Times-Advocate, 1983-08-10, Page 10Times -Advocate, Au.ust 10, 1983
THE HEART AND BRAINS OF THE DAIRY BARN -
Dairy farmer Larry Merner checks a printout he has
just received from the recently installed ultra -modern
computer in his dairy barn at RR 3 Zurich.
T.
f,•.
COMPUTERIZED FEEDING - The numbered tag of this
Holstein's neck tells the computer exactly how much
feed to drop through the hopper on Larry Merner's
modern dairy farm at RR 3 Zurich.
Merner farm on tour itinerary
Space-age technology feeds dairy cattle
Those who take a bus tour
from the Zurich Bean
Festival on August 27 will see
one of the most sophisticated
systems in Canada for scien-
tifically feeding dairy cattle.
The farm tours were tried last
year for the first time as part
of the Bean Festival's ac-
tivities, and proved so
popular they will be repeated
this year.
A year ago Festival
publicist Glen Thiel drove a
bus.from 11:45 a.m. until 5:30
p.m., toting 400 Festival
visitors around to nearby
farms, and more wanted to
go. This year two buses will
be running. •
Larry and Louise Merner
are always willing to give a
guidedtour of their
ultramodern dairy operation
on the Babylon line one -and -
one -half mile southeast of
Zurich to neighbouring
farmers and to city dwellers
who have never before been
within 100 yards of a cow.
The heart of the dairy barn
is a small, locked, glass -
enclosed room housing a com-
puter with its display screen
and printer. Larry is still lear-
ning the vast possibilites of
the new machine, which was
only installed three weeks
ago, replacing an older
model.
At the touch of a finger,
Merner can call up on the
screen the record of an in-
dividual cow and see how
much food it has eaten in the
past 12 hours. Each cow
Mrs. Carmel Swetney
Piton: 2)6.4702
Local residents take part
in Support to Life rally
Congratulations to Sharon
and Doug Kyle (nee Jacobe
who were married on Satur-
day, August 6th at the Zurich
United Church, with dinner
and reception held at the Pine
Ridge Chalet. Sharon is the
daughter of Laird and Mary
Jacobe, RR 1 Zurich.
Joe and Maria Kenda Sr.,
daughter Helena and friend
Lillian of London enjoyed go-
ing to the African Lion Safari
near Cambridge last
Tuesday.
Several relatives and
friends from town attended
the lovely wedding of Melissa
Corriveau and Joe Claessens
in Lt ndon on Saturday at Ho-
ly Cross Church by Fr. Har-
dy. A reception was held at
Tony's banquet hall in Lon-
don. Melissa is the daughter
of Francis and Anna -Mac
Corriveau of Nilestown and
the granddaughter of Joan
and Rudolph Corriveau,
Zurich.
Lennis and Marlene Bedard
of Woodstock spent a few
days this past week visiting
with friends and relatives in
Zurich and Goderich.
Best wishes for a speedy
recovery are extended to
Joan Corriveau who returned
home Friday from a two week
hospital stay.
A good time was enjoyed by
Jerome and Carmel Sweeney
and Mozart and Marie
Gelinas Sr. last Wednesday
on a visit to Canada's
Wonderland arranged by
Ellison Travel, Exeter.
Sincere sympathy is ex-
tended to Ivan and Marje
Meidinger and family in the
loss of their son Jamie.
Ivan and Gladys Bechler
and Gerald and Wilma
Bechler attended the Bechler
reunion in Valparaiso, In-
diana. over the weekend with
relatives coming from Kouts,
(;ashen. Ohio. Arizona and
San Pierre.
Peter and Gizele Denomme
and family of Waterloo spent
Saturday with his mother,
Juliette Denomme. Sunday
visitors were daughter Lu-
ciene and Eldon Denomme of
London.
Mr. and Mrs. John
Denomme. Mr. and Mrs. l,ee
ltegier and Mrs. Therese
Stark spent Tuesday and
Wednesday of this week in
Torhnto visiting with their
Uncle Alex Campbell and
helping him to celebrate his
91st birthday.
Marc and Cindy Gelinas
and two children, London
spent the weekend in Zurich
and travelled around on
holidays for a few days, leav-
ing the children with their
grandparents, Mr. and Mrs.
Mozart Gelinas Sr.
Mr. and Mrs. Lorne Devine,
Grand Bend, were Sunday
evening visitors with Mr. and
Mrs. Harold Widrick.
A bus load of people from
Goderich. Bluewater and two
from Zurich took part in the
"Support to Life" rally at
Queen's Park in Toronto on
Sunday where they heard
several speakers talking.
against abortion clinics.
Sister Loretta Farwell of
Caledonia spent last week
with her sister, Mrs. Marcella
Dietrich and brother, Mr.
Clarence Farwell.
Leonard Sopha from Elgin,
Michigan spent Sunday with
his sister and family, Doreen
and Harold Dietrich.
Carl and Marg Willert From
Olds, Alberta, are presently
visiting with his mother,
Luella Willert, Zurich, and
her mother in Exeter:
Linda Moran and daughter
Kirsten ofToronto, Carol,
Brian and of.
Belchamber
of Calgary, and Miss Maura
Gascho of Toronto all spent a
few days this past week with
their parents, Allan and
Isabel Gascho.
SIGN OF MODERN FARM - - Larry Merner stands
beside the roadside sign marking his modern dairy
farm. It will be part of the itinerary on a bus tour the
day of the Zurich Bean Festival.
olden 6)1tinpJeJ
No doubt most people can-
not help but notice how much
shorter the daylight hours
are, so its best we enjoy all
the summer weather while it
is still with us.
One of the newer aspects of
living in a Home such as ours
is the introduction of pets for
the enjoyment of the
residents. As of last week. a
kitten took up residence in the
courtyard and is the centre of
love and affection from those
people will) have always had
a soft spot in their hearts for
cats.
We would he interested in
receiving a donation of a bird
cage. If you happen to have
one in storage and do not in-
tend to use it, we plan on ex-
perimenting with the addition
of a bird to our pet list, and
would be pleased to hear from
you. The office number is
236-4373.
We have received a
• beautiful wishing well, made
and donated by Mr. Claude
Gelinas of the Maplewoods
Apartments which has been
placed in the courtyard for
the pleasure of the residents.
Residents who have been
out visiting recently were
Mrs. Margaret Prafl, Mrs.
Verna Ttuemner. Mr. Aaron
Gingerich. Mrs. 'Tillie
Tetreau, Mrs. Haze) Coward
and Mrs. Ruby Iloggarth.
Mrs. Agnes Sillery is still a
patient in St. Joseph's
Hospital. London. and we are
pleased to report she is on the
road to recovery.
Bingo was played on Friday
evening followed by
refreshments. We are
grateful to the ladies of
Maplewoods Apartments for
volunteering their servies in
the evening to serve
refreshments to the residents.
Apparently the minister in
charge of the chapel service
Sunday evening overlooked
the date; the service was
cancelled.
wears a triangular tag on its
collar. As it puts its head into
the feed dispenser, the tag
locks onto a magnet and ac-
tivates the computer into
dishing out that cow's
prescribed ration. Once an
animal has eaten its quota, it
may amble into one of the
four feeding stalls a dozen
times, but will get no more
food.
Cows giving over 60 pounds
of milk daily get both a mix of
high moisture corn and grain
and some concentrate. There
has been no drop in produc-
tion, and Merner is sure one
of the reasons is the quality of
his haylage, which recently
tested at a most adequate pro-
tein content of 22.3 percent.
The amounts of feed can be
adjusted in seconds at the
computer keyboard. Merner
said the electronics com-
panies are developing an ad-
vanced model that will
automatically check each
cow's production, weigh in all
other pertinent data, and ad-
jttet the amount of feed
amardingly•
The milking herd of 80 gets
flys choice hay - three
1,500 -pound bales each week
- and the manger is fi
with haylage twice a day.
(The next step on Merner's
agenda is the installation of
two augers, one from the
granary and another from the
silo, both leading to the roller
so he can do all his own
grinding.) •
All accounting, crop
records, and animal records
are stored in the computer.
Merner can quickly find out
how many pounds of feed the
herd ate in the previous 12
hours, when each cow was
born, died, shipped, or when
it is due to come into heat, be
bred, or have a pregnancy
test.
The male calves are vealed,
and go to market at 400
pounds. Merner keeps a
Hereford bull for the heifers,
but uses Al for the cows, as
keeping an unpredictable Hol -
stein bull around can be
dangerous.
Three-quarters of the herd
is now registered, and Merner
plans to cull until he has an
entire herd of registered
animals. He was up to 90
milkers, but decided through
experience that a herd of 80
top quality cows is an ideal
situation.
The cows are milked in a
modern eight -place milking
parlour built in 1970.
Merner has been part
observer and part instigator
of a gradual change in farm-
ing from the cream can at the
side of the road to space age
technology in the barn. His
father Arnold began the
dairy business on the farm
when he went to a sale to buy
a pig trough and returned
home with a Surge milker and
one Holstein cow.
When Merner bought the
farm from his father in 1969,
the herd had grown to 40.
Until 1975 Larry and Louise
did all the farm work
themselves with help from
Merner senior. Their load
was considerably lightened
with the hiring of English im-
migrant Mike Tichner, a skill-
ed herdsman. Now Tichner
concentrates on the cows, and
Merner on cropping his own
STEP INTO MY PARLOUR - Dairy Farmer Larry Merner standsin his dairy parlour
where eight cows are milked at a time.
.
220 acres and an additional
200 he rents.
Tichner built the large at-
tractive sign on the Merner's
front lawn. It will be one of the
first things touring visitors
will see on Bean Festival
Day.
The Ontario Milk
Marketing Board has promis-
ed to set up a Iwoth and pass
out free samples of cool,
delicious milk. After people
have toured the Merner farm,
they will have a much greater
knowledge of how that milk
was produced.
Bluewater TV
& Aerial
Service
Delhi & Channel
Master
Antennas - Towers
Booster.,
Repairs to all
makes of TV's
Zurich
236-4224
ucu
RFK,DELI
SUPERSPECIAL! '
SPECIALS
FROM CANADA 'A' GRADE BEEF
.,�
BONELESS! Full
�'1 --N . CUT
SCHNEIDERS STORE SLICED 810/kg
JUMBO STYLE
SUMMER SAUSAGE 3.99.
.ROUND STEAK
�^---•f�►:'•-�:, _a
PRIDE OF CANADA ROUND
FULLY COOKED SLICED 5.49/kg
DINNER STYLE HAM 2.4916.
MAPLE LEAF
COIL STYLE 3.95 ,kg
POLISH SAUSAGE i 791b.
*
[zehrs'/ k 9
fine markets-.-erfine ;'rxas • lb.
SHOPSYS POTATO -
EGG OR GARDEN VEGETABLE 3.28 /kg
SALADS 1.491b I
•-'rte'.-,t4 ' EYE OF ROUND
• ' `'.. REMOVED
,,� . ,
;�'• ..0°..e..A•rdi.
OUTSIDE
, ; 0 BOTTOM
----:.4.-(%.; !
' •�� 1 r , BONELESS!
`41Q,,,,..
.,,
ROUND STEAK ROAST
4.3919f
.'
' ,•, y BURNS
x,4
FULLY
COOKED
":• . •� PORK
; ' SHOULDER
,..
SMOKED PICNICS
• •19
/kg Ib.
r, , SCHNEIDERS
ALL BEEF
{_ RED HOT
WIENERS
4g
(1 Ib.)
12 a PKG.
OR
SPECIAL.
1
[ SPECIAL 1
[ SPECIAL 1
1 SPECIAL J
1 SPECIAL
I
INSIDE TOP
BONELESS ROUND
STEAK OR ROAST
5,49 2.49
/kg Ib-
CUT FROM 'A' GRADE BEEF
JUICY TENDER
BONELESS
RUMP ROAST
5.05 2.295.49
/kg Ib.
NO WASTE
BONELESS!
SIRLOIN TIP
STEAK OR ROAST
2.49
/kg Ib.
23% FAT OR LESS
MEDIUM
. GROUND
. BEEF
3.95 f.79
/kg IL.
A REAL CHOICE OF
8 VARIETIES
MAPLE LEAF
MEAT STICKS
2509t 79 EA.
SPECIAL, T
J SPECIAL 1
1 I
SPECIAL
I SPECIAL 1
GREAT FOR COLD PLATES
MAPLE LEAF
BAVARIAN
SAUSAGE
500 g
• 99 PKG
MAPLE LEAF
REGULAR
SLICED
BOLOGNA
SOD q
PKG
3 VARIETIES
HEAT AND SERVE
NO NAME
MEAT PATTIES
500 9
2.f9PKG.
COUNTRY GOLD
FULLY COOKED
ROUND
DINNER HAM
6.1 5 .79
•
/kg Ib.
COUNTRY GOLD
SLICED
COOKED
. HAM
1 75 9
(1 9PKG
SCMNEIDERS S.I. 7.69/kg
CORMMEAL(0
BACK BACON 3.49
`SCHNEIDERS
RICH AR OR CHEESE
SMOKIES 3009 1.99
' SCHNEIDERS 31St
RECUTAR OR CHUNKV
HEADCHEESE eowLs 1.89
SPECIAL PRICES IN EFFECT
g A.M. WED. UNTIL CLOSING
TUESDAY AUG. 1L
MAPLE LEAF REC. OR MINI 5,49 /kg
smut PICKLED
BEEF BRISKET 2.49Ib
PIECES lb
SCMNE{DERS 5.44 /kg
VACUUM PICKED
RING BOLOGNA 2.49 ,t,
WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO LIMIT
PURCHASES TO REASONABLE
i WEEKLY FAMILY REQUIREMENTS
NO NAME lOIOCNA. MOCK CHICKEN,
MAC t CHEESE 375 q
_SLICED COLD MEATS 1.39
PRODUCE SPECIALS
EXPIRE SAT. AUG. 13
PRIDE OF CANADA 10,34 /kg
PIECES SMOKED
BACK BACON 4.69 Ib
I
ONTARIO GROWN
TO
This
PRODUCT OF U.S.A.
CANADA NO. 1
CANTALOUPES
PRODUCT OF CALIFORNIA
CANADA N0. 1 GRADE
THOMPSON SEEDLESS
AE �
CANADA NO. 1 GRADE
i. 6,:
.- .•
BULK PRICE1
I d60/h,J9‘1h
BASKET
4 LITRE 412
42 9
.
0
-
EA.
di 1 ' -.
/kg
91b•
PROD. OF CALIFORNIA
CANADA FANCYPRODUCT OF U.S.A. PRODUCT OF ONTARIO ASSORTED
1.96 ,kq CANADA NO. 1 GRADE 1.08-kq FRESH BUNCHESHANGING BASKETS
BARTLETT PEARS 89' Ib SPANISH TYPE ONIONS 49°�h GREEN ONIONS 3/99e TROPICALS E, PaT 5,99
PROD. OF ONTARIO 1. 74 PRODUCT OF ONTARIO PRODUCT OF ONTARIO ASSORTED -LARGE SIZE
CANADA N0. 1 SWEET , kq FRESH LETTUCE FRESH BUNCHES
GREEN PEPPERS 79' II, ROMAINE EA 59� RADISHES 3/99' TROPICALS 10 POT 15.95
VISIT. ZENRS NEW MARKET IN WASAG A BEACH OPEN 7 DAYSA WEEK