The Rural Voice, 1985-07, Page 12PROFILE
Grey County Federation
President, Don Hill
Hill is optimistic that the attitude of farmers will change, pessimistic about the
Cattlemen's Association, and proud of how the Grey Federation of Agriculture has
handled the hydro corridor issue.
If the price of food were to in
crease the way car prices have
increased over the years, farmers
would be enjoying a far better stan-
dard of living. Don Hill, president of
the Grey County Federation of
Agriculture and an Owen Sound
farmer, believes that today's main
farming issue is price for product.
Two township federations also drew
the same conclusion in briefs which
they presented to the Grey federation
recently. "People are used to cheap
food and complain when the price of
food goes up, but not when car prices
increase," Hill says.
Many farmers have been willing to
accept low commodity prices for a
long time, but Hill is optimistic that
this attitude will change. "More peo-
ple today in agriculture have worked
in full-time or part-time jobs off the
farm and have suddenly come up with
a situation that others have known
for a long time. They're more willing
to fight for a decent wage."
Hill is one such farmer. His job as
a soil and crop specialist with OMAF
from 1962 until 1974 left him with a
steady income. Since purchasing and
farming his father's farm in 1974, he
by Mary Lou Weiser
finds less time to spend with his wife,
Ruth, and two young daughters,
Marilee and Cynthia. Ruth adds:
"We spent the first five years on the
farm building up equity, and we've
spent the past five years burning it
up.
Ruth, a nursery school director and
family homecare worker with the
YW, YMCA in Owen Sound, notices
the change the most. "The time we
spend together has really lessened.
Our social activities have been curtail-
ed. We have to plan our whole life
around the weather, this crop, that
cow."
Farmers should be rewarded for
their hard work, and not have to
work for next to nothing, Hill says.
"We're selling our product at a world
price and we're paying a higher, made
in Canada price for our input costs.
There's more grain per acre in the
U.S.A. with less production costs and
a better climate."
When Hill purchased the 100 -acre
farm that he grew up on, he and Ruth
decided that they preferred not to live
by the busy highway, and traded liv-
ing accommodations with his father
who owned a more secluded 100 -acre
farm three miles away. Hill owns and
co
atm
rents a total of 400 acres with about
255 acres workable, about half of
which he plows on a regular basis.
He had intended to have a 100 -sow
farrow -to -finish operation with just
enough cows to pasture the rough
ground, but it hasn't turned out that
way. He has had as many as 50 sows
and the same number of
Hereford/Shorthorn cross cows, but
he has cut back. "I used to finish cat-
tle until it got to the point that I could
make more money putting grain
through pigs than I could finishing
cattle. When that happened, I started
selling them as short -keep steers."
Hill was considering selling his cow
herd and keeping his sows prior to the
recent drop in the price of market
hogs. His beef cows just aren't giving
him the return for his investment that
he would like. "If beef cattle are only
barely breaking even, you might just
as well do without them rather than
donating your time," he says. "The
first farmer who decides to work for
nothing, he becomes your competi-
tion."
While he had hoped that something
positive would come out of the beef
commissioners' study, Hill doesn't
foresee any help for the beef industry
in the near future. He is also
10 THE RURAL VOICE
•