local feed mill with one foot resting on the tailgate of his battered, rust -stained pickup truck. He wore the standard "uniform" of a farmer: a cou- ple of heavy sweaters over a flannel shirt, jeans, heavy boots and heavy, one-piece coveralls. On his head was the in- evitable cap, this one with Co- op above the visor. - An obvious urban dweller hopped on the loading plat- form from his. warm, shiny car. He was carrying a hag of bird feed. The farmer was waiting for his truck tci be loaded with feed. "Well." the cityman said. - "are you farmers going to be satisfied with a six -percent in- crease in prices this year? I work for the city and i won't get more than six percent". • "flow much did you get last yaps'?7 asked the farmer, ob- viously known to the other man. "And how much did you get the year before?" "We only got 12 percent last year but we got 18 percent the year before," was the reply. "In three years, you will get 36 percent more in wages. i bet you have doubled your wages in 10 years," said the farmer. "Want to know something? I'm getting about three cents a pound more for my cattle than I got 10 years ago. "You know what the in- crease is for me? About 2 per- cent in 10 years. But the tough part of it all is, it cost me a helluva lot more to produce those cattle than itid 10 years ago. Feed price?, for in- stance, have gone, up more than 30 percent. Taxes have gone up. And I don't have to tell you how fuel costs have gone up. "Figure it out. I get a few . Let,e, 4,e epp.tc.eltd b, Bob T.o,Ie. fida4 Ad flmrt OoI M1! 2C7 cents a pound more but it costs me, for heaven's sake, about 40 percent more to pro- duce it. I'm making less --20 or 25 percent less --today than 10 years ago. "How many -people do you' know are making less today than they did 10 years ago? Hell, even unemployment payouts have gone up, not down." The city man laughed but it was a hollow laugh. "What do you think is going to happen to fellows like you? I mean, how long can you stay in business when you are ac- tually making lessoney than afew years ago " he asked, interested now in the plight of the cattleman. Ile added with another chuckle: "What you guys need is a damned good union." The farmer also chuckled: "We had a farmers union once but it isn't active now. We've got the federation and the farmers survival group. I think both of them are going to be more militant. "Really, all we're asking is some kind of a stabilization plan that will help us through the lean years. This bust -and - boom bit has gone too far. "If it doesn't change soon, I'm going to be looking for your job because I'll just get out of business." How many more cattlemen feel the same way? How long will it take before so many of them decide to quit, we won't have enough left to produce the beef needed to keep Canada self-sufficient? I couldn't help but wonder as the horse feed was piled in- to the trunk of my car. I wat- ched the city man drive away, roar up the street with a wave of his handand disappear in --- to the traffic. The cattleman stepped wearily into his truck, had to slam the door twice to get it to catch, and drove slowly out of low,p with the rust spots on, his l0 -year-old truck obvious' in the sunlight. Huron farm and home news Times -Advocate, January 19, 1983 Pogo 19 Rural leadership workshop set for Seaforth Last September, Dennis Timbrell, the Minister of Agriculture and Food for On- tario, announced a series of leadership workshops to be held in winter of 1983 for members of all rural organizations. During the fall months, a committee of eight people representing rural organizations, agribusiness, and the Ministry met to recommend format and sub- ject matter. - The leadership workshops (nicknamed R.S.V.P. - Rural Seminars for Vital People) are ready to roll. The Workshop in this area will be held on Monday, Jan. 31 at Seaforth - in the new com- munity centre beginning at 9:45 a.m. The goal of the R.S.V.P. program is to further develop leadership skills within members of rural organiza- tions. The main topic of each workshop is how to run an ef- fective meeting or program. Sessions include setting goals and objectives for your organization, parliamentary procedure; and evaluation. There will be a chance to meet members of other rural organizations and the day will conclude with a banquet and guest speaker. Cost is $5.00 per person. Pre -registration is necessary. For further information con- tact your Clinton office of the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food. Mark your calendar for Monday, Jan. 31 and please phone the O.M.A.F. office at 482-3428, Zenith 73040 to reserve your spot. Jane Muegge, Home Economist for Huron County Rural Women's Study What are your concerns as a rural woman? What pressures do you find stressful? ,How has advance technology' affected you? How many of you are actively in- volved in your farm enterprise. Meetings will be conducted and your submissions (either written or verbal) are great- ly wanted. The main purpose of the study is to: 1. Identify the pressures, problems and educational needs of the client groups. 2. Identify those segments of the population having the greatest need for ministry services. 3. Determine the implica- tions of technological developments for the ministry. Meeting for this area will be held - February 28 - Stratford - Board Room OMAF office, 413 Hibernia Street, Strat- ford; March 1 - Hanover - Grace United Church, Hanover; March 2 - Clinton - Board room, OMAF office, 20 King Street, Clinton. Times: 1:30.3:30 p.m. and 7:30-9:30 p.m. on each date, so take your pick. OMAF is always wanting to serve people better. Your help and submissions can help us serve you best,. Jane Muegge, Home Economist Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food Clinton Diary of a soils and crops specialist Red Clover Workshop -Guelph A round table discussion by farmers, industry and eicten- sion people gave us more in- formation on red clover. Bob Fulkerson told us that double cut red clover is a lot more aggressive as a seedling than single cut. For this reason double cut should by used on winter wheat. Especially if you . are having trouble establishing red clover. The farmers present related their experiences establishing red clover. Den- nis Dow of Staffa is having good results by broadcasting some red - clover seed on winter wheat with some nitrogen really early. Later he puts on the rest of , his nitrogen. There was general agreement that the earlier you apply red clover to wheat, the better were your chances of establishing red clover. Bruce Shillinglaw of Londesboro noticed that he in- creases his chances of suc- cessful -red clover stands by cutting his wheat as early as . possible. The relative merits of single -cut versus double -cut were discussed. Most agreed double -cut was better than single cut. Double -cut produc- ed more top -growth and thus more nitrogen for the next crop. I was concerned that if we make double -cut sound too good, farmers will think single -cut is no good. Then when you price the two you will be disappointed with the cost of double -cut - too high - and then not plant' any red clover. RABBIT COURSE BEGINS — A rabbit management course is now underway each Thursday night at Centralia College of Agricultural Technology. Above, course co-ordinator Bill Dickey talks to Barry and Irene Tomlinson, Woodham; Mavis Knapman, Granton and Allan McChesney, Arkona. T -A photo CAnADA FRR SHOW ti; PLACE, LPAIt111[1 JANUARY 25, 26, 27, 28, 1983 10:00 A.M. - 6:00 P.M. DAILY invitational Holstein Sale Wednesday, January 26 1:30 P.M. Hereford Winter Classic Sale Thursday, January 27 1:00 P.M. Country & Western Entertainment January 26, 27, 28 6:00 P.M. Ladies Program Daily ATTENTION AREA FARMERS Its Time To Chock Your Grass Seed and Plowdown Requirements. For the 1983 Season We aro writing orders now for spring delivery to your door prepaid. Call: WES HODGSON RR 2, Ailsa Craig, 29313073 For Information and Bookings Ishop farm seeds Ninety three years of service You can trust our seed McGillivray school news We would like to announce the arrival of Mr. Mason. He arrived Tuesday, December 28, on a teaching exchange from Australia. Our Mr. Robertson went to Australia to teach in a school .in Metropolitan Perth. Both. teachers applied for the ex- • change in December of 1981. They were informed in June that they had been accepted for the move. Mr. Mason has a family of six including himself. His children are now going to school' at Stephen Central in the Crediton area. Mr. Mason and hisfamilyoriginallyy came from Coolgardie, Western Australia. He was a principal in his former school. We would like to wish the very best to both teachers for their upcoming year. Friday, January 7, our grades seven and eight students performed some of their Oliver production for the residents of Chateau Gardens, Parkhill. In English class Mr. Mason instructed students in making cards and writing poetry for the folks at Chateau Gardens. Each stu- dent chatted with a resident and presented them with a greeting card after the Oliver production. Students were impressed by the kindness of the staff of Chateau Gardens and by the gratitude of the residents. Marjie Atmore Carrie Hartle Bob Fulkerson suggested if seed cost is a deciding factor, then farmers should just use a lower seeding rate of double -cut. Fulkerson main- tained that in most cases a tower seeding rate of double - cut would be better than single -cut. (However, the ideal for wheat and barley would be 6-8 pounds per acre of . double -cut. The second choice would be blend, with the third choice single -cut. • Professor Bob Sheard of Land Resource Science Department stated that we are probably not giving red clover enough nitrogen credits. Presently we only credit a red clover piough down crop as returning 25 lbs. N per acre to the next crop. In most cases this is too low. However, some years, like 1982, the red clover stands were uneven. In some areas barley killed the red clover out. Where the red clover sur- vived, there is lots of nitrogen. Areas wheretiered clover was smothered there will be no nitrogen available. The farmers present were - split on which herbicide to use. Some were .using Tropotox or Tropotox Plus, while others used a low rate of MCPA. Bob Forrest from Centralia College said that in • 1982 in their plots treated with Tropotox or MCPA, both had the same height by plough down time. Initially, the low rate of MCPA set the red clover back more than the Tropotox, but by September there was no difference. Feeding the. red clover to dairy cattle was discussed. John Benham from Well- ington County, told us about his success in making haylage-with red clover. - An interesting .idea put forth was to pasture red clover in October. If you have a good stand and electric 'fences; why not pasture it in October. By mid October all of the top growth is there. By pasturing you will just change the form of that top growth. It will be dead as soon as you plough anyway. A 50 acre field of red clover should make some cheap beef or milk in October. Watch for bloat. Carlota Workshop - Guelph The returns to p Canola crop in 1982 varied as yields did. There were good and poor yields with 1500 lbs. per acre being an average yield. Selling price ranged from $190. to $220. per tonne. It ap- pears that the acreage will be up again in 1983. For 1983 the most exciting item is triazine resistant canola. Arnold Storey of Topnotch at Milverton told us that most of the Canola that he has con- tracted for 1983 is the triazine resistant type. There was some disagree- ment as to how much triazines this type could stand without affecting yield. However, there was good agreement that triazine resis- tant Canola could be suc- cessfully grown on fields with high atrazine carryover. In addition, one pound of atrazine and oil did a good job on most weeks that would Winter Service Save $50.00 to $200.00 on Service . installed Case Parts NOW! thru Feb 15th. Plan your Engine, Transmission, Hydraulic system repairs or overhauls now and save, BIG with CASE CASH CERTIFICATES Case Cash Certficate -' uu[)LJ•00 r Snrp , Case Cash Certificates available at our dealership PLUS from January 15 to February Get '10% Cash On all service parts and labour 6 FREE Tractor pickup and delivery PARMSUPPLY LIMITED Sales and Service - Repair r EV Phone 236=4934 236-4321 Call for an appointment today CEFITIFIE • cause a problem. I was sur- prised by the number of peo- ple that stated that annual grasses such as (oxtail cannot compete with canola. You do not have to worry about con- trolling them. Talk with Ted Rothrnel, Assoc. Agr. Rep., Perth, about Pastures Ted has just told me about another farmer with pro- blems that appear to be related to nutrition. I half jok- ingly suggested to Ted "If dairy farmers would put their cattle back on pasture, they wouldn't have so many nutri- tional problems". He agreed! We talked about it and why not. In the 70's it made sense to confine dairy cattle - take all the feed tothem and cash crop that extra land. However, in the 80's dairy farmers cannot make money cash cropping. Furthermore, because of the system of crop stabilization (paid for net crop sales) generally you can- not collect on' stabilization. Maybe you can make more money by putting some of those cattle back on pasture. - Electric fences have come a long way in the last ten years. Preparing pesticide courses Spent most of the day preparing Pesticide Courses for 1983. (I hope attendance will be a lot better than in 1982). • During February we will be putting on two day courses for the sales people that sell and/or custom applyyour herbicides. If you take their advice on herbicide; rates, etc., tell them to attend this course: So when you see Maynard, Milt, Tony, Larry, Earl or whoever you may be buying from, or have custom spraying done by, ask them which days they will be atten- ding. This course will be given at seven locations across On- tario. It is for salesmen and custom spray operators. Ex- act locations are available from area Soils and Crops Specialists. Last year less than 20 per- cent of the peoplesellingyou your pesticides attended these workshops. • By Pat Lynch, Soils and Crops Specialist '11V1I1ti� EAVESTROUGH """„”"SIDING Ask About Our SAVINGS • Stelcohutters • Aluminum Storm Doors 8 Windows • Aluminum Awnings • The energy window roll shutters system • Renovations General Construction FREE ESTIMATES JIM BECK CONSTRUCTION DASHWOOD 237-3526 Dairy Farmers • REGIONAL DAIRY DAY WHERE: Huron Hall, Centralia College of Agricultural Technology, Huron Park, Ontario WHEN: Wednesday, February 2, 1983 COST: $5.00 - includes lunch and = refreshments ' TO REGISTER: Phone Centralia College (519)228-6691 Ministry of Sy Agriculture and Food Ontario Similar program also being held at: Legion Hall, Clinton February 16 Memorial Hall, T (stock February 1 Hanover seum, February 17 CO-OP HAVE. COFFEE ON THE CO - WE'LL MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THE RIGHT OIL IN YOUR EQUIPMENT THIS SPRING. January 15 to February 15 Bring in a list of your equipment and let CO-OP make sure you are using the correct lubricant. CO -OP's Energy Specialists will be on hand to provide you with a written recommendation, which gi>you the protection of CO -OP's lubricant guarantee. Save c LITRE off CO -OP's LOWEST OiL AND GREASE PRICES THIS SPRING. Minimum booking order 100 litres. One booking order only. • FREE Have coffee on the COOP. Book your oil and grease and keep your free, spill -proof, stick -on coffee mug. COME ON DOWN TO THE CO-OP FOR COFFEE FREE DELIVERY? Book your oil and grease with the CO-OP and we'll deliver it to you free, with your Spring delivery of gasoline or diesel fuel. Don't get caught doing maintenance and riot having oil. Talk to your CO-OP driver salesman. He'll be glad to check your oil and grease when he makes a fuel delivery and deliver t to you when you need it. Exeter Coop Exeter 233-2081