The Rural Voice, 1993-05, Page 23"The shingles stood up
as good as the cement and
cost less," says Pallister.
The two loads of asphalt
shingles, plus the cost of
stripping top soil, 18
inches of gravel, and
pressure treated railing
cost $2,250.
Site numbcr three is a
low cost alternative. A
$50 septic tank second
sits on a five -foot -high
dirt mound, made up of
stone piles (gathered from
around the farm), covered
with four feet of black
topsoil, (stripped from all
other water sites) covered
with eight inches of hard
Bruce Pasture Manager Glen
Wells with a stream erosion
project.
certain points, but were still
fenced out of the water.
Farmers continued to
discuss improving gains by
improving the water supply.
In 1991 a 140 -foot well,
which produces 20 gallons of
water a minute, was drilled.
Ten thousand feet of two-inch
black piping was buried four
feet in the ground, to be below
the frost line. The line, with
the help of a two -horsepower,
220 -volt pump, takes water to
five water troughs.
The five 100' x 100' sites,
says Pallister, "are all different
and experimental."
One site consists of three
burial crypts set on cement
surround the water troughs to keep
cattle from getting pushed in."
Sites with concrete pads, says
Pallister, are good for high volume
operations.
There is also a solar watering
system. Solar -charged batteries
operate the pump which draws water
from the pond into two crypts on
concrete pads. "The solar unit
worked well despite the large amount
of cloudy weather during the summer
of 1992." The solar panel,
submersible pump, batteries and
installation cost $3,200.
At their annual open house,
Pallister says each site appeals to
somebody.
Bruce County community pasture
has an erosion control project. It was
started in 1989.
"It's an ongoing project," says
Glen Wells, "that will go on for
another 10 years."
There was erosion on the hillsides
and along the creek caused from the
cattle walking down into the creek
to drink. The cattle have been
fenced out of the creek and trees
were planted. "Where they've been
planted it's certainly made a
difference, and over time," he says,
"it will definitely solve the
problem."
Improvement and upkeep of the
Ontario llydro has supplied
103,000 trees for erosion control in
1991 and 1992 at the Bruce farm.
The trees help form a buffer.
A mid-level water crossing was
built at Bruce with the help of
Saugeen Valley Conservation
Authority.
pads. "Each crypt," says
Pallister, "cost $150 and holds
200 gallons of water."
The work of stripping the top soil,
laying 18 inches of gravel, laying the
cement and erecting head rails of
pressure treated lumber, was tendered
out to local companies and cost
$3,087.
A second similar site uses two
burial crypts but in place of the
cement pads, two loads of asphalt
shingle chips were spread with a
manure spreader. They were then
compressed with a tractor and later
by the cattle themselves.
yellow clay (from the
pond).
The cost of trucking
the dirt from the other
sites was $1,500, a cost
farmers would save doing
it themselves.
In spite of last year's
wet season, "the clay held
up," says Pallister.
A fourth site is an oval
trough six feet by seven
feet set on a concrete pad,
again with head rails.
"Pressure treated rails
MAY 1993 19