The Rural Voice, 1985-07, Page 30PAG
Your representative
Bob Van Den Neucker
519-482-9800
'� R.R. 4, Seaforth
�KB
QUALITY
SWINE
CO-OP
Quality Swine Co-op
Provides the Following Services:
— Station Tested Breeding Sales:
Thursday, July 4 at 7:30 p.m.
Breeding Stock Purchases & Sales
— Station Testing and Hometesting
Services
— Identification and Trucking
— Ultra Sonic Back Fat Measuring
— Ultra Sonic Pregnancy Checking
— Health, Nutrition, Facility
Management and Planning on
Request
— Sales of Swine Related Health
Products
QUALITY SWINE CO-OP
HEAD -QUARTERS
BOX 53, SHEDDEN, ONTARIO
519-764-2300
28 THE RURAL VOiCE
the requirement for chemical fer-
tilizers. Some chemicals kill many
bacteria, including some beneficial
ones. "When you kill a parasite, you
inherit its job," Smilie says.
Tillage
Tillage is equally important in an
organic system. People once talked
about "burying trash" in their fields.
Today, this task is known as incor-
porating residue, and has gained
much respect for its contribution to
soil structure.
Farmers have been trying to replace
tillage with sprays, says Joe Scrimger,
an organic farmer from Michigan.
But because some of these sprays con -
4 manure spreader is used to apply the compost materials to the soil. It is
not the best possible tool because it was actually created for another use, ac-
cording to farmer and consultant Joe Smilie. Because organic farming is
still fairly rare in the agricultural community, those using this practice must
wait for years to take advantage of relevant research and development in
machinery. They learn to make do by adjusting conventional farming
equipment.
A discussion of tillage in organic farming drew many of the visitors at Oak
Manor Farms into the field to see the equipment being used. Here the group
is told that an off -set plow, if used improperly, can become a compacting,
not a cutting tool. "There is also a difference between a good off -set plow
and a poor one," said Joe Scrimger, consultant and practising farmer.
Tillage, he added, is an important factor in organic farming. Just as a little
yeast makes bread and a little bacteria converts butter to milk, a little tillage
using the proper tools covers crops and composts and improves the tilth of
the soil. Scrimger said.