The Rural Voice, 1985-09, Page 51FARM NEWS
In. level areas, but a tall fence slows
her gait. Her opponent, Jim Batte,
runs for all he's worth.
Shortly after 7 a.m. (they started
early so the neighbours won't see the
race), the runners cross the finish
line. They had conquered the rugged
trail in little more than 15 minutes.
Jim, who had known that if he lost
the race he would also have to bake
three batches of bread, had poured
on the steam at the last. Yvonne made
the bread.
Yvonne, an 18 -year-old from Sar-
nia, is new to rural life. She is work-
ing as a Junior Agriculturalist on the
mixed farm of Jim and Marianne
Batte near Formosa. The whole fami-
ly, including the four children, Tony,
Heidi, Mandy, and Jonathan, enjoys
Yvonne's company.
Yvonne is involved in every aspect
of the farm. When the Battes took
her to see butchering done, she even
tried a hand at killing a pig. One of
the employees who had avoided the
chore of slaughtering thought that if
Yvonne could do it, so could he.
The Battes operate a cucumber
grading station for Bick's, and also
grow 7 1/2 acres of cucumbers
themselves. They contract out 625
tons annually and serve 36 local
growers. Yvonne has taken her turn
in the field, but more often helps at
the grading station. She has also
operated nearly every kind of farm
equipment at the Batte's farm. "We
wouldn't trust just anybody to do all
these things on our farm," Marianne
says, "but Yvonne has proven to be
very capable." When the Battes go on
a holiday this fall, Yvonne is coming
back to run the farm in their absence.
Yvonne bought a calf this summer
when she went to the Kitchener
stockyards with Jim. He chose the
calf and let her do the bidding. Her
pre -determined limit was $75 to $100.
She surprised both herself and Jim
when she won the auction with a $25
bid. She named the calf Bijou, (a
French word meaning precious).
The Battes also have an 18 -cow
cream operation and 75 pigs. When
asked about her least favourite job,
Yvonne wasted no time in saying,
"Cleaning the pens on Saturday mor-
ning."
Yvonne is one of 10 Junior
Agriculturalists in Bruce County who
completed the program this summer
(out of 12 who started) says Tammi
Horton, co-ordinator. Last year the
completion rate in Bruce was only 50
per cent. This year, the co-ordinators
were more selective in pairing host
families.
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SEP (EMBER 1985 49