The Rural Voice, 1980-07, Page 9Bruce dairy
farmers
speak out
BY GISELE IRELAND
Tom Christie
& his wife Betty
do most of the work
themselves
Tom and Betty Christie operate a dairy
farm on the fringe of Teeswater. His big
white silos are a landmark at the edge of
town. They have a well kept, attractive
homestead and are presently improving
their buildings' appearance.
Tom and Betty have a young family and
therefore do most of the work themselves.
They usually hire a student in the summer
months to help with the extras like haying
and seeding. Tom milks about 44 cows of
the black and white variety and has carried
away honours for having a low breeding
interval.
Tom is a very meticulous farmer. He is
very particular about what goes into his
cows, and has built two high moisture
silos in the last few years. One holds
ground ear corn and the other haylage.
This comprises the bulk of the dairy
feeding program. The cows are not grazed.
He does not feed a Targe amount of hay
and grows his own grain for the dairy
supplement he feeds. In fact, the herd is
tailored in size to make sure that he can
grow on his own land what he needs to feed
his herd.
Tom milks the cows in a modern pipe
line parlour, with the help of Betty, and he
has a second barn for young stock. It is
very much a family affair, as even the
children have some part in the chores
TOM CHRISTIE
around the place.
Tom and Betty's farm is the kind we like
to see flourish in our community as it is self
sufficient in every way, including labour,
and just b ig enough to handle
comfortably.
Tom and Betty both enjoy working with
the cows and the only thing they find to
mildly complain about is that it is a seven
day a week job. And that's sometimes
difficult in the morning when you've been
out enjoying yourself until the wee hours of
the morning the night before.
As is evident from his picture, Tom looks
as contented as his cows. He even sports
T-shirts with his black and white girls on
them.
THE RURAL VOICE/JULY 1990 P0. 7