The Rural Voice, 1982-07, Page 11Cecil and Marybelle Cranston, trying to live within their means,
start a new enterprise -- shipping cream
up to two months before calving.
The heifers will take another year to
reach peak production. Right now, they
are averaging 40-45 pounds of milk a day;
in a year it should be 50-55 pounds. Their
top cow, Pearlie's Maiden is averaging 62
pounds a day.
One Jersey cow can feed her calt, three
pigs and provide cream as well. The skim
milk is fed to the pigs, after the cream is
separated. Marybelle says the pigs are
thriving. Right now, the cows are fed
rolled barley and corn; in the fall they'll be
given ensilage.
Marybelle Cranston repeatedly says she enjoys working with the cows. She says when
she was ten or eleven her father had cows, but she really wasn't aware of the work
involved.
Farrowing pens
Farm gates
Hand railing
Lathe work
Hog confinement
Repairs to all kinds
of small engines
and chain saws
LUCKNOW
CUSTOM WELDING &
SMALL ENGINE REPAIR
Box 357 Ross St.
Lucknow, Ont. 528-3835
The Cranstons hope to average $1.000
cow per year. "The cash is up front,"
Cecil says. Teeswater Creamery picks the
cream up twice a week (once a week in the
winter). The Cranstons receive $5.69 a
kilogram with eight kilograms per can and
average ten cans per week.
Selling cream is on the upswing. Cecil
and Marybelle say. There's nearly a dozen
new cream producers in their immediate
five mile area and they're all looking for
more quota.
Milking Jerseys fits in with the
Cranston life style at this time. Cecil says
they're home anyway as their daughter
Tenile starts school in the fall (they also
have a younger son Terry) and it'll give
them something to do in the winter.
Marybelle says they've probably set
agriculture back thirty years. SG
THE RURAL VOICE/JULY 1982 PG 11