The Rural Voice, 2006-03, Page 51Janice
Becker is a
computer
enthusiast
and
journalist
living near
Walton, ON.
Most of us, at one time or another,
has probably gone house hunting, but
have you ever started your search on
the internet? Have you experienced
the benefits of on-line videos that
offer a better understanding of the
property and location?
Well, the Ontario Farm Animal
Council has taken this technology,
with its educational possibilities, and
incorporated it into its website at
www.ofac.org.
The new Virtual Farm Tours
allows visitors to the site to view
actual experiences of farm life, an
opportunity rarely presented to urban
dwellers, even if they are from small
town Ontario.
Upon entering the site, you are
offered a tour of a beef or cow/calf
farm, deer or elk operation or a sheep
farm. I started with the sheep option.
By following the on-screen
instructions, I searched the aerial
view of a sheep farm, looking for the
"?", which would lead me to more
information. After viewing a 360 -
degree video of the inside of a sheep
barn, there were more questions
marks on which to click for material
specific to different aspects of a
sheep operation, such as shearing,
marking and lambing. A double click
on the mark (wait until it is
highlighted in red) brought up a brief
synopsis of the task and a video
would then show the farmer actually
undertaking the chore. This would be
a great activity for elementary
school -aged children, both because of
its educational value and the fun
component.
Unfortunately, being still•limited
by dial-up service, I found there was
some wait time for the tours to
download, but it was not excessive
and the download bar at least let me
know how far I had to go.
AgriTech
Viewing farming on-line
While OFAC states in their press
release that they "believe these
(tours) are the first of their kind in
Canadian agriculture" — and they
just may well be the only interactive
one — there are a multitude of virtual
farm tours available on-line. With a
simple Google search, I came up with
more than a few options.
The first one I checked out was a
4H site from Virginia, supported by
the cattle, horse and dairy industries
in that state. Found through the
Virginia State University site at
www.ext.vt.edu, the virtual tour can
be located by clicking on education
programs and resources, then the 4H
logo. A list of options is then
displayed. I found the videos on this
site much easier to run as they used
QuickTime. Though not true videos,
but rather a series of photos with an
audio overlay, they were informative
and could be very useful, particularly
for students. The farming options
from which to choose were horse
beef, dairy, poultry, wheat and
aquaculture.
A site with a Canadian base is
located through the Organic
Agriculture Centre of Canada
(OACC) at www.o?ganicagcentre.ca.
There are almost two dozen farms
listed, with nine of the 10 provinces
represented. Though purported to be
a tour, there is no video, but simply a
page with a description of the
operation, a few pictures and a link to
the farm's home site. It is also
unfortunate that some of the
information has not been updated
since 2003. I did get a surprise when
I clicked on one of the Ontario
offerings. It turned out to be a farm I
have visited a time or twp. It is
owned by Tony and Fran McQuail of
Huron County. You never know who
you might find when you go visiting
on-line.
So take some time to tour other
farms even if the weather is blustery
outside.Contact me at
jlbecker@wightman.ca or through
The Rural Voice office.0
MARCH 2006 47
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