The Goderich Signal-Star, 1975-12-04, Page 30PAGE 6AGO!f' RICH SIGNAL --STAR, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1975
i
This corner is usually one of few voices crying in t h e
wilderness in support of farmers"'
In fact, I have been chastized on a'number of occasions
for supporting farmers "even when they are wrong in their
requests." I make no apologies about my affinity for farm-
ers. They have been left sucking the hind teat too long in
•the economic pressures of this country.
But sometimes they,are wrong.
They cannot have it both was. Agriculturalists. are the
first to scream loud and long agiout good farmland being
gobbled up by, towns and cities, by power corridors and ex-
pressways, by rows and rows of ticky-tacky houses and as-
phalt -covered plaza5'and shopping centres. .
1 support.them in this"hue and cry. Only about five or six
per cent of this great land mass called Canada is. fit for a.gri-
culture and the preservation of prime farm land should -be
at the top of the list fpr forward -thinking people.
But let any developer come along with his pockets jin-
gling and most farmers are waiting at the farm gate for
them with their hands.out.
Bill Thompson is an outspoken planner. He is presently'
chief planner for the Regional Municipality of Waterloo,
ail area in Ontario that has distinct problems fer planners.
It has three major cities within its boundaries No other
county in Ontario h'as' that many although some of them
have one' city bigger than all three in Waterloo.
•As a civic servant — hired by the region — he might be
expected to keep his mouth' shut on a lot of occasions. But
Mr. Thompson is not one to sit back and let others do the
talking for him. He has had his knuckles rapped many times
by municipal — anis provincial - politici,ns for saying too
much. Ile never shies away from.a battle. In fact, he may
be too ready to jump into the fray and ride off in all direc-
tions at once.
He recently blasted fat•niers for being the cause of what
he called "measles" development along rural highways and
biways. He blames the helter-skelter, spot development
Attention
Farmers
Letters are apprec.ated by Bob Trotter Eidaie Rr1 fimua Om N3B 2C7
in rural areas directly on farmers who are more than ready
to sell an acre here and an acre there to somebody with a
buck.
He's right
1 agree there are extenuating circumstances many times.
Each case must be dealt with on its own merits, especially
when a farmer wants a piece of land on which to retire or a
farmer's son or daughterwants a piece of land on the home
.faiimito build upon, especially if someone in the new -home
is going to help on the farm. ,"
But too often the sale to a son or a father is just an excuse
to build in the country. Which is just what brings about the
measles -development along rural roads and exactly what
Mr. Thompson was talking about \
So, farmers cannot have it both ways. Either they are sin-
cere in their cries about preserving farm land or they are
hypocrites. Any hypocrisy is net needed in farm circles
these days. -
To be brutally frank, I do not knew" what I would do if
someone came along tomorrow and offered me a big pile of
cash for. my couple of acres in the country,;'At the moment,
we are producing only one crop of poor hay annually to feed
our horses so th'eland would not be taken out of production.
But it would bring -about that measles development de-
ploredby Mr. Thompson,
And I do not believe that 26 acres of arable land is being
lost every hd'tr of every day throughout every year. the cry•
put forth, by the New Democrats during the recent 'provin-
cial election. The figures used by Stephen Lewis came from
the 1973 report, of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture
to the:provincial Cabinet. -
A great loss takes place every year and maybe, just May-
be, 26 acres of land went under the, developers' hammer
but all of those 26 acreg was not arable land.
Unfortunately, much 'of the land causing Mr. Thompson's
measles development across- Ontario is, arable land and
farmers are as much to blame as any ohe.
,Pork
roiducers in Huron identify ,Problem
kietting a ' eternar•ian who
knows much about hogs
seems to be a big problem for
many Huron County pork
producers.
Several pork producers at
the November meeting of the
-Huron County Federation of
Agriculture in —Clinton
complained about how hard it
is to get a veterinarian who
knows much about hogs.
Beverley Brown, a Wingh•am-
area operator, said that - a
graduating vet often knows •
'less than the farmer- about
pigs, .
-She said she arid her par-
tner had talked --to the dean of
the Ontario Agriculture
College ' veterinary school
about the ,problem and had
been well received and that
chanes are being made. In
the °meantime, though,-,Avet
students are still getting littl"e
educationr,in the problems of
pigs.
The , schools have great
problems, she points out. In
many ways a vet student, who
fins only five years to learn
about several different
animals and their systerrls,
lia"vVe it hander than medical
students who have only one
body.to study.
In the past, the teaching
idea was if students studied
the husbandry of chickens
they could then apply the
knowledge to other animals.
Students only worked with
pigs for a few days in their
High
0 • final year. Vet students
regularly visit her farm, Miss
•
r inrn Brown said and are surprised
.-at how interesting it is to
3 work with pigs. Last year the,
.graduating class at Guelph
na
ways teads
eve
to. �r
The high tont of artificially
drying grain corn is leading
E - "FARM SERVICES some" producers to -consider
alternatives to the drying
process, J. ' K. Weeden,,,
agri-cultural engineer with the
Ontario Ministry of Agriculture
and Food, , says that some
farmers are' '.considering
leaving, the . cern in the field
until it- reaches 18 percent
moisture, then moving it.
directly into storage.
MODEL SJCR.ETARY
F•ERTILIZER: Bags, Bulk, 'or
liquid for lowest prices give us a
call Alpine Plant Foods Ltd., New
Hamburg, 662-2352.-48,49 •
Beef fact
Last year, 3.4 million head of
cattle were slaughtered in
Canada, yielding close to 2
billion pounds of beef.
Canadian beef consumption
last year was 92 pounds per
person. In the U.S., beef con-
sumption was 110 pounds per
person.'
Raising' geese
Geese ' grow more rapidly
than other ddrnegtic poultry.
Mcuium and large breeds of
geese can gain a pound or more
, per week on full -feeding and
can reach market weight in,10
"to 12.weeks,
AI4ITCNEN THAT'S
BEEN MODERNIZE',
BY EVERY WIFE
IS HIGHLY PRIZED
MBING�
iC HEA !NG•
SS KINGSTON $T.
CLAY -
- Silo Unloaders
- Feeders.
- 'Cleaners
- Stabling
Log Elevators
- Liquid Manure Equipment
- Hog Equipment
FARMATIC
- Mills
- Augers, eft.
ACORN -
- Cleaners
- Heated Waterers
ZERO —
'Bulk Tanks
Pipeline & Parlour Equipment
WE STE E L- ROSCO-Granaries
B & L - Hog Panelling
Bulk Tank & Pipeline cleaning
Detergents, Teat Dip, etc.
By'e ,ne
D
Losan •
Uddersan
Foamcheck
Kleeneasy
t,.OWRY FARM'SYSTEMS
RR 1, Kincardine, Ontario
Phone 395-5286
She revises her .' boss's die.
tation,
Correcting the phrases that
Sl tered,
he changes the tense, without
losing the sense,
'And he's never aware it's
been altered, • ,
For she keeps just enough of his
pet words, -•
To make certain her secret is
,hid,
And he's dazzled and dazed,
and completely amazed,
At- the wonderful job which•he
did.
-Stephen Schlitzer
From: "Times fora Quick
One"
"This approach .involves quickly as possible. It is imp.
much more risk than most portant, says Mr. Weeden, to
. other alternatives,'.' , he says. keep a good air circulation in
"It also requires a higklevel of the mass to prevent hot spots.
operator skill. and management If outside temperatures' in-
to keep spoilage losses too a crease or,' fluctuate a,p-
minirnum." preciably, the engineer
Storing corn at high moisture • suggests that producers check
levels is,,, -at -best, a short term their grain frequently for
proposition, the engineer says. heating and mold growth.'
Harvesting of the crop should "It may become necessary to
not begin until the average move the grain from one bin to
daily temperatures are below, another to 'reduce heating. The
10 degrees C ( 50. degree F). The grain could also be treated with
corn should be aerated to bring propionic acid before storage to
the temperature below 4.4 prevent further deterioration in
degrees C (40 degrees F) as its condition," he concludes.,
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-- Staves individually pressed under 500 tons hydraulic pressure
r5
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These factors reduce acid absorption
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recommended doubling the
time. spent on the study of
pigs from five days to 16.
Good hog vets. hard to find
Another- hog farmer at the
meeting complained about a
London vet who seemed more
interested in selling drugs
than in treating animals,
Miss Brown agreed saying
the man in question has a
reputation for this sort of
practice of docking all hogs
over 180 lbs, $15.
Adrian Vos of Blyth
president of the Huron
Federation, commented that
he was sorry to see that
negotiations between • the
Ontario Pork Producers
Association and the meat
packers had not resolved the
matter.
The pork producers had
hoped for a gradual method of
docking for overweight-- pigs
rather than the present set up
where a pig one pound over
the limit can ,cost a farmer a
lot of money.'
Another producer' present
argued that the 'packers'
would still set . that,. hog one
pound overweight at the same
rate they would for a., 180
pound hog yet were paying
$15 less for it. • •
Mr. Vos agreed and said the
only solution for the present
seems to be for the pork
produceirs to weigh their hogs
carefully and ship' them
before they go overweight.
Dairy producer's,-vv?re' also
upset at the meeting Alice
Burt, who said she had, only
recently entered the dairy
,industry, complained about a
25 percent reduction in the
subsidy - on industrial milk
because of the oversupply' of
milk and the fact huge in-
ternationalstock 'piles of
'powdered milk have built up.
'First, she said, the govern„
ment spent • millions to en-
courage people to get into or
Ducharme
Excavating -Dashwood 236-4230
NI
no
TRUCKING .- BACK,HOE - & DOZER SERVICE -
CAi"L NICK DOWHANIUK 524-624.0
GODERICH
stay in the dairy business and
now it cuts the subsidy. The
cut, she said, would cost $300
a month on her operation
alone and with just -trying to
get started caused real
hardship, ••
The problem of sale of sick
animals through sales barns
also" was aired at the meeting.
Vince Austin of Dungannon
told the story of a young
farmer he knew who bought
cattle at a sale and took them
home only to find out they
were ill with I.B.R. (a kind
of pneumonia). Not only did
the animal's die, but he lost
two of his own herd as well
and several others were
affected. The person who sold
the animal meanwhile had
sold out and gone west. The
young farmer lost close to
$.2,000,
While all cattle at a sale are,
supposed to be checked by
government -appointed►
veterinarian, there :is little
that can be doneaf an animal
is doctored " en.ough to look
healthy on the day of the sale
and disreputable seller such
as the one in,_guestion, signs
the card'saying the animal is
healthy, Mr, Austin said.
He said the operator of the
salesbarn was. concerned
over the problem but that the
sales barns act only as a
selling agent to bring seller
and buyer together. The
operator asked that the
Federation press to have all
cattle dealers bonded. This
would also help, he said, in
cases where packing houses
got broke leaving farmers
high and dry like the Essex
Oackers case.
A motion was passed by the
meeting and sent to Ontario
Federation of ° Agriculture
asking for the bonding.
In the meantime,- Mr,
Austin advised, all. farmers
buying cattle should check
them before they 'leave the
-salesbarn. If the cattle look
suspicious, have a vet look at
them. If .hS finds anything
wrong, the sale is void. But
once the cattle leave the
salesbarn it is the buyer who
takessthe loss.
The meeting saw the final
'four places on the eke-cutive
of the Huron group -filled.
Beverly Brown, Glen Miller,
R.alph Foster • and Doug
Fortune were named to the
posts. They join..•president
Vos, vice-president Alan
Walper and second vice-
president Ma-urice'Bean.
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