The Rural Voice, 2004-04, Page 76HURON
Box 429, Clinton, Ontario NOM 1L0
519-482-9642 or 1-800-511-1135 Website: www.hcfa.on.ca Email: huron@ofa.on.ca
CountyFederation ofAgriculture NEWSLETTER'The MembersRin
Huron
is County
hto all OFA
9 in Huron County by the HCFA.
Former HCFA president writes home
My family and I moved March 10,
2003 from RR 1, Dublin to Earlton,
Ontario. The physical move went off
without a hitch. It was very cold that
day both in Huron and at our
destination, Temiskaming, which is
400 miles from Seaforth.
Temperature was -21 that day. The
move was made smooth by friends
and family at both ends.
I have been asked what I miss
most about Huron? I miss the great
farmers that I worked with while on
the local Federation of Agriculture,
and, of course, close neighbours and
friends. Carol Anne and the boys
miss their circles of people, but we
have now had a chance to develop,
and are enjoying, new circles of
friends and associates. We also miss
the awful lake -effect snow storms
that Huron has. The only reason our
kids miss school is if the temperature
is -40 degrees celsius or more and the
buses won't start.
Our dairy barn facility is set up as
a 60 -cow tie stall barn with a 20x50 -
foot Harvestore and a 22x80 -foot slab
silo. The previous owners put high
moisture barley in the Harvestore and
and haylage goes in the slab silo. A
40x70 steel shed and a two-storey red
brick house make up the one side of
the road along with 150 tile -drained
acres. Across the road is our heifer
facility. It has a capacity of 72 -head
with a 20x55 -foot slab silo for
haylage along with a 30 -acre pasture
area and a 20 -acre tile -drained alfalfa
field and numerous smaller sheds and
hay storage capacity. We are
currently not at capacity — the move
was for the future. Also the price of
quota is out of reach at this time.
Brian, our oldest son, attends New
Liskeard High School with about
1,100 students with shops like
welding, automotive and
manufacturing. Brian is sixteen and a
half in Grade 11 with his G1. He
keeps busy with snowmobiling, four -
wheeling and has the odd girlfriend.
Chris is going to Englehart High
School which reminds me of Seaforth
72 THE RURAL VOICE
high school. He loves playing school
volleyball and basketball. He has a
neighbour girlfriend. Both Brian and
Chris work hard on the farm. Alex
and Danny both attend Englehart
Public School, Alex in Grade 4 and
Danny in Grade 2. Both boys are
doing well in school. Alex and Danny
each have a calf or two of their own.
Being 20 minutes from the Quebec
border the community has many
bilingual people which is good in
some ways, not so good in others.
Ninety-nine per cent who speak
French also know some English.
The dairy industry here is quite
unique. Our milk trucks here travel
from Kapuskasing to north of
Manitoulin Island at Massey and all
farms in between. They go to
Thunder Bay every few days which is
13-15 hours from me at Earlton.
Massey is three and a half hours
southwest of me. A lot of milk goes
into Quebec to Parmalat. Right in my
area there are 75 milk producers, two
main vets, and Gencor is very active
here. Artificial breeding companies
are here only in a semen -tank -filling
capacity.
Basically winter lasts two weeks
longer here in the spring and comes
two weeks earlier in the fall. Some
nights the temperatures drop to -40.
This past January was very cold. Silo
unloader and conveyers work, but it
is very hard on them.
Our farm has lots of alfalfa with
the alternate crop being small grains.
Barley and oats grow exceptionally
well here. Other crops grown in
Temiskaming are canola, mustard,
corn silage, a few fields of hemp,
soybeans and grain corn. Our area
usually sees 2100-2200 heat units.
Our landscape is flat with lots of
WINNERS!
$50 Grocery Voucher winners from Western
Fair Farm Show courtesy of Huron
Federation fo Agriculture were: Scott
Rintoul, RR 1, Dungannon; Jessie Leeming,
RR 4, Seaforth; Bill Kuran, Goderich;
Andrea Hern, RR 1, Exeter.°
variation in soil types and in some
places, lots of rocks, in others none.
The valley here designed for
agriculture is 15 miles wide and 45
miles long. Livestock consists of lots
of dairy cows, beef cattle, many
sheep, small number of pig barns, and
some horse farms. Wildlife consists
of black bears, timber wolves, foxes,
moose and deer. These animals are
found in wooded areas in some of the
marginal land. Weeds are many of
what Huron might have along with a
few territorial northern weeds that do
well in some of the marginal land or
pastures.
The local Federation of
Agriculture has worked hard to keep
PCBs out and lately they have fought
hard against the Adams Mine project.
I became a director in October and
look forward to this. It won't be easy.
Eleven of us sit around the table with
a part-time MSR.
Carol Anne enjoys keeping
records on the cattle, spending time
skating with the younger boys. She
plays slowpitch and still enjoys
making blankets, aprons, etc. out of
farm -related materials. We have
enjoyed the move and the challenges
it has brought and the opportunity to
expand and perhaps keep a window
open to farm in the future. We would
welcome any visitors anytime. Give
us a call 1-705-563-8208.0
— Charles Regele
Huron County Federation of Agriculture
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