The Rural Voice, 2005-05, Page 3About this issue
Making milk better?
For decades milk has been advertised as nature's most
nearly -perfect food. Some in the industry think near -
perfection can be improved upon and so now a number of
products are boasting the benefits of Omega-3 fatty acids, a
fat we just don't get enough of in our diets.
Consumers today can buy Omega-3 milk, cheese and ice
cream, all at premium prices. The benefits of Omega-3,
most available to humans through eating fish, are available
because of special feed supplements fed to dairy cattle. The
supplements contain fish meal but must be constructed in
such a way that the meal is not digested in the cow's
rumen. We have a story on this new niche in marketing.
Niches like Omega-3 milk products would not be
possible without the pioneering work done by Dairy
Farmers of Ontario with organic milk producers to work
out a way of isolating specialty milk from the milk pool.
Organic production continues to thrive but producers have
different goals than regular milk producers. Jeffrey Carter
attended this year's organic conference in Guelph and has a
story.
For the most part, field crops in this part of Ontario are
pretty standard: corn, soybeans, winter and spring wheat,
barley, sometimes oats. Every once in a while someone
looks for something different. Jim Brown tells of Ross
Hemingway, a Huron County farmer who's been growing
triticale for almost 25 years and finds it a high protein feed
for his stock. Protein m winter triticale is 15 to 16 per cent
and the percentage of protein in spring triticale is 17 to 18.
It's the time of the year when people are busy planting
gardens. While many people choose the latest hybrid, some
gardeners like to grow heirloom vegetables, helping
preserve the gene pool of long -proven varieties. Helping
them in their mission is Kim Yuzwa, who operates Circle
Dance Seeds, a mail order seed company near Brussels.
Bonnie Gropp spoke with her and learned more about the
business.
In gardening this month, Rhea Hamilton Seeger
explores the many varieties of hostas and how to grow
them. Bonnie Gropp's recipes feature that old spring
standby: rhubarb. Patti Robertson shows ways to use
ordinary household products like vinegar and toothpaste to
help with your spring cleaning.
In our People section, Larry Skinner has been returned
for a third term as chair of Ontario Pork. When you think
of the number of provincial and national farm leaders who
come from midwestern Ontario it's truly amazing.0
Update
Northern Huron municipal
wells to be studied for
vulnerbilitg
No subject has received as much attention in this magazine
in the last year as water because, through government
initiatives, it keeps thrusting itself to the fore.
In Huron County, wells supplying the water systems of
Blyth, Brussels and Wingham will be the subject of a pilot
study on the vulnerability of municipal water supplies.
The $15,000 study, funded by the Ministry of
Environment's Source Water Protection Branch will be
conducted by the county's planning and development
department. According to Scott Tousaw, director of planning
and development for the county, the three communities were
chosen because they will continue to depend on groundwater
for their water needs and the wells in question are located in
shallow bedrock.
Study results are expected in July or August.0
'Rural Voice
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Editor & Publisher: Keith Roulston
Editorial advisory committee:
Bev Hill, farmer, Huron Cty;
Diane O'Shea, farmer, Middlesex Cty.;
Gerald Poechman, farmer, Bruce Cty.
Contributing writers:
Bonnie Gropp, Carol Riemer, Ralph
Pearce, Bob Reid, Mervyn Erb, Sandra
Orr, Janice Becker, Larry Drew
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Gerry Fortune
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Allen Hughes
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