The Rural Voice, 1979-04, Page 7TOM GRAHAM
changed as the industry modernized.
Tom Graham, a St. Mary's poultry
farmer and a member of the Ontario Egg
Marketing Board. said he started in the
hatchery business in 1950. In those days,
Mr. Graham said people bought their
chickens in the spring, in the months from
March through June and the flocks were
kept to supplement the main farming
income. Often the farmer's wife was
responsible for a flock of from 200 to 500
birds and the money from egg sales was
considered "women's money basically",
Mr. Graham said.
But today, the chicken industry has
moved from a spring flock to a system
where chickens are purchased year round.
Also, the average flock size is in excess of
10,000 birds and many birds are raised in a
completely indoor operation.
AROUND THE YEAR
Mr. Graham and his sons have between
20-25,000 laying hens and their poultry
production is pretty well scheduled around
the year, with chicks started every three
months.
Tom Graham said he still thinks the best
chicks are put down in the srping, since
that's the natural cycle. Also, "the
chickens seem to lay more eggs in the
spring."
today, Mr. Graham said the kind of
chicken that lays the egg is also different
than it was 25 years ago. Once, a dual
purpose chicken was the order of the day -
it both laid eggs and was eventually sold
for meat. Today, laying hens have become
"spe(iai,zed egg production birds - lighter
in weight and they lay longer" and once
the t ir's have outlived their laying period,
most end up being processed in canning
factories into productslike chicken soup.
INTENSIVE
In 1968, Mr. Graham decided to expand
his farming operation by going into the
beef business, and today, he and his sons
are still completing the transition to a more
intensive agriculture.
This year, the animals in his cow/calf
operation will be fed with crops grown on
the Graham farm. The farmers grow half
corn. one quarter alfalfa and a portion of
mixed grain and fall wheat on the farm.
The excess shell corn will be sold as a cash
crop or used in raising pullets.
Mr. Graham said the cows on his farm
won't have an abundance of pasture land to
roam on, and that there is a tendency to a
dry lot operation due to high land costs.
Sandra Curran and her husband Grant,
who farm in Ashfield Township in the
northwest of Huron County, put in about
285 acres of crops annually to support a
hog and beef cattle operation.
She said the family manages their
farming operation without depending on
outside labour. Their land is ploughed
in the fall and they go over their machinery
in the winter months to make sure
equipment is oiled and tires are in good
condition.
The couple start planting crops as soon
as the frost is out of the ground - the corn
usually goes in from May 24 to the end of
the month.
On a good planting day, Sandra said she
works on the land from 8:30 a.m. to 10 or
11 o'clock at night. Her children sometimes
prepare the meals and she and her
husband break only to eat. To make their
planting operation even more efficient, the
Currans move a trailer right out into their
fields, and Sandra cooks a meal quickly
rather than go back home to the main farm.
The major change the Currans have
made to their farming operation recently
was to install a liquid manure tank. Sandra
said using the liquid manure on their fields
is a much faster operation, since it takes
only a few minutes to hook up the tanks to
the pump and Toad them. Now she and her
husband can spread two or three times as
much manure on the fields in a day as
they did in the past. Also, with this system,
"it's not as much work to keep the pigs
clean."
Spring is not only rebirth for the land,
it's also a another chance for the farmer.
This year, you can correct !ast year's
mistakes, try that new seed that might
increase crop yields, or risk buying a
bigger and better piece of equipment to cut
a few more hours off planting time.
The long hours on the land may lie just
ahead, but so does the adventure that
makes farming the challenging profession
it is.
BLYTHE LANNIN
THE RURAL VOICE/APRIL 1979 PG. 5