HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1978-11-30, Page 21'j...Y
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Thursday November 30, 1978
Sitting on top of a hill in Goderich Township, the new hog
feeding barn owned by the Normans stretches 200 feet
and sits on a 10 -foot deep concrete pit that is slightly
bigger than the building and holds up to ten months of
manure.
A sophisticated air monitoring system keeps the 1,500 track of electricity, water pressure, and unwanted in -
pigs in near perfect comfort year round, as Bob Norman truders.
points .out. An electronic monitoring system also keeps
Farming today requires specialized professionals
By Jim Fitzgerald
Like' just. about, everything else in today's
society, farming has become a highly specialized
profession. No longer will the economics of
today's farming support a small farm. Only
memories remain of the old mixed farm, of 100,
acres where the family had a few cows, raised a
few pigs, and-kept-a..few ch ckens°for eggs and
meat.
Those days have disappeared along with a
farmer's self -subsistence, and in this day and
age, you're just as likely to find a farmer in town
buying his milk, or beef, or eggs, like the city
fellow.
To survive in today's 'world, the farmer of the
1970's has become a well-educated, sharp-eyed
businessman, just as much at home %dealing in
foreign exchange rates, the future markets, or
the latest in chemical technology, as he is in
cleaning out the barn, or corhbining corn.
Bob Norman of Varna and his wife Pat
epitomize today's modern farmer as a specialist
who daily gambles with tens of thousands of
dollars.
Although Bob and Pat, who live just outside
Varna on several acres of land wouldn't .sayn.
their farm operation is probably worth in the
million dollar plus range, even many big city
businessmen would tremble at money the
Norman's easily handle each year.
But an interview with the Normans recently
revealed that they are business people first, and
farmers second. If a farm cannot be run as a
paying business, then it should cease to operate.
With the addition of a. large feeder pig barn this
fall that will add 1,500 pigs to their operations,
the Normans are in the big leagues as far as
farming in Huron County goes.
They already feed 600 beef cattle at their home
farm, and with the addition of the pig operation,
Bob admits it's just about all he can handle
without hiring extra help.
The numbers are enough to baffle any old-time
farmer who- hasn't kept up, or a city., slicker
_uninitiated_ in the ways of the 'modern farm.
"It's a food factory, "Bob admits freely of the
45 fat cattle and 90 butcher -ready pigs he ships a
week.
That amounts to 2,340 steers or at about 750
pounds per steer dressed weight, 1,755,000
pounds of beef per year. That's a lot of steak !
The feeder pig operation will turn out 90 pigs a
week when rt's in full operation, which amounts
to 4,680 pigs a year at 200 pounds each
liveweight, or a total of 936,000 pounds of pork.
When the pig operation comes to full stream
sometime later this year, the whole Norman
operation will consume 10 tons of corn a day or at
$80 a ton, $292,000 worth of corn alone a year.
And the figures go on and on. The cash flow on
the Norman operation would boggle the minds of
all but the biggest industrialist.
With that kind of turnover, it's not hard to see
what a few cents a pound in the price of feeder
cattle, or in a bushel of corn would mean to Bob.
The new pig barn, which was started last year
on County Road 31, a few miles from the Norman
home farm, encompasses all of the wonders of
modern :day farm technology.
The 210 by 40 foot barn sits on top of a 10 -foot
deep concrete pit the same size that holds 10
months of manure from the 4,500 pigs that will
Bob Norman, left, discusses the hog feeding system with
technician B111 Hogg of Corrie, Who works for Farmatlo
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Systems. The fully automatic system custom blends the
feed.
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passthrough it.
The system js completely mechanized, and
with everything running smoothly, Bob can do
.chores in the barn in as little as 20 minutes on
some days.
Besides the automated feed mill. in the barn
which regulates the amount and type of mixture
fed to't e' Figs; depending ->on -haw old and heavy
they are, all the water lines are hooked up to a
special tank to which medication can be added
almost instantly, should disease break out.
A very complex and highly sophisticated air
monitoring system keeps the air• in the barn
moving according to use, and should it be
necessary, the huge fans can change the air in
the barn once every 40 seconds.
The set-up, which cost in the $250,000 neigh-
bourhood, doesn't have any heaters, as the pigs
themselves heat the super -insulated building
during even the coldest days of winter.
Except for opening the doors to go in each day,
the barn will be nearly impervious to vermin and
flies.
For the most part, the barn is maintenance
free, except for periodic check-ups of motors,
etc. With the slatted floor, all the manure falls
into the liquid tank which is always ventilated
below. It is pumped out occassionally and spread
on the land.
The whole automated system is backed up by a
complex electronic monitoring system that
keeps tabs of water pressure, hydro, tem-
perature, and even monitors the doors for
strangers who break in uninvited.
Should one of those systems fail, the electronic
system automatically phones the Norman home,
and if it gets no answer there, it keeps dialing the
phones of four different neighbours until
someone acknowledges and answers the phone.
Should the hydro fail, a huge diesel -fired
generator is on standby.
To feed all those pigs, which the Normans will
buy from local farrowing operations run by Don
Tayliiral d'S'ev--tart; °tll ee bins have been' :bill lt
on the outside, next to the feed room, including a
10 -ton bin full of starter, a 20 -ton bin to hold
concentrate, and a 110 -ton bin to hold corn.
The new barn, located on top of a hill, required
its own drilled well with a six-inch casing, and
also boasts of a modern office, and an easy load
boy at one end from which to ship the finished
pigs.
Being so highly specialized, the Normans have
little time to grow their own feed, and he buys all
of his concentrate and corn locally from area
feed mills and farmers.
He owns only five acres at the home farm and
88 at the other farm, and feels that to grow his
own feed, would mean too big an outlay for land.
The idea of owing several hundred thousand
dollars doesn't seem to bother the Normans.
Both born on farms, they are no strangers to the
business world, having run Holmesville General
Store, and along with Bruce and Dawn Rathwelli
set-up and ran the highly successful White
Carnation in Holmesville.
"The bank owns most of the animals," Bob
says with a smile.
"But I think owing money is good for a person.
It makes them competitive. It gives you
something to work towards," he says.
Turn to page 3A •
The modern barn, which features slatted floors, should hold 1,500 feeder pigs, with about 45 ready for trtarket
be fully operational by next month, and when full,will each week,
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