The Rural Voice, 1981-07, Page 11No office as large as
Scott's functions well
without a good reception
and stenographic corps,
and in Stratford it's headed
by Jean Elliott. (inset) She
co-ordinates the duties of
three other fulltime
secretaries, (from left)
Dorothy Lowe, Karen
McLagan and Barbara
Hands, as well as three
others on a part-time basis:
Thelma Smith (milk and
industry section), Muriel
Stewart and Joan Gates).
ing, feeding and manage-
ment ideas to producers. and
evaluating individual pork
production systems and
passing along the findings.
Smelski is in a position to
provide producers with help
in an unbiased manner. He
can assist them in the creat-
ion of a more efficient system
which may or may not in-
clude different equipment or
buildings. He can give them
an outside opinion on man-
agement and be their liason
with various associations and
organizations. Too, he can
help design and implement
educational programs. Smel-
ski must work with and assist
producers, but always with
the pig's needs in mind.
Some crisis situations
brought to his attention can
be solved immediately but
others become major projects,
Trying to understand and
stay ahead of the many
variables in the pork industry
is a constant concern. And
Smelski believes there is a
long way to go. Pork pro-
ducers, he says, are well
organized when it comes to
marketing but not in the area
of production. He shudders
when he thinks of the waste
attributed to disease. "There
are some real good vets in
this area." says Smelski.
"but they are still treating
disease, not preventing it.
We need an improvement
association (as with soils and
crops) in the swine industry.
and we don't have it."
PAT LYNCH
Soils & Crop Specialist
The boil, and crops spc-
cialist at the Stratford office
is Pat Lynch, and for the past
eight years he has been
covering Perth and Huron.
For two years, after getting
his bachelor (crops) and
master's (corn breeding) de-
grees from the University of
Guelph. Lynch worked for
the seed division of Maple
Leaf Mills in eastern Ontario.
Then he joined OMAF and
came to Stratford. he is
available to advise on crop
production problems, as well
as suggest methods of im-
proving yields.
NANCY ROSS
Home Economist
After 18 months as the
home economist in Oxford
County, Nancy Ross assum-
ed the same role in Perth .
and she's been in Stratford
for six and a half years. A
graduate of the Univesity of
Guelph, she provides leader-
ship and education by pro-
moting, organizing and de-
livering programs on food
and nutrition, citizenship,
clothing, consumerism,
crafts, gardening. health,
home management and
housine.
By letter, phone and visits.
she handles consumer re-
quests and if she doesn't
have the answers she directs
the enquiries to the appro-
priate agency. She also co-
ordinates the 4-H home-
making program, which has
670 active members in Perth.
Variety is the spice of
Nancy Ross's work day, and
it comes from the number of
people she must deal with.
They force her to learn new
skills and acquire more
knowledge related to home
economics. In return, she
hopes, they develop the at-
titudes and skills required for
everyday living, as well as
those needed to adjust to
change.
NORM BIRD
Ag. Engineer
Agricultural engineer
Norm Bird has been with
OMAF since 1961, after he
received an agricultural sci-
ence degree from the Univer-
sity of Guelph and engineer-
ing degrees from the Univer-
sity of Toronto and the
University of Windsor. He
THE RURAL VOICE/JULY 1981 PG. 9