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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1983-11-30, Page 19remember a formula that sounds like "pie are square," but you think that doesn't make much sense? Everyone knows pie are round, cakes are square. We often get re- quests to help figure out volumes of manure tanks, grain bins, silos and many other storage structures. Here are some simphfied calculations that will help you find out what you want to know. • If the structure is rectangular or square, simply multiply length times width times height (or depth). All of the dimensions must be in the same units - these will likely be either feet or metres. The answer will then be in either cubic feet or cubic metres. If the structure is circular, you must know the diameter (distance across) and the height (or depth). Multiply the diameter times the diameter times the height times 0.785. This will give the answer in either cubic feet or cubic metres, depending on what units the dimensions were in. If you would like to know the volume in litres, multiply the volume in cubic metres by 1,000. If you would like the answer in gallons or in bushels, you must first know the volume in cubic feet. To get bushels, divide volume in cubic feet by 1.25. To find Imperial gallons, multiply the volume in cubic feet by 6.24. Hopefully, this information will help you when it comes to figuring out how many gallons of manure that tank holds, or how many bushels of grain are left in that bin. -Ron Fleming, Ag Engineer Aral Meeting The Huron County Plowman's annual sleeting will be held at the McKillop Township Municipal Office, Winthrop on December 8 at 2 pass. Anyone with an in- terest is invited to attend. 39 Angl.* SL 524-4325 PRE -CHRISTMAS SPECIAL DOG CLIPPING Have your dog clipped, groomed, nails clipped & ears cleaned all for$uIloo t odorleh • BOOK NOW Don't be disappointed New Energy Estimates For Forages The University of Guelph Feed Analysis Lab is pleased to announce the addition of a new energy predicting service for forage samples. This new service will estimate the Total Digestible Nutrients (TDN) and Net Energy of Lactation (NE(lac)) in hay, haylage and corn silage samples. Unfortunately there is no direct method for the lab to measure the TDN or NE(lac) in a feed sample. Precise energy values are only available by conducting controlled feeding trials. Such trials require large volumes of feed and livestock, not to mention great time and expense. Since precise energy measurements are not practical we are faced with estimating the energy content of forages as best we can. There are various methods of estimating the energy content of your forages. Many labs use "book values" to estimate the energy content. By knowing the proportions of forage species in the sample and their maturities an energy value may be predicted. This method is therefore dependent upon collecting an accurate description of the sample components. Some labs estimate the energy content of a forage after they have conducted a protein analysis. Research trials have shown a positive correlation between protein and energy content in hay and haylage samples provided the grass -legume composition of the sample is known. This method has been used by OMAF's ration balancing service in the past. Today, more and more feed analysis labs are estimating the energy content of forages by conducting an Acid Detergent Fibre ( ADF) analysis. Of all commonly analyzed feed components ADF analysis presently appears to have the strongest correlation to energy content in forage samples. Regression equations have been developed using the ADF analysis results to generate estimates of TDN or NE(lac). These equations vary according to the type of forage analyzed and the region where they were grown. Energy values are used routinely in balancing livestock rations. "Over- estimating" energy values will result in rations which will not meet the animals needs. I,ow gains, low production and health problems may develop. If you "under estimate" the energy content of a forage then you may overfeed grain. Expensive over -conditioning often occurs in this situation. Obtaining a good energy estimate is essential to develop a well balanced ration. For more information regarding the University of Guelph Feed Analysis Ser- vices, contact your local office of the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food. - Stephen J. Dotson, Co-ordinator, Feed Advisory Program, Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food, University of Guelph Upcoming Dairy Meeting Dairy producers are welcome to attend a one -day breed improvement meeting planned for Monday, December 5 starting at 10 a.m. The morning session will be held at Eckerlea Farms in Seaforth and will focus mainly on practical cow and sire selection exercises. There will be a hot meal served ($7 per person) at the Seaforth Legiofl Hall at noon followed with an afternoon program covering topics on dairy cattle diseases. linear sire proofs, an& decision making criteria for purchasing milk quota. The program will adjourn at 3 p.m. and anyone wishing to attend, should contact the local Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food office before December 1. rums Martha, Fans Mansement Specialist 'With 24 Years in the Photo Equipment Business, trust me to have the things treas red Christmas Memories are made of, Santa does!" These tweenies were enrolled into the Third Goderich Brownie Pack recently. Front row, left to right, are Lisa Warkentin, Tara MacKinnon, April Bartliff and hyla Young; and back row, left to right, are Mary Anne Doherty, Heather McKee, Crystal Ann Brennan, Tammy Oliver and Stephanie Fox. Absent for photo were Wendy Chan and Krissy McGee. ( Photo by Joanne Buchanan) Renovations under budget SEAFORTH - Seaforth council will send letters of thanks to Police Chief Hal Claus, Public Works Superintendent John Forrest and members of the . Seaforth police department. All of them worked on the conversion of the new police station gratis in their spare time. The work on converting the former fire hall to a new police station was more than $500 underbudget and cost a total of $24,493.84. Maybe we should give Mr. Forrest his communication system, suggested councillor Hazel Hildebrand, who heads council's finance committee. "Without him it wouldn't have been under budget ." $12,986.08 was spent on materials; $3,036.73 on services and $8,471.03 on wages. Doctors support emergency wing WINGHAM - Doctors at the Wingharn and District Hospital have officially thrown their support behind the hospital's plan to build a new emergency and outpatient wing. A letter to the hospital board signed by Dr. Walter Wong president of the medical staff, says the doctors view "with great elation" the board's decision to tender the project. It adds that the medical staff "vigorously exhorts" the board to see the project through "as expeditiously as possible," concluding that the staff formally endorses the board's actions to date and congratulates its members. This is the first formal endorsement of the project by the entire medical staff, though doctors who are on the hospital board had said previously that the new facilities are badly needed. The board still is waiting to get working drawings approved by the Health Ministry before the project goes to tender, possibly in mid or late December. GODERICH SIGNALSTAR, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 30,1983 --PAGE 17 Huron Farm and flume News needed fpr Management Project Farmers' recor Two new groups formed Two new self-help groups have started at Alexandra Marine and General )hospital under the Palliative Care Service. One is a group for widows and the other is a group for widowers. The bereaved parents group, which started last year, has been temporarily suspended due to lack of participants. All three groups help bereaved people to talk about their losses with others who have survived the same tragedy. The group sessions are led by Mrs. Marian Hindmarsh and Dr. C.F. Doorly and move along progressively, dealing with each step of the loss, for five weeks. For more information, call Mrs. Hindmarsh at 524-9200 or the hospital at 524-8323, ext. 271. Pledges still outstanding There is still $104,224 outstanding in the hospital's ICU account. To date, $658,332, has been received for the ICU from the total pledges of $762,557. Reminder notices are being sent out for overdue pledges. Computer installed Bestview Services Limited, a company which owns several nursing homes and private labs, will be using AM&G hospital for a pilot project involving the development of an IBM computer system for small hospitals. The system, which will be set up soon at the hospital, can be used for management, financial and patient information. Visit once a month A motion has been passed by the medical advisory committee at AM&G to have family physicians visit patients in the chronic care ward at least once a month. The motion came about after an accreditation survey at the hospital revealed that there is no formal visiting pattern for chronic patients at present. Changes for unit Some physical changes and policy changes are planned for the obstetrics unit at AM&G. These changes will be based on responses received from a questionnaire sent out to the last 100 women who gave birth in the unit. Some of the changes will include the redecorating of rooms and reorganization for more privacy. The perinatal committee will be enlarged to include a public health nurse and the hospital's director of nursing. And a larger educational role will be un- dertaken by this committee. Service offered HOSPITAL BRIEFS AM&G's medical advisory committee is considering an offer to use the service of Med-Emerg. This is a company for- med by two senior residents from London who are co-ordinating on-call service in the Emergency Departments of several hospitals in the area. Coverage is provided by senior medical residents from the London programs. Want cautery unit The medical staff at AM&G has requested a second cautery unit to be used in the Emergency Department. The present unit is based in the Operating Room. It is an electro surgical unit used for cutting by burning. The hospital's finance committee passed a motion to consider purchasing this piece of equipment for the 1983-84 budget if it appears on the medical staff capital equipment priority list for next year. Night cupboard The institution of a night drug cup- board at AM&G to be used at nights and on weekends has created some dif- ficulties for the nursing staff when certain medications have not been available. Dr. Walker, Chief of the Medical Staff, says the system simply needs some 'fine tuning'. The list of medications in the cupboard will have to be revised on the basis of experience as it is difficult to anticipate all the needs for after hours when doctors arbitrarily draw up a list. A motion has been passed that until the hospital acquires the services of a full- time pharmacist, a key to the pharmacy be available to the nursing office after hours so that they can get the medications which are needed but not in the night cupboard. New office ready The new ambulance office is now ready for occupancy and work will commence on painting the former office in order to make it acceptable for speech pathology and palliative care. The hospital board has been assured by the Ambulance Services Branch of Ontario that the Branch will pick up deficits which have been caused by an increasing workload. Ambulance calls at AM&G have risen 35 per cent this year and a $15,000 deficit in the ambulance budget has occured as a result. RNAs retire Kay Short and . Muriel Reinhart, both RNAs at AM&G hospital, have retired. Miss Short worked 23 years as an RNA at the hospital and Mrs. Reinhart worked five years in the hospital's lab and 10 years as an RNA. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to compare your cost of production with aver es ob- tained from other farmer's figures? Ontario farmer's figures have been used for years for comparative analysis purposes and these confidential records are used to arrive at averages. • Each farmer's individual figures _ate printed back to him so he can compare his costs and returns with the other farmers in his particular enterprise. . In 1982, financial analysis records were completed on 27 beef feedlots, 27 cash crop farms, 104 dairy farms, 33 farrow to finish and 12 swine finishing operations. From the feedlot sector, it indicated that in 1982 feed costs were $46.24, bedding, marketing, trucking, veterinary and medical were $5.06 for a total of $51.30 per hundred weight of beef produced for direct expenses. Indirect expenses, including machinery, building repairs, car, taxes, insurance, labour, telephone, hydro and depreciation and miscellaneous totalled $18.92 per hundred weight of beef produced. The total of $70.22 represents the cost of producing 100 pounds of beef. Cost of in- terest alone was $10.51. The same type of analysis is done with all enterprises analyzed. For example, pigs produced per sow per year and milk sold per cow per year are other figures available in the production area. Financial analysis showing performance efficiency, liquidity and solvency, profitability return on investment, etc., are also available, provided adequate in- formation is submitted for the farm. The Economics Branch of the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food welcomes 1983 figures from farmers interested in participating in this Ontario Farm Management Analysis Project. Proper inventory of crops and livestock at the beginning of the year and year end are important. Crop harvest figures are required plus livestock purchases, sales, births and losses. This information, plus income and expenses and depreciation, can then be put into the final analysis. Local offices of the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food are pleased to assist producers interested in participating. Farming is big business. Why not compare your figures with averages for the business? There is no cost for this service. Please call your local O.M.A.F. office if you are interested in participating. - Stanley J. Paquette, Farm Management Specialist No additional staff Dr. Robert Hill, an orthopedic surgeon, has agreed to conduct his consultation practise in the Emergency Department at AM&G without the aid of additional staff. The hospital board had previously been concerned that specialists working out of AM&G were costing the hospital too much money because they were using additional staff. Dong Miller Chpngea Duties Doug Miller, a • staff member at the Agricultural Office in Milton since April 30, 1979, is moving to new responsibilities in Toronto. Doug has been responsible for 444 agricultural club work in Halton, has served as a member of the Halton Agricultural Advisory Committee for the past year, and has assisted with the farm business management program in this region as well as advisory work in crops and livestock. In the reorganization in the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food, Doug has transferred to the Rural Organizations and Services Branch with responsibilities for youth work in Halton and Peel. However, this new secondment for a one year period will move Doug into the Farm Assistance Program Branch as Chief Reviewer for the Ontario Farm Adjustment Assistance Program. Doug's responsibilities will be to co-ordinate the review of all applications. This means intensive contact with bankers, agricultural representatives, and the far- mers involved. Doug is a graduate of F.E. Madill Secondary School in Wingham; O.A.C., University of Guelph; and the Huron County 4-H Club program. He is the son of Eileen Miller and the late Allan Miller of R.R. 4, Luck now. Are pie really square? Have you ever tried to calculate the volume of soniething on the farm? Do you 4 Santa Sox— "Trust Mae Campbell to have the things treasured Christmas Momorios are made ®fl" MP ELL'S ROYAL BANK BLOCK, THE SQUARE, GODERICH 524-7532 ara