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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1981-12-16, Page 28Page 10A Times -Advocate, December 16, 1981 Huron farm and home news Check your moisture tester;, learn about micronutrients Sam Bradshaw. Engineering Assistant Is your moisture tester accurate? During the fall, several farmers take ad- vantage of the moisture testing service we provide here at the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food office. In the past, we have used two different moisture testers. One is a Koster Crop -Tester and the other an electronic tester. The Koster tester dries corn using forced hot air. This method is accurate, but very time consuming - 2 to 3 hours per sample. The electronic tester is a moderately priced unit $300 to $400 and gives a reading quickly, however we have found its accuracy is unreliable at very low -or high moisture readings i.e. over 28 percent corn. Also, different readings will result depending upon how fast or slowly you pour your weighed sample into the machine. These testers should be recalibrated periodically! We now have a microwave oven for use in moisture testing corn. This unit is very accurate and relatively fast i.e. 6-12 minutes per sample. If anyone wishes to check their tester against ours, Cecil R Squire Sales & Service Repair Shop Equipment 92 Waterloo St. Exeter 235-0465 KM Aluminum Products Eavestroughing Replacement Windows Siding Carpentry Renovations Ken McCann Enterprises 234-6401 bring a sample (2 cups) of corn to the O.M.A.F. office moisture reading which you your dried or High Moisture anytime. I will give you a can check against your own. PROVINCIAL HONOURS — Six girls have completed 12 Homemaking clubs and received Provincial Honours certificates at Saturday's Middlesex 4-H Achievement Day. Back, left Jane Straatman, Susan Hodgins and Karen Carter. Front, Jacqueline VanDenBoomen. Sarah Chase and Diane Scarborough. T -A photo 1 t is not often that farmers win battles these days. They have been getting turned down so often by politicians it is a mystery why they keep demanding action. Good old Brampton Bill and his colleagues did promise support after the annual federation of agriculture meeting. Treasurer Frank Miller says something will be done. A few days ago, three area farmers from Ilderton, On- tario. got what they have been seeking for more than six years: compensation from Interprovincial Pipe Line Ltd. Farmers and farm writers were gleeful almost three years ago when Peter Lewington. Stuart O'Neil and Irwin Lunn were award- ed $120,000 plus costs. The judgement came in 1978. The farmers did not get their money. The pipeline com- pany appealed. The fight continued. When Lewington, et all, first started their fight, few people gave them a chance against the big company. Peter. in fact. was snickered at by some of his colleagues. But Peter persisted. An excellent farm writer, he is also a fine photographer. The written co.op 1 'One foot in the 1urrow',LZ 40* 1•TI•'..'. .Op....b0 by Bob bo,,., t 1.I. Po [.m.,. ant NJe 2C ) evidence and the photographs he had to pre- sent to the courts was im- possible to ignore. The On- tario Court of Appeal on November 16 turned down the company's last possible avenue of appeal. The com- pany's application will not be heard. The three farmers were awarded 8120.000 plus court costs and interest. Total amount: 8143,000. "As 1 see the law, that's the end of it," John Brownlie. company lawyer, is quoted as saying. No doubt Peter and his friends hope that is the end of it. Agriculture got another boost, too, when the Roman Catholic Church on Prince Edward Island gave spiritual and vocal support to Island farmers. Bishop Francis Spence of Charlottetown diocese declared November 29 as Land Sunday and church- goers heard sermons that encouraged Christians to join farmers in their fight to control the land on the island. Farmers on Y.E.I. are battling to keep the giant K.0 Irving family from buy- ing an additional 6,000 acres of land for their Cavendish Farms Ltd. frozen vegetable processing firm. Under P.E.I. law, any sale of land more than 100 acres to outsiders must get cabinet approval. Farmers are frightened that if Irving gets control or owns that much more land, the farmers will be frozen out of a market for their potatoes. In other words, Irving - Cavendish Farms - will produce their own potatoes and Island farmers will have no market for their produce. The church then, if all reports are correct, shares the fears of the farmers. Refreshing, isn't it? I suppose a great many other organizations are sym- pathetic to agriculture. Cer- tainly, many speakers for other religious denominations have spoken out strongly for agriculture, notably the United Church, the Mennonite Church and the Anglican Church. As is the case down through the ages. churches - at least most of them - are close to the people. When so many people are in dire straights right across Canada, at least some peo- ple are hearing the voices crying out in the back forty. And if God is on our side, who can be against us? SALE 6111 IN la1NIII11IINItAflptl1111111M111I1IIIN11111111111111 11111111111fi1114111►,111;11' tori �• UALITY is °� FEEO 11111111111111111111 11 Save Mineral $20°° &Premix per tonne Now's the time to stock -up and save on CO-OP Minerals and Premixes for dairy, beef, swine and sheep. CO-OP Minerals and Premixes are on sale till December 24, 1981. CO-OP Minerals and Premixes are research tested and proven to ensure your livestock receive all the essential minerals and vitamins required for healthy, top producing animals. Take advantage of the special discount today. cattle mineral EXETER DISTRICT CO-OP 235-2081 Micronutrients I have a 11/2 year old boy at home named Danny. Right now he is going through the "crumb" stage. To him everything that is small and in pieces is "crumbs". Thus, in the morning after break- fast everything left on his placemat is crumbs. When he comes in from outside and the dirt falls off his clothes onto the floor he refers to these as "crumbs". When we are moving wood from the wood pile to the garage I give him a ride in the empty wheelbarrow. As he rides he is busy throwing the "crumbs" out of the wheelbarrow as we go back to the wood pile for another load. At his age everything is black and white - all small things are "crumbs". It would be nice if in the grownup world everything was black and white - but it is not. Take for instance micronutrients. As you listen to the micronutrient fer- tilizer sales people they will try and make it very black and white for you. In their minds all crops need micronutrients. If you apply micronutrients to your crops your yields will increase. All black and white. But it is not that way every year on all fields. Both the Perth and Huron County Soil and Crop Improvement Associations had projects on micronutrients this past year. There was one soybean field, 2 white bean fields and 8 corn fields. The treatments for each field was somewhat different, but each field was treated the way the micronutrient sales person suggested. Each field had a check area. You can probably guess the results. Soybeans - no yield dif- ference. White beans - one field - no difference (average yield 2400 lbs. acre). One field the treated side yielded 13 lbs. acre more. The corn demonstrations yielded the most interesting results. On one farm (Nott Bros.) there was about .4 bus acre more corn on the area that was treated with micronutrients. There were two other farms - Ken Britton (Dublin) and John Oke (Exeter) where there was no difference. But there were three farms with a yield difference - Ray Brown and Ray Hogan from the Goderich area and Leon Louwagie from the Mitchell area. The treated yielded 3 to 9 bushel an acreless than the non -treated. Now normally you shouldn't be concerned because the average yield decrease was small. However, when 3 out of 7 farms show a yield decrease and the greatest being 9 bus. acre maybe you should take a long look before you bulk on "micronutrients. I dm talking specifically about fields where you are not sure If there is a micronutrient deficiency. On areas of fields where you know you have a micronutrient deficiency - say manganese on grain or beans you have to use them. But these Soil and Crop Improvement demonstra- tions were shot gun type of applications of micronutrients. They were applied "to see what hap- pens." As you can see, the final conclusion is not black and white. Research on micronutrients You know both the provincial and federal government researchers have thoroughly researched the need for micronutrients on field crops. Neither the researchers at the University of Guleph, nor Ridgetown College nor Harrow nor Ottawa Research Stations nor the Kemptville College have shown any yield decrease either. What puzzles me is why you believe a salesperson showing research from some other country instead of trusting Canadian research when it comes to applying micronutrients. The yield decrease in the Soil and Crop Improvement trials was real. It -may have something to do with the application technique I don't know. The point I am making is that you are helping to fund good research to look at micronutrients. This research states you cannot expect a yield increase by routinely applying micronutrients. The farmers who help the demonstrations this year are merely verifying that research. So, why are you fooling around with micronutrients? Factors affecting yield Another point that con- cerns me is that you can waste a lot of time fooling around with micronutrients when you should be checking other things. The Perth and Huron Soil and CropV, Improvement Annual Report summarizes demonstrat- ions that showed 30 bushels per acre difference among hybrids: Another demon- - stratfon indicated over 25 bushels per acre difference in primary tillage treat- ments. Another demon - Please turn to page 11A GET COUNTY HONOURS — Receiving County Honours certificates at Saturday's Middlesex 4-H Achievement Day were Kim Hadley, Linda Giesen, Margo Jones and Vicki Bedggood. T -A photo 15°' PRICE ROLLBACK IN DECEMBER Plus Waiver or 13.9% APR Financing Forget any reasons you may have for not buying a big new 2 -wheel drive tractor right now. Massey -Ferguson has rolled back prices to us in December by 15%...on every new Massey 2000 Series tractor on our lot. This means some of the biggest savings we've ever been able to offer...to you! Don't wait. Come in and buy now, because these savings apply only to new equipment purchased in December — just in time for year-end tax credits, too. Choice of financing If you buy now and qualify for financing through Massey -Ferguson, we'll make your deal even sweeter, with a waiver* of finance charges 'til season of use, or 13.9%** annual percentage rate financing for two years. It's your choice. See us now for all the details. Waiver dates: Tractors. implements, industrial machines March 1, 1982 Hay tools ... May 1, 1982 Grain combines, swathers ... August 1, 1982 Corn/bean combines .... September 1 1982 Used equipment savings, too. Waiver of finance charges and 13.9% financing options are also available to qualified buyers through MF on used machinery and equip- ment on our lot. Hurry! These price rollback savings., are good only during December 1981. * * E XAMPLE ONLY Ceeh sea+q Pate D PIPMeni 9e1arme 10 Mum. el Jan 1. 1992 Anar10.d loin. at 13 9% APR 1a 2 p.an; 4 aerl wwat payreas d 9,7 b.q n July 1, 1962 -ah equal payments On Jan 1, 1963, J,Ay 1, 1993, ant Jan 1. 1914 idar Meme chirps at 139% APR 99 An 1. 1914 ?otat M Payments (ur.." e91•04110 winged) 556,900 00 17, 700 00 4i 20000 12,149 93 7,396 92 44.596 52 MF Massey Ferguson * EXAMPLE ONLY Down M 1 f 7.70000 17.70000 Baton» to Marco 41.30000 rearms chore. b Wren 1, 1992 -0—. idol contract due 41,20000 (Mardi 1. 1962, or Aug 1. 1992. or s•pt 1, 1962. or ot+e term orarped) Sherwood (Exeter) Ltd. 18 Wellington St., Ex.tsr 235-0743 JOHN DEERE TOYS From Pedal Driven riding tractors to Titan combines, John Deere action toys ore designed to make kids happy. They keep parents happy, too with their long-lasting durability. And you'll never have to buy batteries as John Deere toys don't need them. 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