The Rural Voice, 1978-12, Page 16have to specialize in order to do well." Les says.
Some interesting farm price facts came out when Les looks at
90 year old accounting records from his father's time on the
Fortune farm.
"A bushel of wheat in those days was equal to a day's
wage" Les says. "Today a bushel of wheat will not even equal an
hour's wage."
But in the last 20 years Les has noticed the most drastic
changes taking place in farming.
While on the district school board, Les noted that the salaries
for teachers averaged $1,800 each. With the price of beef at 34c
per pound it took approximately six full grown steers to pay for a
highschool teacher's wages.
"Today the price of beef is doubled to 65c or 70c a pound, but
teachers' wages have more than doubled from 1948" Les points
out.
"Food is cheap in comparison to a lot of other products we buy
now," he stresses.
Forty years ago the 600 acres in the land block where the
Fortune farm is located supported 12 families. Now there are only
four.
"There is really no way to avoid farms getting bigger" Les
thinks. "The cost of machinery and land, combined with the low
profit margin on products makes it necessary to produce more in
order to survive."
Les has noticed over the years that there is still a good
neighbourliness and spirit among the rural people.
"That has not changed."
"There is quite a challenge to farming but you certainly won't get
wealthy" is how Les Fortune sums up his fifty plus years on the
farm . "By and large it's a good life."
Walter Hamilton, 71 and still farming in Perth
By Adrian Vos
If Walter Hamilton is ever going to retire, he can look back on
a life of experiences that are forever in the past. Today, at age
71, he still farms in Wallace township in Perth county, where he
started some 30 years ago.
Originally he came from Grey township in Huron County,
where he began his farming career near the hamlet of
Jamestown. At that time Jamestown was a thriving centre and
Mr. Hamilton has some fond memories of the General Store, the
blacksmith shop across the road, and the Community Hall.
Today, one just whizzes through, hardly noticing the place.
"At that time we did everything with horses." he said. "I had
Clydesdales and Percherons and Suffolk -Punch, and I raised
colts off them as well."
A wistful look comes into his eyes when he talks about horses.
'I liked horses, but it became too slow; not economical
anymore."
So, in 1948 he bought his first tractor. Not that he did away
with the horses right away; no, at first they were used side by
side with the tractor. He also drew milk to the cheese factory in
Molesworth. But in the end it became too expensive: "You
know, a tractor you can set aside when you don't need it, but a
horse has to be fed."
Tractor
He well remembers his first tractor. It was a Cockshutt 30 and
it could pull a 3 -furrow plow. Next he bought a "Custom" tractor
from Listowel Transport. For some reason they couldn't get
along with it, but Mr. Hamilton used it for ten years. He believes
that it was assembled in the U.S. from parts supplied by various
manufacturers.
After 1953 he went with the times and traded the first tractor
in for one with a loader and hydraulics. A cultivator with
hydraulic lift was also purchased.
Disaster didn't pass Mr. Hamilton by either. In 1953 the barn
burned down to the ground and the driveshed was severely
damaged. Insurance coverage was minimal, so it was a real
blow, particularly as there was a growing family to feed and
clothe. The Hamiltons raised six boys and four girls and today
they have also 18 grandchildren. On December 12 they will be
celebrating their 47th anniversary.
Like most farms of 20 years ago, theirs was a mixed farm with
some 20 dairy cows, 1,000 hens, over 100 pigs and diary beef.
The Holsteins he bred to an Angus bull, until the fire. After that
calamity, he wis sold as a 17 year old.
Draw Ing Milk
When drawing milk to the cheese factory, he noted how the
master cheese maker sniffed the milk: "If he didn't like the smell
PG. 16 THE RURAL VOICE/DECEMBER 1978
it was set aside. You can't make good cheese if the milk is not
perfect. Today the cheese is less good than it used to be. The
Molesworth cheesemaker says it's because of the bulk handling.
The cooling and all the stirring going on, doesn't allow for good
Cheese."
The Hamiltons used tohavea hundred or more pigs in one end
of the dairy barn, but when milk inspection became more strict,
they had to get them out.
Staunch Supporter
A long time member of the Federation of Agriculture, and
involved with the local agricultural society, Mr. Hamilton is also
a staunch supporter of the milk marketing board. He thinks that
the dairy man would be nowhere without a board. He always had
plenty of market sharing quota, and when he made a mistake and
produced over quota, he fed calves.
Only one son, Larry, follwed family tradition and has become a
dairyman. Two other sons run the well-known Hamilton
Construction Company in Listowel. All children live in the
vicinity, the farthest away being a daughter in Kitchener.
Asked to make a comparison between farming before the war
and today, Walter Hamilton repeats his liking of working with
horses, but the economy of the tractor can't be denied, even if
they are more greasy.
He always kept up with modern times. His tractors were his
first modernization and the latest was a sealed silo for haylage.
"It's a real labor saver," he says, " and the cows milk better
too."
The Hamiltons have shared things on the farm. "Without my
wife it wouldn't have been worth it," he muses.
Nell and Doc