The Rural Voice, 1979-10, Page 8i
and Ted Parker of Kincardine Township,
who ride the range at the ARDA Commun-
ity Pasture, just one mile and a quarter
west of Underwood.
In addition to working at the ARDA
farm, both men also run their own 100 -acre
beef operations, but as Glen Wells points
out, they work on the community pasture
because "we're both lovers of horses." He
said jokingly his wife would say he was a
horse lover first and a farmer second.
The ARDA community pasture, where
1500 head of beef cattle graze, is one of ten
such projects found in Ontario. ARDA
stands for Agricultural Rehabilitation
Development Act, which came into effect
in the province in the mid -1960's and is a
joint federal -provincial cost sharing pro-
gram.
Ron Slade, secretary treasurer of the
ARDA pasture and rural development
counsellor for Bruce and Huron counties,
said the Bruce program started in 1965,
when land in the area was still "cheap."
Land around Underwood didn't stay that
way for long since one of the neighbours in
PG. 6 THE RURAL VOICE/OCTOBER 1979
Glen Wells and Ted Parker demonstrate one reason horses rather than
pickup trucks are used on the ARDA farm - the horses are veterans in
rounding up a herd of cattle and moving them to another grazing area.
the area is the Bruce Nuclear Power
Generating Station.
The community pasture takes up a block
of 1450 acres and all but 200 acres is usable
pasture land.
Mr. Slade said it was former Bruce
County ag. rep.. George Gear. who
originally came up with the idea to apply
for ARDA funds to start a community
pasture which could benefit smaller beef
cattle operators in the county.
Cattlemen apply to put up to 20 steers
apie .e on the community farm for the
annual grazing period, from early May
until mid-October. The cattle weigh about
400-650 pounds when shipped to the farm
in the spring, and in a good summer, they
average a 250 pound gain.
ENTRY FEES
Farmers who send their cattle to the
pasture pay a $3 per head entry fee and are
charged 16 cents a pound for gain over the
summer.
Mr. Slade said the head fee is used to
pay for drugs, vet bills and for any deaths
which occur. He said the farmer receives
either full value or part value for any steer
that dies. To date, the pasture program has
always been able to pay full value of the
steer at the time he was placed on the farm
and Mr. Slade said, "the farmers are very
happy about this."
In addition to the cattle who spend the
grazing season on the community pasture,
the ARDA community pasture also accepts
some short -keep cattle.
Mr. Slade said in the early years of
operating the pasture. employees discov-
ered they had a surplus of grass in the lush
growing months. The committee; who
makes management decisions for the farm,
decided instead of letting the grass go to
waste, they'd accept cattle for a two month
period.
These cattle. which aren't owned only by
smaller beef operators, are heavier when
they come on the pasture and average
about a 140 pound gain. They're shipped
off the farm again in mid-July.
Ron Slade said this experiment "has
proved to us early spring is when we get
good gain."