The Rural Voice, 1980-07, Page 14GUEST COLUMN
The Dairy Industry
Weathering tough times
BY KENNETH G. McKINNON
Chairman, The Ontario Milk Marketing Board
High interest rates, soaring inflation and a general state of
economic uncertainty have had dramatic effects on the farming
community. Input costs have risen at a rate which would have
been unthought of a few years ago. Falling prices for some farm
commodities have added to these heavy burdens, crippling some
farmers to the point of being forced out of business.
Dairy farming is a capital -intensive business, expensive to
enter, slow to reward, and demanding on time, skills and energy.
The Ontario Milk Marketing Board through its pricing practices
and by making use of the well-established procedure of supply
management (balancing supply to meet demand), has enabled
prices and returns to remain relatively stable to the dairy farmer,
a must considering his tremendous investment. An erratic
pattern of rising and falling prices, as has been seen in other
commodities, would have devastating effects, not only on milk
producers but on consumers as well. Stability has given milk
producers a greater ability and willingness to invest and
re -invest in increasing their own efficiency. The general
economy benefits from their expenditures and the consumer
ultimately benefits from increased efficiencies being reflected in
prices. Supply management and stable prices have equipped
dairy farmers to better weather current economic hardships and
has maintained a constant supply of quality products for the
consumer at reasonable prices.
Supply and demand are tailored through the use of quotas. A
new system for the transfer of quota, the Quota Exchange, was
recently introduced to provide producers with a flexible method
of buying and selling quota, and to more easily facilitate the
entry of new producers to the industry. Producers have readily
adapted to the new system which is perceived to be one of the
fairest and most equitable means of transferring quota
developed to date. The results of the first three monthly
exchanges have shown a downward trend in the prices being
paid for market -sharing quota (MSQ) and an upward trend in the
price being paid for Group 1 Pool quota, the quota under which
producers receive a higher return for their milk production. This
upward trend in Group 1 Pool quota prices was expected because
it had been pegged for almost four years (since May, 1976), at
prices well below current MSQ prices.
Milk production levels have been rising substantially since
February of this year when comparing levels to similar months a
year earlier. There is, however, five per cent more MSQ in the
system available to Ontario producers this year - three per cent
added as a result of new-found export markets and two per cent
added due to strength, primarily in domestic butter and cheese
sales. Milk production increases are expected to hold for the
balance of the current dairy year ending July 31, 1980. Total
MSQ utilization in Ontario is expected to be around the 97 per
cent level. Therefore, it is questionable whether all over -quota
levies will be refunded at year end. Producers should assess
their individual situation carefully.
Our national agency, the Canadian Dairy Commission,
continues to work in retaining existing markets and in
developing new markets. We anticipate producers will be able to
at least maintain current production levels next year, and are
optimistic the market may be slightly expanded.
Sound, well-managed industries are vital at all times and
particularly during times of continuing uncertainty. The Ontario
Milk Marketing Board makes no pretense of having solved all the
problems facing the dairy industry, but we believe we have come
a long way towards moderating them in the past and will
continue to do so in the future.
Useful hints
FARMING IN THE PAST
From the time of World War 1
Special thermometers fixed in the
ground a few inches deep show that an
orchard cover crop keeps the soil several
degrees warmer than a bare soil close by.
Sow millet under the trees. It has the
added benefit that chickens, pigs and
calves may be pastured safely.
•ssss•
When the goose becomes broody, if I
wish her to lay another litter, I shut her up
a few days, and in the course of two weeks
she will generally commence laying again.
If I wish to set her on the first litter 1 give
her not more than 15 eggs.
ssss••
Do not keep hens in Targe flocks; not over
15 to the flock. The hen that gets broody is
PG. 12 THE RURAL VOICE/JULY 1980
BY ADRIAN VOS
often the one that lays the most eggs, if you
break her up immediately when she gets
broody. The laying strain must be pure-
bred; the male for this strain must have
comb well developed and large for his
b: eed, and be an early and persistent
crow r. (So there, there's more to laying
eggs than meets the eye).
• ssss•
The first step to determine the freshness
of an egg is to know that the hen that laid it
was not mated while the egg was in the
oviduct; to be sure of this take the rooster
out after the breeding season.
• ssss•
People ought to know that the very best
thing they can do before retiring is to eat
apples. Persons uninitiated in the myster-
ies of.the fruit are liable to throw up their
hands in horror at the visions of dyspepsia
which such suggestion may summon up,
but harm can seldom come by eating ripe
and juicy apples before going to bed.
••••••
The great trouble with sheep-dips is that
they are too strorg and cause irritation of
the flesh. For each ten sheep use only
one-fourth of plug tobacco. Boil this in
about 30 gallons of water and dip the sheep
therein as soon as it cools. Apply once a
week until the trouble is overcome.
•••ss•
Hiccoughing of pigs is caused by a
derangement of the stomach. Change the