Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1983-02-23, Page 114 Ay fraf dro ht cont itjon shocks Junior F.i rmers y Rod Hilts On Feb. 13 a group of 45 Junior Fanciers from the surrounding counties returned after a 32 day tour of Australia and New Zealand with stop overs in Vancouver, Hawaii and Fiji. Junior Farmers from Perth, Middlesex, Huron, Bruce and Grey counties par- ticipated in the tour that was open to any Junior Farmer member. A number of Clinton area Junior Far- mers went on the tour, w ,.ch cost each individual approximately $7,100. Les Falconer, Allan Lavis, and Kevin Dutot from Clinton, along with Kay Hill of Bayfield and several from the Seaforth area took part in the international visit. Kevin Dutot, said the trip was well worth while. "We all had a good time. We visited a lot of the farib-people and learned about fanning in Auralia and New Zealand. I drove a combine for the first tune in my life and I operated it for half a day, har- vesting barley and wheat," said Kevin. Some of the highlights of the trip in- cluded a three hour stop over in Vancouver and a three day stop in Hawaii. In Vancouver the group was taken on a bus tour of the city and in Hawaii they stayed w a hotel across the street from the Clinton Legion Pipe Band. "It doesn't seem to matter where you go these days you always run into somebody you know," said Kevin with a grin. The group ran into some problems while in Hawaii when a member lost her purse while on a boat cruise. Her purse con- tained her passport and two cameras. She got clearance from officials at the Hawaiian airport and picked up a new passport in Sidney, Australia. When the group arrived in Australia they were shocked by the current drought conditions that that country is ex- periencing. "Everything was burnt from the ex- treme heat. A couple of days when we were there it was 44 C(110 F 1. A couple of far- mers said the drought conditions were nothing new to Australia since they hadn't had rain for three years," said Kevin in amazement. While in Australia the group stayed with various host farm families for four and five days each. Kevin said the farmers were doing relatively we!! "ur..sidering the harsh weather conditions. ".They said we packed the worst time of the year to visit because of the heat. They said there was nothing they could do but hope to pull through it ( the drought)," Kevin said. Kevin's duties on the farms in Australia were •'pretty easy" as he had to feed the sheep every morning and check all the fences in the pasture fields. He noted that the fields were so burnt that the sheep were eating the roots of the grass and plants. After spending 20 days with their host families the group travelled by bus for five days from Sidney to Melbourne. During the bus trip the group visited a Winery, the south coast of Australia and Adelaide. A special visit was made to the Cleland National Park where the Koalas attracted great interest. The Junior Farmers then moved on to New Zealand where they spent two weeks; one week on the south island and one on the north. New Zealand offered the travellers a welcome change in climate as the temperature was much more bearable than in Australia. 'New Zealand was a lot greener and it offered more resorts to visit. There are no barns in New Zealand because of the climate. They think we're really strange when we show them pictures of barns in Ontario," said Kevin. In New Zealand the group toured a ski resort called Coronet Peak and Mount Cook, the tallest mountain in New Zealand. They also took a couple of chartered flights over the mountains. The big thrill of the tour was a jet boat cruise through the mountain canyons and river rafting. Kevin called the cruise, "a wild ride that was pretty crazy." The last stage of the tour included a three hour stop over on the island of Fiji. Kevin said that the Junior Farmers of Canada are planning to have a couple of groups from Australia and New Zealand make a return visit to Canada in 1984. The Rural Youths from Australia and the Young Farmers of New Zealand will come to Vancouver and then fly to Calgary, where they will take in the Calgary Stampede. From Calgary they will travel to Ontario by bus and visit this area. From there the group may travel to the east coast, time permiting. These plans are preliminary and are subject to change. Two men return to positions BY STEPHANIE LEVESQUE John Tinney of Hay Township and Gordon Johnson of Blanshard Township have been return- ed as chairman and vice- chairman respectively of the Ausable-Bayfield Con- servation Authority. The two rnen were return- ed to office at the authority's annual meeting on Feb. 17 in Kirkton. Fred Lewis of London Township was named chair- man of the personnel and finance advisory board with Wilson Hodgins of Biddulph Township named as vice- chairman. The chairman of the con- servation lands manage- ment advisory board is Don Lithgow of Bosanquet Township with Carl Bryson of Warwick Township the vice-chairman. Water management ad- visory board chairman is Bill Thirlwall of Lobo Township with Cecil Desjar- din of Stephen Township as the vice-chairman. Members of the personnel and finance advisory board Rural planning and development The Huron ('aunty. Federa- tion of Agriculture's monthly meeting will be held in Blyth Public School at 8:30 on March 3. The Guest Speaker this month will be Gary Davidson, Huron County Planner. Mr. Davidson will be talk - Ina i1a auuut the It uiat figuring and Development and secon- dary plans in Huron townships. Time will be given for questions and answers on this topic. Also at this meeting will be the Land use Committees report. Mr. John Van Beers is Chairman. Notice Public Meeting atee BRUCEF�ELD UNITED CHURCH on Tuesday, March 8, 1983 at 8:00 p.m. DRAFT SECONDARY PLAN REVIEW Tuckersmith Township Council are John Deeves, Carl Vock, Ivan Hearn, Floyd Rowat, Aubrey McCallum, Charles Corbert, Fred Dobbs and Keith Westlake. Those on the conservation lands management advisory board are Earl Rees, Ed Strachan, Rob Anderson, Don MacGregor, Jake Reder, Harry Klungel, John Kinsman, Bill Amos, Brian Campbell and Clarence Rau. The water management advisory board is comprised of Roy Westcott, Charlotte Postma, Mervyn Falconer, Doug Gilpin, Bill Waters, Joe Gibson, Harold Green, Roy Johnson and John Ducan. Farm Machinery On The Highway Farm machinery is involv- ed in numerous highway ac- cidents every year. Farm vehicles move very slowly. If motorists are forewarned by the presence of a slow moving vehicle emblem on the equipment, the chances of an accident occurring will be reduced. Make certain there is a slow moving vehi- cle sign on your equipment to help prevent accidents. "DO IT OUR WAY - IT WON'T HURT" This has been a message from the Farm Safety Association. Junior Farmer Kevin Dutot of Clinton recently returned from a trip to Australia and New Zealand on an exchange. In 1984 some Australian and New Zealand farm groups are going to be making a return visit. ( Photo by Rod Hilts) Hearing protection urged for farmers A simple, five minute test makes Ontario farmers aware of the importance of wearing hearing protection. The Farm Safety Associa- tion has been conducting the tests because of a generally higher incidence of hearing loss found among farmers, says Larry Swinn, the association's public rela- tions co-ordinator. "We're urging farmers to wear accoustical earmuffs, available from safety supply stores for about $40, to con- serve their hearing." The association is also developing a questionnaire to assess more accurately the extent of hearing loss among fanners. "We're questioning about one-third of the tested farmers for information in the history of hearing loss in their family, on the type of farm they work and the type of equipment they use." Swinn says the early results show hearing loss is less evident among specialized farmers than those in general farming. "General farming re- quires larger, faster equip- ment and a longer exposure to loud noise which seems to increase the incidence of hearing loss." An interesting preliminary result shows that of the near- ly 1,000 farmers tested so far, the majority have the greatest hearing loss in the left ear. "My personal theory is that fanners usually turn one way to watch their trail- ing equipment behind the tractor. And when they're driving a car or truck with the window down, they ex- perience -a lot of noise in the left ear." Swinn says many tractor companies are engineering their equipment to reduce noise levett And are re- designing tractor, cabins to protect farmers' hearing. But despite these changes, Swinn says farmers should still be wearing hearing pro- tection. `There's a reluctance among farmers to wear pro- tection because they fear they won't be able to hear their equipment running. But this is unfounded because accoustical ear- muffs only cut out the dangerous noise levels." Swinn says the association plans to conduct tests at several agricultural func- tions this year and will try to accommodate group's re- quests for the hearing test. He says the association staff is trained as audio- metric technicians to con- duct the hearing test but he warns that staff is not qualified to interpret the results. "If their test indicates they may have a hearing problem, we encourage them to see their family doc- tor for a referral to a specialist. We never give them a diagnosis." Perth presi The recent Great Depres- sion tactics used by a Mid- dlesex farm survival grow which disrupted and took over a bankruptcy auction and sold farm equipment for pennies apiece will receive no support from the Perth Federation of Agriculture, according to president Ron Christie. Mr. Christie called the \action, which saw a $12,000 tractor sell for $2. 't', naive and simplistic and said that the federation does not condone such action. "It is simplistic to say that the banks are driving farmers out of business," Mr. Christie said, referring to financial co-operation ex- tended by the banks to the farmers during hard economic times. Mr. Christie explained that the banks are being un- necessarily condemned for farm bankruptcies which are often the fault of poor faun manavement and neer- CLINTON NEWS -RECORD, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY '23. 1983 PAGE 11 era opposes tactics extension on credit. He feels that the banks have been workung closely with a large number of farmers to help them arrange feasible finan- cial packages. Mr. Christie criticized the fact that a group of farmers outside of the county disrupt and take over bankruptcy auctions. The criticism came after a group of farmers forced auctioneer Murray Gerber, represen- ting the receiver Coopers and Lybrand of Toronto in the bankruptcy sale of assets from the faun operation of John Otto near Gowanstown, to stand aside while they took over the auction. The takeover resulted to the sale of a plow for 75 cents and a manure spreader for 17 cents. The receivers estimate the total amount of the debt to be between $410,000 to $450,000. Mr. Christie called the CFFO wants firm family farm sizes A maximum of 1,000,000 pounds or 40 acres should be set for any apple stabiliza- tion program according to the Provincial Board of the Christian Farmers Federa- tion of Ontario. The Federation wants a firm family farm size max- imum on a program being discussed by the Ontario Farrn Income Stabilization Commission. John Moerman, a Kent County pork producer and CFFO representative on the Ontario Farm Income Stabilization Commission, asked the Federation's policy setting body for ad- vice at its regular January meeting, Ship your Livestock with FRANK VO GEL FIR No. t - Dashwood 238-2707 (call collect) Shipper To wilted Co- operatives Of Ontario Livestock Department, Toronto. Stockers and Feeders Available CALL IESAY BY 8:00 A.M. FOR PRO PT SERVICE The CFFO believes that the family farm provides the most economic and social benefits to society. It argues that those who wish to be larger should do so at their own risk. auction a public relations job for the farm survival group which is seeking publicity for its cause. He feels that other methods of helping farmers cope are necessary and more valuable than strong ann tactics. He ex- plained that in Perth County an arbitration committee has been set up to help fanciers and banks get together when communica- tion problems arise He feels that such committees repre- sent a more positive ap- proach to the problem of farm financing. ✓4 Se ROOFING Q CONTRACTORS 1:uu1', IN\I 1i 1 l DIN 1N1 11 NI Glt yA t 11 lit it LOCALLY CALL PAUL -527-1819 hl 1 yt 111N \ KI (11t INFORMATION MEETING I Canadian Farm Survival Association TUESa, MARCH 1, 1983 BLYTH TOWN HALL 8:00 P.M. GUEST SPEAKER: A representative from the Bank of Montreal EVERYONE WELCOME Clay or Plastic Tile Installation Parker P Clay or fronc less APS now ready er Lt ore ready t. instal Iastic Method Phone collect 262-2534 or 262-57 9 Free Estim tes ri" °Wm" esa aenza ea • sen OWN TO EARTH L to serie tarot customers od l* products supifier - tot tie* orid dei► product Votes, ood greater v lue . Q oe* SEA BERT HAVERKAMP 1-621-1644 521=0120 FARM AND GARDEN CENTRE A 22 Iitocic St., CLINTON 482-9333