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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1981-12-09, Page 18Page 2A Times -Advocate, December 9, 1981 • • 010. • SOIL AND CROP DIRECTORS — Directors of the Huron Soil and Crop Improvement Association were named at Thursday's annual meeting held in Brussels. Bock, left, Walter Mcllwoin, Goderich township; Wayne Ratz, Stephen; Bob McNaughton, Tuckersmith; Bruce Raynard, West Wawanosh; Art DeVos, Turnberry Jim Ross, East Wowonosh; John Oke, Usborne; Ray Hartman, Hay; Gerald Hayter, Stanley; Hans Rasmussen, Howick. Front, district director Lawrence Taylor, vice-president Bruce Shillinglaw, Hullet; post president Larry Wheatley, McKillop; president Doug Cameron, Ashfield; Don McNeil, Colborne, Art Bolton, McKillop and Gerrit Van Keulen, Grey. Half the world thinks farmers are tripping over subsidy cheques when they pick up their mail at the farm gate and the other half doesn't seem to give a hoot. I was asked to appear on a panel discussion a few days after the federal budget was tabled. The moderator. play- ing devil's advocate. of course. threw in that old complaint about farmers be- ing subsidized to the detri- ment of the free market place. Farmers in this country do not get one cent more than they deserve in my humble opinion. Are you married and do you have children? You get subsidized every time you cash or bank a baby bonus cheque. Farmers cannot par- ticipate in the government's great redistribution of wealth program. unemploy- ment insurance. They can- not collect unemploymentin- surance vet their taxes go towards paying those huge deficits accumulated by the UIC every year Farmers install their own sewage disposal systems. too. yet their taxes help to pay for those massive sewage plants in the towns and cities of this country. They get no use from those sewer plants yet half the municipalities across Canada have been getting government grants and sub- sidies to help pay for them. Farmers do not get much use out of rapid transit systems in the big cities either. vet their tax dollars help subsidize them The list of grants and subsidies is as long as a wet week for highly - urbanized areas So when people start cry- ing about how farmers are getting too much govern- ment largesse. just think for a few moments of the art galleries. the performing arts centres. the roads and bridges and sewers and recreation centres in the bigger cities and ask yourself how rnanv farmers get full value f •r :`;e grants and rut i :''s t^3t g,) towards keeping n;g going' • Of Course they have the privilege of using them but the money goes where the people live and here are darn few people living In the country today: And lets not forget that the rural people of this province have been paying 30 to 35 percent more for their hydro electric power We'll Do the Job Right... 1��7'a,o• for 50 or 60 years than their city counterparts. That's why I get a little up- set about those who scream loud and long about farm Letters are app.eaated by Bob Trotter Wale Rd Ern ra Ont N3B 2C7 subsidies. After the televi- sion show. I got a couple of letters. one suggesting I save my anger for more im- portant things and another Pick Huron man for OFA position Merle Gunby, past president of the Huron County Federation of Agriculture was chosen to be an executive director at the directors meeting which followed the OFA annual convention in Toronto last week. The four executive directors, elected out of the group of regional directors from all across Ontario, will work with OFA President Ralph Barrie, first Vice President Ron White, and second Vice President Ron Jones to implement OFA policies as directed by the Board of Directors and convention resolutions. The other executive directors are Ian Balsillie of Prince Edward County, Mary Wicks of Victoria County, and Keith Buchner of Oxford County. When asked what be felt was the most important problem facing the OFA as an organization at this time he replied that OFA had to have more financial support from its members in order to continue to represent the farmers of Ontario. He supported the increase in membership fee to 570, felt that it should have gone to $80, and would have to go to 5100 in the near future. He said he believes farmers require a strong organization which can speak to government on issues which affect farmers because they are only a small part of the electorate and otherwise their problems are ignored. Merle Gunby, originally from Halton County, has farmed in Ashfield Township since 1971. He and his wife Sheila have been active in the OFA since the late 19608 when they were involved with assessment problems in Halton County. Since moving to Huron County Merle has held many positions and served on several committees. He was the President of the HCFA in 1979 and 1980. This past year he has been chairman of the e :.r0 ec' c7.; on us for Ready -Mix Concrete • GESJEtiT,t., • COMMERC1Al • r:..;' . ci r -g Monure Tanks C. A. McDOWELL LTD. EXETER, ONTARIO Plant: 235-0833 Office: 235-1969 • new Foreign Absentee Land Ownership Committee. He has been elected Regional Director to OFA for NW Huron for four years and has served on the Safety and Insurance Co. (formerly Member Service) when it was formulating and negotiating the new in- surance plans now available to OFA members. Told how • to survive This years non -delegates to the 1981 OFA Convention enjoyed two programs set up by Geselle Ireland, of Bruce County. One of the programs was a talk given by Dianne Harkin, founder and Chairman of "Women for the Survival of Agriculture". Her talk was on "How to survive the Economic Crunch." The other program was a tour o< CBC "Radio Noon" and then on to the Planetarium. Both talk and tour were well at- tended. Dianne Harkin spoke about the many c iurses which have been organized for farm women at Kempt- ville. These courses enable farm women to deal with various problems they meet, in their everyday lives. Survival was the object of these courses dealing on; credit, bookkeeping, banks, farm machinery, time management, how to deal with emergencies, first aid, stress management, etc., etc., etc. "Women for the Survival of Agriculture" provide a forum for women to learn about agricultural problems. Hardship and indignation in these tough economic times will make women act. Dianne's message was to look at the positive aspect not the negative. Wednesday, 50 non - delegates were guest of CBC Radio. The program "Radio Moon" was being broad- casted live and they were all intensely interested on how the media was reporting the issues of the convention. After the noon program they were bused to the old Spaghetti Factory for a lunch served in an at- mosphere of beautiful an- tiques and fernery. The group the visited the Planetarium to watch the STAR show "UFO • Myth and Mystery". This was found truly fun but staying awake In the reclining seats and listening to mystic music was for some too much after several busy days getting ready for the convention. Some of the Huron County participants on the non - delegate programer were Ann Nesbit, Shirley Garnis, Betty Stafford, Brenda McIntosh and Judy Sturdy. praising me for taking the agricultural viewpoint and getting a couple of shots off at city people on behalf of farmers. If governments are going to hand out great gifts and low-interest loans to Chrysler and Ford and Massey -Ferguson and a few hundred other big cor- porations in this country. there is no reason in the world why agriculture should not share in govern- ment subsidies. Agriculture is the most important industry in this nation and don't let any one tell you different. When agriculture prospers. so does the rest of the nation. More than 43 per cent of the jobs in this entire nation are generated through the food chain That's an indication of how important farmers are Keep them happy and keep them in business and we all benefit 1 wish I could be as ar- ticulate in front of a camera as some of those professional moderators. I've always felt more at ease expressing myself on paper than through a microphone. 1 get too steamed up, too angry. and it shows. Perhaps I'd better keep my mouth shut and refuse to appear on any more of these programs. Just stick to my typewriter where I feel much more at home. Food and beverage Industry The food and beverage industry is the largest in- dustry in Canada's manufacturing sector, ac- counting for 17 percent of the total value of manufacturing shipments. Huron farm and home news Give details on beef program Of the $37 million slated for beef cattle assistance programs, Huron County beef producers received over $4 million. :40.00 per head was paid out to 59e producers who finished and sold a total of 99,711 cattle in 1980 for a grand total of $3,968,440.00. $20.00 per head was paid to 55 producers who sold 4878 cattle as stockers in 1980, for a total of $97,520.00. These two assistance programs did not Include the cow -calf producer. A 1981 cow -calf assistance program was announced December 1st by the Honourable Lorne Henderson, Minister of Agriculture and Food. Application forme are available at the O.M.A.F. offices. Beef stocker program amendment An amendment has been made to the 1980 Beef Cattle Assistance Program for Stocker cattle. Previously only calves that were bought and sold were eligible. The amend- ment now includes beef calves - that were raised in Ontario by the applicant. - sold for finishing pur- poses in the 1960 calendar year - and weighing at least 600 lbs. at time of sale. The 10 head minimum applies to the amended application and the previous stocker application. Application and amend- ment forms are available at your local O.M.A.F. offices. Producers are encouraged to complete and return the applications as soon as posssib& ry Deadline date is F 26th, 1982. Stan Paquette, Associate Agricultural Representatives 1*81 beef cow calf assistance program The program is designed to assist beef calf producers who kept a breeding herd of beef type cows during 1961. The amount of the grant is $40.00 per eligible cow. Plan details (1) Eligible applicant: a resident of Ontario in 1981; owned a minimum of 5 eligible cows on the declaration date; main- tained a herd of beef cow for breeding purposes. (2) Eligible animals: females kept for beef pur- poses that have or will have a calf in 1961 and; owned by the applicant on August 1, 1981. (3) Animals not eligible: cows from which milk is marketed under Federal or Provincial quotas; herds that are maintained outside of the province of Ontario. (4) The applicant must be prepared to produce a receipt for cows sold since August 1, 1981. (5) All applicants are subject to audit. (6) Final application date - February 26, 1982. (7) All applications must be witnessed by a county representative of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food. Cream producers are also eligible. Applicants are asked to pick up applications at their agricultural offices. Picks Fred Lewis for new committee Agriculture and Food Minister Lorne C. Henderson has announced the formation of an action committee to assess the recommendations of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture report on farm financing, and to develop a positive course of action for the provincial government. The committee includes Ralph Barrie, president of the OFA; Tom Campbell, deputy provincial treasurer; Duncan Allan, deputy minister of OMAF. Everett Biggs, chairman of the OFA task force on farm financing, has also been invited to par- ticipate. London Township Reeve Fred Lewis will do the talk- ing for Ontario farmers on a committee appointed by Agriculture Minister Lorne Henderson to study problems facing the farm economy Lewis lives close enough to the troubled Grey -Bruce arca to understand the worst problems in Ontario. Henderson told the legislature Monday in nam- ing Lewis to a committee of ministry staff and farm organizations. Can FBDB help You • Financial assistance Management counselling Management training Information on government programs for business See Our Stratford Office Representative Rob Sinclair AT: The Devon Building, Main St. Exeter ON: The 1st 8, 3rd Tuesdoy of each month Next Visit Date: December 15th 11 you require financing 10 start, modernize or expand your business and are unable to obtain it elsewhere on reasonable terms and condylions or if you are interested in the FBDB management services of counselling and training or wish information or government programs available for ,'our business. talk to our representative F,_ ✓t !AL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT BANK appointment or further information on the Bank's services call 271-5650 Oaelningntewdtaatrs to sma/b tiillese. or write 1036 Ontario Street Stratford, Ontario. Mr. Henderson said also that provincial officials are meeting with the banking community to ensure that any response by the province is practical, effective and has the support of the banks. He pointed out that many of the OFA task force recommendations called for co-operative action from the federal government, the banks, and farm organizations, , as well as from the province. Applications will be bulk mailed from local agricultural offices via courier. Producers are encouraged to complete and return applications quickly so payment can be made by year end. Stan Paquette, Associate Agricultural Representative. Please note: The Ontario Farm Record Books are now available at the Agricultural Office in Clinton. Do milking cattle require dry hay? Dairymen traditionally have fed long stem dry hay to their milking cows. But making hay is hard work and bad weather makes putting up good hay difficult. Every year dairymen are feeding less hay and more of their roughage as ensiled forage. The question is, can we totally eliminate dry hay from the ration or bow low can we go before problems develop? Dennis McKnight, Head of the Livestock Section at Centralia College of Agricultural Technology says that dry hay is not absolutely necessary, except perhaps for dry cows, if other high quality forage is cut long enough and the ration is balanced. Many research cows have never eaten dry hay. Mr. McKnight cautions there are several things to watch for when feeding only haylage or silage, however. Probably the most im- portant thing is length of cut. The chopper should be set so that 20-25 percent of the pieces are 2.54-3.81 cm (1- 1th") or longer. The setting may have to be up to 1.27 cm (th") to accomplish this. No dry hay, and silages chopped too finely could lead to fat test depression and maybe displaced abomasums. Addition of buffer to the grain mix offers a tem- porary solution to digestive upsets but the long term solution is to get the fibre level and fibre length up. What it .boils down to is that good managers don't have to feed dry hay. However, dry hay serves to correct many of the production procedtreas that are difficult to control. How little dry hay should be fed, then, to correct these problems? It's not going to be easy to feed it with a total mixed ration, and cows in free -stall barns, bunk fed free choice ensiled roughage', seldom eat as much dry hay as you'd like. The hay will have to be top quality and palatable to get much consumption if it is not chopped and mixed in the ensiled rotughages. Getting the hay eaten is not a problem in tie -stall systems when the ensiled feeds are restricted. Free choice corn silage, however, because it is more palatable than dry hay, may restrict the quantity of hay eaten. Opinion differs among dairy nutritionists as to the recommended minimum amount of dry hay that should be fed, concludes Mr. McKnight. The minimum may vary depending on the amount and type of dry hay available on the farm. Minimum recommendations vary from a low of 1.4 kg daily (3 pounds) to a high of 5.5 kg (12 pounds). If you're a dairyman considering reducing the amount of dry hay fed, it might be a good suggestion to reduce gradually and locate the level that best suits your herd. KdM Aluminum Products Eavestroughing Replacement Windows Siding Carpentry Renovations Ken McCann Enterprises 234-6401 Balanced Protein and nutrients to get your cattle to market faster This week only 40% Beef Supplement Minimum 3 tonne Delivered Order 1 9 7 00 n e Meal or Pellets Cattle Feeds Promotion Dec. - Jan. - Feb. With the purchase of 20 tonne of Swifts Cattle Supplement or 35 tonnes of Swifts Complete Cattle Feeds You will recieve 1 pair Swift Feed Coveralls CENTRALIA FARMERS SUPPLY Centralia 228-6638 JOHN DEERE TOYS John Deere Action Toys make playtime more fun. And, they're built to last. Come in and look over our full line soon. Chained Lightning... 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