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The Huron Expositor, 1981-11-18, Page 15Now that he's part of the Bombardier.! team, he can provide you and your family with everything needed for maximum outdoor enjoyment, this-winter. And because Bombardier is the world's No.1 team, you know that he can offer you nothing but the best in sales and after-iales service Of SKI-D0,0 snowmobile accessories and sportswear. There.are1.4 models in all for '82, including a number of new faces in the line-up, apart from your.new SKI-DOO . dealer!5 So, get together real soon and... - make it you anclSKI-D001 Your newSKI7D00. dealer\_, ELDER. ENTERPRISES Located vieSitiod 1' tulle south of Herman ofterIneyho the benefit of 14 years sobbtlitiltile etperlence Factory Trained `Mechanics Open 9 to" 9 EEE ENTERPRISES SALES & SERVICE titAlli262.6142 HENSALL, - ONT. 14110 (*.Mc. tworrIrlypor, Harold Elder • ',304...citi,'Y kMtVcie 0 OP Novemoon IL ail [-All THE XP Eart P d .., Grey township debates the issu Farm bahkru tcles u. The firtn bankruptcy rate higher than at the same time Canadian farmers went rose sharply in October and last year. bankrupt in the first 10 now stands 20 pet cent Two hundred and thirty months of this year compar- BY SUSAN WHITE Neil and Donna 'Hemingway are -consid- ered erogressive farmers. interested in economics!, energy efficient vIMYs of doing things. That's wily they chose to build a naltralb' ventilated hark One of four lathe ROVinee, when they expanded their hog operation in Grey Taionship outSide ikussels,larlier'thiS m1/fluter- And that's why they decided to build an earthen manure pit to store liquid wastes ' frcup their animals. (They also totight a separator to remove manure solids, which they plan to compost and use to produce methane gas.) "I never had a big thing about earthen tanks. Concrete looked a good way to o," Neil says. But then Doug Young of Otero Hush Inc. described the economic and environmental advantages of earthern storage over the more costly, concrete tanks and the Hemingways were sold. That's when the trouble began. "I was 28 in the spring but I feel 41 now," Neil says with a rueful smile. Although earthen manure storage haS been used around the province for years and many operators just get ahullciozer in, build the pit and quietly put it into use, the Hemingways were more straight forward about their intentions. Donna an Neil Hemingway and "Jaw-Si' in front of thtilenew hog barn. First they got a Certificate of Compliance from the ministries of agriculture and the eneireiimeret. Then they applied tor, and received, a building, pormq from , But, 4. apron's ageieriltpre engineer. Ron.,flerning, explains it, whilencertificate‘ oKornpliance ensures that tadettc•wen't be a prOhlentinthe, manurestorage tank, it's really not set up to 'Consider, possible Centamitnatien, of 'groundwater by shared manure. And it \vas a. fear of' groundwater contamin ation that led a number of'Grev, Township residents to circulate a petition opposing the construction and operation .of earthen liquid manure pits in the township. About 80 of them showed up, bearing the 800 signature petition, at an information meetingAugust 31. The Hemingways had arranged to have a variety of experts, some pf whom have been working out draft 7,:'ljpitilelines on earthen manure pits for the whole province, come to the meeting to explain the pits' advantages to council. Those experts found themselves on, as Neil Hemingway says, "thee- hot seat", defending this type of manure storage to people who were convinced that • Grey's groundwater, and eventually their wells. 1. would be polluted by seepage from an earthen tank. contamination in, a letter to council Oct. 5. He reported resulii of a dye test of area wells to see if they ate hydrologically connected to the sinkholes. Mr. Brown found no trace of a dye dumped in the'sinkholes in five neigh- bouring wells. He concludes that the wells •••••••••::-•-and'-sinkholes are connected but there's Grey Township has since hired an engineering firm, Canviro Consultants of Kitchener to duplicate and check the ministry's tests but the engineer on the project; Richard Rush, was not available for comment on his progress. - • Reeve Roy Williamson says Grey wanted FAGPIEJat'S STUDY But the ilentingwaya.luttl researched the nrAttee.-414d-1 $4000 engineering study they cominissioned by PetO MacCittlion 'Ltd, of Kitchener said thesOsurfaceturri 'ground- water condltions ,at the pit site Wouldn't allow contamination., Experience In Ontario- .isthat earthentr4nure pits. seal themselves. within a Matter Of week's of construction but, just in caSe,„. the engineers suggested. fining the • pit with 410 400;4.1gal/int A huge earthen manure tank has been in use for *bent seven years near . New Dundee and the Hemingways say there has been no seepage problem, although the tank is "within sight" of a well that serves part of Kitchener-Waterloo. The Hemingways, and provincial offic- ials, saw their earthern manure pit as aifest case for the proposed Ontario guidelihes. Dan,,Brewn, aveundwater-evaluator with, the Ministry Of the Environnient did a study of soil peimeabilit y and an evaluation of the Hemingways' engineer's report and says the proposed tank complies with all but one of the proposed guidelines. For pert of the year the water table will be less than a metre below the pit site but, most of the year it's six feet below. Mr. Brown concludes, "the proposed earthen storage for liquid manure is adequately designed and located and ' will cause minimal ground water inipact.r • But some people in Grey Township have trouble believing this. The township has sink holes in a couple of inenicipal drains not .fat. .. from the Hemingway propertyy. . B(411 4e and kienlingr.aPW9344.1.lice.. Grey tnadent a byhti, that doesn't prohibit and township council asked Mr. Brown, the ministry of eevironment• groundwater' earthen tanks..." the ostrich approach" management guidelines for all sorts of Neil calls it...but regulates and sets site and Specialist, to investigate the possibility of tanks. They sympathize with Grey coun- cil's cencern that an earthen manure tank- could be fine in the hands of a responsible operator but a hazard on the farm of someone who doesn't care about possible contamination. Until the last year there weren't many su enough dilution by 'groundwater teproteet----..-, ccessful prosecutions of unsafe manure handling cases and townships are naturally the wells from sinkhole contamination. • an ' "a little more extensive" report than the earthen tank a hazard, .but because ministry's and he's waiting fcir thaereport they.'re so big (a year's storage versus six before com or in some cases three months in a concrete menting on what council's next -step is. SURFACEWATER ,4.0 41,4 ;`' Mr.. Brown reported surface , wafer contamination of some of the wells be, dye , tested and this is one of the Hemingways' concerns.. -Neil Hemingway-says-:because - concrete 'manure tanks are se relatively expensive 'to build eh cent to, 1 cent storage per gallon for earthen tanks versus '7 or 8 cents per gallon for a •concrete tank) in Oct to 184 in the same time period in 1980,' according -to statistics released Monday 'ire will be CLOSED Monday, November 30th Would you pleaseCheck your account and help its clean up the looseends by November 28th, 1.981. Your co- operation would be greatly ap- preciated. OM/ 0111,110 =OM .MIN• SIMII• MM. For INVENTORY Our Year Epd is Fast Approaching Notice _Deadline on slaughter cattle aid a roaches approaches in Details for Stocker Cattle: 1. Amount of Assistance (Nov. 16) by the bankruptcy $20.00 per head. section of the federal con- 2. Applicant must have been sumer and corporate affairs. a resident of Ontario in 1980 and gold-a minimum of ten stockers in 1980. 3. Eligible Animals - pur- chased by the applicant as calves and fed in Ontario for 150 days and solf for finsihing purposes , in'1980. They must have weighed 600 pounds when sold, 4. Other criteria is the same as for the slaughter program. Remember, applications are, avilable at Ontario • Ministry' of Agriculture and Food offices. Apply •on or before November 30th, 1981. Stenley J. Paquette, Associate Agfitulturstl Representative for Huron County • they are often bunt as small as possible. „ That can lead to overflow prohlems and- the. overflowing manure goes directly - into. flint:4f water .and: then into drains, streams . _ 'And ultimately, wells, • Neil.heileVes that an earthen manure tankisuctually enVironmentrillk'srtfer,,than a concrete one,hecairse it can be imilt'to hold a,year'S. supply of liquid' manure. • The larger 'tank al eo gives a farmer ,better, manure mattuggone0 options. Manure can .be stored aii_ye.ar 444 'then crops when it's most needed 'rather than as a last resort when the concrete tank is abouti to overflow. "Manure is a liability, not an asset if you pump it out and it ends tip in a river," he says. "We want to use Our ,manure• as an asset, not a liability". `echoes his wife Donna. Another Grey Township farmer, (an operator with his wife of an irrigation business) Chris Lee, says that's why he's convinced of the value of earthen manure storage. The Lee farm near Walton has had an earthen manure storage pit for 80 dairy cows for. eight years. The Lees irrigate their corn from the storage' tank once a year, in July when the plants most need nutrients and moisture. - There have been few. problems and no complaints to the Lees. Mr. Lee says his custom operation 'visits a lot of farms and he's been appalled at some of the structural and manure management problems he's seen. REGULATE concerned about abuses. OMAF's Ron' Fleming agrees. "There's, a lot of fear of ground water pollution from earthen pits but because of the overflow problem (with concrete tanks) it's often the other way around:" Mr. Fleming says bad management could make If you're interested in im- proving crop production with up-to-date information on new hybrids, seed germina- tion, red clover plowdown, weed control and conserva- tion, then plan to attend the Huron Soil and Crop Im- provernerit Association Ann- ual Meeting. This year's annual meeting will be held on Thursday evening, November 26th, at the Brussels, Morris and Grey Community Centre. The social hour will begin at 6:00 p.m. with dinner at 7:00 tiam. and the meeting to follow. Tickettate$10:00 each and include county membership for 1981. Tickets are available front towrohip directors and the Ontario hnnistry of Agri. cUltUre and 1.0nd, Office, Clinton. John Heard, Assistant Agrkulturril Represantative for Huron Countv Soil, Crop annual next week Chrii Lee beside his earthen manure pit, east of Walton A rational, economical, enviromentally safe way of storing and using manure is what the Hemingways want. And that's why they've kept going, in the face of a great deal of opposition from fellow Grey residents. °- Councillor Thomas says the couple has "spent a lot of money to do it right, to protect the environment" but he also adds,. "peOpie aren't very' rational about pig manure." The Hemingways are hoping though. that people will, try to be and they're, inviting the community to an open house at their Neiloway Farms, just east Of Brussels, to see their innovations.- the new barn, the manure separator and all, so that, they can get the facts and judge for themselves. Suppliers and officials from OMAF and 'the environment ministry will be on hand to answer questions. It's a chance for anyone who'S • interested' in modern hog management, in economical, environmentally conscious farming to See their set up. The young couple are eager to talk to anyone who'll listen, and hope for a good turn out. The open house (really it's -an- "•open -- barn" jokes Huron's ag. rep, Don Pullen) will be held Wednesday, Nov. 25 from II a.m. to 6. p.m. Refreshments will be served. INVITATION - The following suppliers invite the public to an Open House at Nellowayi Farms Wednesday, November 25, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.. ry Their new naturally ventilated hog'finishing and manure storage and handling facilities, as' well as some of the latest innovative equipment in the industry,' will be available for your inspection. PRODUCTS LTD. , - Woodstock, Ont . Mitchell, Ont. Waterloo, Ont. — HANNA IL HAMILTON CONSTRUCTION CO. LTD. Listowel, Ont. NEW CONCEPT CONCRETE Waterloo, Ont. STRASSBURGER SUPPLIES LTD Woodstock, Ont. AFRO FLUSH SYSTEMS INC MOSES FARM SYSTEMS Millbank, Ont LTD. Brussels, Ont. UNIT FARM CONCRETE PRODUCTS HURON FEEDING SYSTEMS PEBTH BUILDERS LTD. ROSS SMITH BACKHOE SERVICE — Brutlsels, Ont Chepstow, Ont DONEGAN'S HAULAGE AND READY MIX LTD. Listowd, Ont St. Cathaeines, Ont FRITZ CONCRETE LTD' HURON STRUCTU RES LORD AND BURNHAM 'CO. LTD. Walton, Ont FRANK .WORKMAN ELECTRIC Beui§sels, Ont. L-H IRRIGATION AND SALES McKERCHER'S CONTRACTING- Bluevale, Ont Ont Representatives from the Ministry of Agriculture and Food and the Ministry of the Environment will be present th discuss and answer any questions you may have for them. NeloWay Farms is owned and Operated by Neil and Donna Hemingway and Is located two miltlis east of Brustels on County Road 16. Refreshments 'being. served. SEAT R I' ni3OAER tank) there's less chance of an overflow in March when ground is so wet a.farmer can't possible spread manure. "t don't think most people have realized the importance of manure," Mr. Fleming says and he points to an upcoming provincial meeting sponsored by OMAF and the provinces Soils and Crop Associ- ation infebruary which will !Nit at manure management from all angles. Increasingly, he says, there'll be a "push to preserve nutrients rather than letting them off into our streams." Chris Lee adds that with higher., energy costs pushing up chemical fertilizer prices, more and more farmers will see the economics of using manure well. Neil Hemingway figures he'll get a benefit of $50 to $60 per acre from his new manure handling system, if he can build the bigger earthen storage tank. But he admits trying to prove its worth has and him about $10,000 in engineering and legal fees. The township of course has had costs too and councillor Charlie Thomas says its lawyer, Dan Murphy of Godetich, is now working at drafting a manure storage bylaw. The Hemingways and Mr. Lee hope, it'll be a comprehensive one, that regulates management, as well as building, of all, sorts of manure storage tanks. .1 ,11 ' i4,6; jikr.