HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1994-7-27, Page 18Page 18 Times -Advocate, July 27, 1994
Rural areas
have high
proportion
of elderly
GUELPH - Providing services to
elderly in rural areas will become
a challenge as the Canadian popu-
lation ages, says Alun Joseph, a
geographer at the University of
Guelph. Rural Canada is well
served in terms of institutional fa-
cilities like hospitals and nursing
homes, he says, but less so in
terms of services for elderly who
wish to remain at home, such as
Home Care and Meals on Wheels.
Studies have shown a "distinc-
tive concentration of elderly in vil-
lages and small towns across the
country," says Joseph. Almost one
in three elderly Canadians resides
in communities outside the typical
cityscape. In 1981, settlements
with 1,000 to 4,999 residents had
12.9 percent of their population
aged 65 or older, compared with
9.7 percent for the country as a
whole. At the same time, these
communities had a high proportion
of people aged 80 or older -- 2.9
percent -- compared with the na-
tional figure of 1.9 percent. Al-
though comparable census data for
1991 are not available, these con-
trasts undoubtedly persist.
National data on rural aging pat-
terns mask important regional and
local differences, says Joseph. In
Manitoba, for instance, high pro-
portions of elderly in small towns
(30 percent or more) result primar-
ily from the out -migration of
younger people. This also holds
true for many Ontario communi-
ties, he says, but a significant num-
ber have had their aging popula-
tions swelled by retirees, who
come from cities as well as rural
areas.
Rural communities attract urban
elderly for a variety of reasons,
says Joseph. The quiet small-town
atmosphere, people returning to
their roots and lower housing costs
may all play a role. Communities
that become known as retirement
centres may exhibit unusual em-
ployment patterns and service de-
mands, as well as thstorted housing
markets, he notes This may cause
some concern among local resi-
dents, but most communities appre-
ciate the money brought in by retir-
ees. Elliot Lake is an example of a
community that has gone out of its
way to attract retirees as part of a
local economic -development strate-
gy.
In terms of Ontario's evolving
long-term care policy, Joseph be-
lieves the challenge to small com-
munities will be to juggle demands
and services. To effectively meet
the needs of their aging residents,
communities will have to do more
than just identify technical ways of
delivering services. Determining
people's preferences will be an im-
portant component, he says. •
The goal of Joseph's research is
to improve understanding of the
provision of, health care and social
support for the elderly. His work
has been supported by the Ministry
of Health and the Social Sciences
and Humanities Research Council.
•
•
Hold that thought
By Val Thomson
Haying's not what is used to be....
Now, this is the way to do
hay; sitting on the veranda
watching the big round baler
go up and down the field, eat-
ing up the windrows. Later,
we'll go pick up the bales
with the bobcat and wagons
and they will be in the barn
without laying a finger on
them. Haying was not always
this easy.
If any of you are familiar
with the Rankin Family's
'North Country' tape you'll
recognize a tune called 'The
Mull River Shuffle.' Before
the singing part starts, Jimmy
Rankin is talking about
neighbours gathering around
the kitchen table on a Friday
night, and he says, "You've
just finished ten hot days of
back breaking labour, and the
hay... the hay is finally in".
It's something you have to
experience before you can
appreciate the emphasis he
puts on the world "BACK -
breaking", and the way he in-
serts the pause when he says.
"... the hay... the hay is final-
ly in."
It's as if you can get tired
just talking about it. If you've
lived through haying seasons
before the big round balers
came into use, you'll know
what I mean. Haying season
is the reason that the phrase
"bone -tired" was created be-
cause at the end of a long, hot
day of loading, unloading,
and mowing you would be
worn out right down to your
very bones.
My earliest recollection of
haying comes from when I
was nine years old and my
brother and I helped our Un-
cle Floyd and our cousin Bill.
They had small round bales
that were dropped on the
ground. It was my job to
drive the tractor and wagon
between the rows of bales as
they were picked up by some-
one on eitherside. Their farm
is fairly flat so my cousin had
instructed me to press a cer-
tain pedal, which happened to
be the clutch, if I had to stop.
Things were going fine un-
til we were on a bit of a hill
and I was given the signal to
stop. So, naturally, I pressed
the clutch down, not knowing
any better. As the tractor
started rolling faster, my cou-
sin very calmly told me to
press down the other pedal,
which of course was the
brake. I was a little worried
about the whole thing getting
away on the so I jumped on
that other pedal right away.
Well, that got the stopped
all right,brt it also caused
some of the little round bales
to roll right off the front of
the wag6n. My cousin is a
very patient man and rarely
gets upset, lucky for me. So
that was my lesson on clutch-
es and brakes. At the end of
that season, I remember be-
ing paid with a ten dollar bill
and I thought it seemed like a
lot of money.
As I got older I helped
some of our neighbours with
their hay. I always kind of
liked haying. It didn't seem
so much like work when
there was a bunch of us
friends together. I helped on
the wagons or in the mow. I
remember when the last bale
of the last load would be go-
ing up the elevator, someone
would always say, "There's
the bale we've been looking
for!" There would be hoots
and hollers for us kids and
thankful sighs of relief from
the adults.
When 1 was nineteen, I
went to work for the
McKays. This was like taking
a 'hay immersion' course. It
seemed like we hayed non
stop all summer long. The
first day I showed up for
work, I figured I would pick
up my haying career where I
left off and headed for the
wagon. Then Homer mo-
tioned for me to come over to
the tractor.
I said I wasn't too sure how
to drive this thing. This was
to be the first of many times I
was to hear the phase "You'll
never learn any younger",
and the first of many hours I
was to spend driving tractors
for these guys.
It wasn't long after that we
were baling on one of the
other farms, which is mostly
hills. As we came to the crest
of a hill I pushed in the clutch
to gear down but I couldn't
get it back into gear and it be-
gan rolling down the hill. My
mind jumped back ten years
earlier and even though I
knew the difference between
the clutch and the brake this
time, it didn't much matter
because this tractor had no
brakes!
As we careened down the
hill, I looked back to see the
hales bouncing around and
Ian trying to stay aboard,
waving his arms frantically. I
finally realized he was signal-
ling me to turn uphill which I
managed t., do and we came
to rest. We were a little shak-
en up but not hurt and lucky
for me, once again I was
working for someone who
was patient and fairly calm.
In other words, he didn't yell
at me for nearly killing him.
The Leyland tractor was
soon retired and I now had a
brand new Deutz to drive. It
was great, it even had a horn
I could beep if 1 had to slow
down for any woodchuck
holes or wads of hay. That
wqy Ian could brace himself
rather than being tossed off
the front of the wagon,
Homer unloading, and Scott
in the mow. Any visitor that
happened along was given a
pair of gloves and their
choice of the wagon or the
mows.
A hay mow can be a miser-
able place. It's hot and dusty
and itchy. As the mow fills
up and you get closer to the
steel roof, you swear you can
actually feel yourself starting
to bake.
As hard as farmers try to
get hay in without any rain on
it, I think the people in the
mow secretly pray for rain,
just to get a break. Thersound
of the rain on the roof ik a
welcome relief. You go ut
and stand in it, letting it ash
off some of the sweat and
dust, and feel its coolness.
That's when Homer would
announce, "It's a grand rain,"
and it surely was.
When the rain stayed away
and the machinery ran
smoothly, Ian and I would be
in the field for long stretches
at a time. It seemed Homer
was on a relentless mission
bringing empty wagons out
and taking the loaded ones
back. One of the hardest
things about the slack job of
driving the tractor is staying
awake. The rhythm of the
baler chugging along can be
just like a lullaby.
Sometimes I would sing to
help me stay awake. The trac-
tor is the perfect place for me
to sing because nobody can
hear me. I even made up
some new verses like "Oh,
give me a home where the
woodchucks don't roam, and
the fields are as flat as a
door...." The guy on the
wagon sometimes goes &lit-
tle stir crazy too. Ian would
often sing and dance. The
Seed dances too and has been
known to stand on his head
on the wagon.
Yes, after leaving the
McKay ranch, I found myself
in the midst of another opera-
tion that put in lots and lots .
of hay. That would be the
Thomson ranch. We don't
put in as much as we used to
and it's mostly done in the
big round bales.
I have a lot of fond memo-
ries of haying but my back
and I are glad the era of the
big round bales started when
it did!
Are your sows getting
enough water in hot weather?
By Franklin Ening, P.Eng.
Swine Housing Specialist
Stalls are a common way of
housing dry sows, having the ad-
vantage over group pens of elimi-
rating fighting and controlling in-
dividual fccd intake.
However, they place a special re-
sponsibility on the operator to en-
sure that each sow is provided
with adequate feed and water and
a proper environment at each and
every tall place.
Watering is a special challenge.
Most sows are hand watered by
opening a tap and filling the
trough a couple of times a day. If
the trough is overfilled, the -sows
splash water onto their lying area
making them cold and uncomforta-
ble.
However, reducing the amount
put in the trough may mean the
sows run out of water from time to
time especially in hot weather
when they drink more. This can
lead to overheated and aggravated
sows and is implicated in bladder
and kidney problems.
The solution for both these situa-
tions is to put small amounts of
water into the trough but do it sev-
eral times a day. To do this manu-
ally takes too much tim., and man-
agement.
The alternative is to control the
watering automatically. This re-
quires a timer and a time clock
wired in series which control a so-
lenoid valve in the main water line
supplying water to the troughs.
The time clock is set to the num-
ber of watcrings per day, usually
four to five, maybe six in the hot
weather. The timer is set to the
number of minutes for each water-
ing. Calculate this by timing how
long it takes for approximately
three litres per sow to flow into the
trough. This should no more than
1/3 fill the trough.
One further detail. Most likely
there is a number of troughs, each
of which is served by a lateral line
off the main water line. If the later-
als are the same size as the main,
the water pressure will drop along
the length of the main when the so-
lenoid valve opens.
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Zurich Fair
Lillian, Jacob Weber's Holstein calf, at top, gets a
good brushing before her big moment in the show
ring. Michael Becker, above, holds his champion
Standard female White Rock Pullet. He was one of
many competitors in the poultry show.
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22 Main Street, e., Zurich
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