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The Rural Voice, 2003-03, Page 10c • CABLE • ROPE • CHAIN from hl soukCE:' CABLE • Galvanized Cable 1/16' to 5/16' • Wire Rope 3/8' to 3/4' • Stainless Steel Cable 1/16" -1/4' • PVC Cable 1/8' • 3/16' Clear & White Coat ROPE • Polypropylene • 1/4' to 1/2' • Nylon 1/4', 1/2", 5/8", 1" • Hemp 1/2", 3/4', 7/8", 1" CHAIN Grade 30, 3/16" to 1/2" Custom-made*. LOGGING CHOKERS Wide range of thimbles, shackles, cable clamps, etc. Above are stock items Other sizes and grades available by order 519-524-9671 Fax: (519) 524-6962 53 Victoria S ,Godench, N7A 3H6 Suppliers of... *VANGUARD RENT IT SKIDSTEER LOADERS Various models - equipment options include: • backhoe • hydraulic breaker • 12" & 24" posthole digger • 9" wood chippers Hourly or Daily Rates Full line of construction equipment for sale or rent Dealer for STIHL Saws SAUGEEN RENTALS Durham 369-3082 A.C. SCHENK RENTALS Mt. Forest 323-3591 6 THE RURAL VOICE Keith Roulston The lost knowledge of the barnyard Sometimes I wonder if my children and grandchildren think I'm speaking a foreign language when I come out with an expression like "madder than a wet hen". I use phrases handed down to me by my parents, who in turn prohahly learned them from their parents — a long line of people with rural backgrounds. But my children have little farm connection and my grandchildren will have less. For that matter. how many of today's farm children would understand the origin of a metaphor like "pecking order". It you've ever kept chickens in a free- range situation you know exactly how the expression came about but how many people, especially modern farmers, keep loose hens anymore in these days of biosecurity. And few people know if a pig in mud is really happy either. Of course I never really experienced the situation that gave rise to the comparison "bleeding like a stuck pig" myself, since our family didn't do its own butchering except for chickens, yet I still know the expression. I wonder if I've passed it on to my own kids, however, and if they, as they move on to more urban settings, will carry the language of their forefathers with them. It's another small example of the influence of rural life fading in our increasingly urbanized society. Rural themes have been part of our country's culture for a long time but now a new urban culture dominates even in rural areas. Kids are more likely to dress and speak like the suburban kids they see portrayed on television than to respond to the realities of local life. This is most obvious in winter when you see teens dressed as closely as they can to California conditions, wearing summer jogging shoes instead of Our language has many rural roots boots, going bareheaded with open jackets through the blizzard. We bemoan the way urban people have misconceptions of farm life, especially when these people then try to foist their ideas of how farmers should be conducting their business on the real country people. Animal welfare is an area sure to make farmers burn as activists want animals to be able to express their natural tendencies. But most farmers don't really have much evidence with which to defend themselves. Let's face it, very few today know what the natural tendencies of their livestock are. As efficiency has increased, fewer and fewer animals are living anything like a natural lifestyle. Often, we've seen these natural tendencies as problems to be overcome. And some of them are. Sows, before the age of farrowing crates, were prone to kill their own pigs during the simple act of lying down. In crowded situations, chickens will peck at, even kill, each other. In my own little hobby operation, I know that if I want to collect eggs from my courtinix quail, I must keep them in slope -floored wire cages because they simply won't lay eggs in nests like chickens. I also know, however, that the birds are much calmer if they're kept in cages with litter floor where they can carry out their natural habit of scratching. There are compromises that must be made if we are going to have domesticated livestock. The problem is that as we focus on one thing — greater efficiency — we tend to ignore the realities of the animals' lives. Farmers constantly being squeezed by economic factors feel they have little option but to follow the trends. Except for the few rebels who chart their own course, people convince themselves animals really don't care. Like our rural language, we're losing the knowledge of the basics on which our rural lifestyle is built — the information that once was easily available in any barnyard.0 Keith Roulston is editor and publisher of The Rural Voice. He lives near Blyth, ON.