The Rural Voice, 2000-03, Page 3i
R.V
•
Editor: Keith Roulston
editorial advisory committee:
Bev Hill, farmer, Huron County
John Heard, soils and crop extension
and research, northwestern Ontario
Diane O'Shea, farmer, Middlesex Cty.
George Penfold, associate professor,
University of Guelph
Gerald Poechman, farmer, Bruce Cty.
contributing writers:
Gisele Ireland, Lisa Boonstoppel-
Pot, Bonnie Gropp, Ralph Pearce
Bob Reid, Mervyn Erb, Sandra
Orr, Carl L. Bedal, Janice Becker,
Andrew Grindlay, Sarah Caldwell
marketing & advertising sales manager:
Gerry Fortune
advertising representative:
Merle Gunby
production co-ordinator:
Joan Caldwell
advertising & editorial production:
Dianne Josling
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Telephone: 519-523-4311 (fax 523-9140).
e-mail: norhuron@scsinternet.com
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Behind the Scenes
Of farm safety and the future of pork
Spring planting is coming and
with it, no doubt, a new round of
injury and death will strike the farm.
Farm safety never takes a holiday
(already this year there have been
tragic deaths and injuries) but the
busy times of planting and harvest are
particularly dangerous.
This year there's a new program
that could help save a life on your
family. The Agricultural Safety Audit
Program helps you go over your farm
and identify some of the possible
dangers, both to those working on the
farm and family members and
visitors. Working with Bruce County
Farmer Jim Gowland we explore the
new program in this month's issue.
Change is happening so quickly in
so many areas of life these days that
it's hard to keep up, let alone have
some sort of vision of what things
will be like five years from now. So
organizers of the Centralia Swine
Research Update held at Kirkton in
February were being brave when they
put together a group of speakers to
try to give pork producers an idea of
where their industry is heading in the
next five years. The speakers dealt
with everything from consumer
trends both at home and world wide,
to the environment, marketing and
biotechnology. We have a summary
of their vision.
March is maple syrup time, the
first harvest of the season. While
Ontario produces a lot of maple
syrup, we've barely touched the
potential. This month we find out
what would be involved for
landowners to get into making maple
syrup.
While we're in the bush, Andrew
Grindlay provides one of his periodic
woodlot columns this month. He
discusses starting a millennium
project by planting trees.
Both the Huron and Perth pork
producers' associations held their
annual meeting recently, including
giving out awards to top producers
and those who promote pork. We
have stories of the award on the
People page, and stories of the
meetings in the news section.
In her recipes, Bonnie Gropp
discovers some new ways to serve the
old favourite, potatoes. Patti
Robertson gives more tips on
decorating a temporary home in her
decorating column.°
Update
A success story
Back in February 1996 when we did our first feature on a greenhouse barn, the
dry cow shelter built by Herman and Joanna Ramaker near Clinton, there was
still a lot of skepticism about the idea. By last April when we featured the new
barn of Steve Dolson and Dr. Karen Galbraith of Atwood, there was more
acceptance, though they were the first in the area to put their whole operation,
including milking parlour, into a canvass -covered barn. Speaking recently at a
dairy conference in Hanover, Dolson told other dairy producers just how well his
cattle have adapted to their new surroundings.
The couple's cattle, which had been in a merged herd, came home to the new
barn on January 29, 1999. In the merged herd situation, the cows had been
averaging 27 kg per day. The cattle took to the new barn immediately, the couple
told The Rural Voice in March a year ago. All that spring production continued to
increase from the cows. They obviously liked the environment, Steve told the
Hanover meeting.
By July they made the decision to go to three -times -a -day milking. Production
increased again. By January 2000 they were averaging 37 kg per cow per day at
186 days in milk — 10,720 kg at 3.9 per cent fat and 3.3 per cent protein.
The one bad part? They had to buy more quota at today's inflated prices.
The couple now has 70 registered holstein cows and 67 registered heifers in
their 62 by 160 foot structure which features 70 free stalls and 12 tie stalls for
cows needing special attention.°