The Rural Voice, 1985-01, Page 24"NATURALLY PIGS"
PUREBRED YORKSHIRE S.P.F. BREEDING STOCK
BORN AND RAISED ON CONCRETE SLATS
MOST BOARS
$275.00
OPEN GILTS
$185.00
GOV'T HEALTH APPROVED EXCELLENT ***
BUY HEALTH & QUALITY - INEXPENSIVELY
BRAD GILBERT R.R. 6, GODERICH 529-7761
"You name it -
we'll build it."
FEED TANKS AVAILABLE
• .9 tonnes to 19.9 tonnes
• 14 -gauge metal
• strong reinforcing ring
• non -leak auger boot ring
• separate ladder and blow pipe
OTHER PRODUCTS
• Feed Factories
built to specification
• 4" x 6" augers
• Farrowing crates
• Feed carts built to specification
FREE ESTIMATES
ATWOOD METAL
ABRICATING NC.
HIGHWAY 23 N.
ATWOOD, ONT.
519-356-2802
22 THE RURAL VOICE
DARE TO
COMPARE
Farrowing Crate opens left to right.
Heavy duty round. steel tubing. No
sharp edges.
Fat Hog Feeders. Single & double.
Also available Weaner Deck &
Nursery Feeders.
Rotary &
Corner
Feeders.
Floor
Troughs.
Feed Carts
12 & 18
bushel carts
Available. 14
gauge sheet
steel mig
welded
For further information
contact
"The Complete Hog Confinement
Centre for your farming needs."
c'ln•con,
WHOM
la division of Steve's Welding)
R.R. #1 Newton, Ontario NOK 1 RO
\\`
519-595-8737
KEITH ROULSTON
Farmers help
everybody
but themselves
A remarkable indictment of the
"bigger is better" philosophy has
come to light in recent years in the
mess at Ontario Hydro and other big
utility companies across the conti-
nent.
For many years, the economy of
scale argument was held at Hydro
and indeed made sense. In the 1950s,
Hydro went to fewer and bigger gen-
erating stations and the price of elec-
tricity actually dropped. Hydro, tak-
ing a straight-line train of thought,
figured that if this trend could be con-
tinued, then electricity would keep
getting cheaper and more jobs would
be created. It promoted the use of
more and more electricity. But the
problem was that the cheaper elec-
tricity came from facilities which
were economically built and main-
tained. As electrical use increased,
more plants were needed and these
cost more to build and maintain.
The line of thought was actually
reinforced by the energy crisis of the
early '70s when Hydro was seen as a
replacement for expensive oil. But
finally somebody started looking with
fresh eyes at the huge utilities. They
saw that the cost of building new
plants was taking up most of the bor-
rowing of the entire provincial
government. When Ontario officials
went to New York to discuss the pro-
vincial credit rating, much of the
discussion was probably about On-
tario Hydro.
Today we have surplus capacity,
expensive surpluses. To get rid of the
problem we have closed the Douglas
Point plant which was supposed to be
economical and last for many years.
(Canadian utilities export to the U.S.
at rates cheaper than Canadian con-
sumers pay.)
This mess came about despite all of
the high-priced, well-educated experts
employed by government and the uti-
lities. Today, after a reassessment,
many utilities say that the economical
way to increase electricity production
is through more smaller plants,
whether hydro, wind, or solar, which