The Rural Voice, 1998-06, Page 65surface water.
• Be more aggressive when looking
into antibiotic use on animals.
Despite the recommendation,
there is at least one partner in the
study who is still pointing fingers.
Joe Gleason, founder of Huron's
Edge, a group concerned about
pollution from large livestock
operations, said he offered to pay for
a laboratory' study to find out whether
bacteria lose some of their antibiotic
resistance once they enter the surface
water like lakes and streams.
He said if that were true,, it might
show livestock operations are in fact
the primary source of E. coli in the
lake.
However, he said SOLVE turned
his offer down.
Prout said that SOLVE may
eventually take him up on his offer,
but it didn't want to delay the release
of theresults past the press
conference.11.
Bruce County Junior
Farmers mark 50
years
The Bruce County Junior Farmers
will mark their 50th anniversary this
year with a reunion centered in the
Paisley area. The reunion will be held
July 17, 18 and 19.
A Friday night dance will be held
at the Palace on the Paisley
fairgrounds. Saturday will feature a
baseball game with the Junior
Farmers (any members past or
present) versus the CKNX Try-
Hards. Saturday evening will feature
a beef barbecue and dance at the
Paisley Arena. Music will be a live
band "Black Magic" as well as a D.J.
Tentative plans for Sunday include a
church service and a picnic -style
brunch at the Saugeen Bluffs
'Conservation Area. It is hoped that
many past Junior Farmers and their
families will come out to enjoy the
weekend events.
There were three Junior Farmer
Clubs in Bruce County: Port Elgin,
Teeswater and Ripley. The Port Elgin
Club has members from Tara to
Walkerton and most points in
between. To attract new members
News
this year the club has decided that
first year members will not have to
pay a membership fee for 1998.
Members do not need to have a rural
background to enjoy and benefit from
the Junior Farmer experience and
new faces are always welcome at our
meetings and events. To join you
must be between the ages of 15 to 29.
If you are interested in the
organization or are a new member
and want to know about upcoming
events, contact Jeff Schwass 389-
5260.0
New plant uses
Ontario hard maple
By Andrew Grindlay
A new busincss has sprung up in
Southwestern Ontario that is sure to
please farmers who have woodlots on
their property.
Tri -County Lumber Inc. has
opened a hardwood flooring plant in
the old Big -O factory near Hensall
from which some 3,000 board feet of
flooring is produced daily. Soon,
according to Jake Hovius of Tri -
County, a second shift will be added,
increasing daily output to 5,000
board feet per day. (One board foot is
the equivalent of a block of wood 1"
x 12" x 12".)
The plant buys all grades of logs
of hard maple, ash, red and white
oak, beech, hickory and some walnut
and has them sawn in one of three
local sawmills. The boards are then
made into flooring in the Hensall
plant and the flooring is shipped
across Canada and to the U.S.,
Europe and Asia.
"The best hard maple in the world
comes from Southwestern Ontario",
says Mr. Hovius, who said in an
interview that hard maple and white
ash are the main products of his mill.
More good news for farmers with
maple trees comes from Ottawa
whcre The Original Maple Bat Co. is
producing hard maple baseball bats
and meeting with some success in
getting them accepted for use in the
major leagues. According to Sam
Holman, president, a maple bat will
last longer than one made of ash and
will let a good hitter get greater
distance. His company needs a good
supply of hard maple sapwood 2 1/2'
thick from which he turns out the
bats on a lathe.
Although prices of hardwoods
have softened recently, because of the
Asian financial crisis; a spokesman
for the Pannill Veneer Co. in
Kitchener, while leading members of
the Huron/Perth chapter of the
Ontario Woodlot Owners on a tour of
his veneer mill, said that his
company has been paying as much as
S3500 per thousand board feet for top
grade veneer quality hard maple logs
delivered to the mill. "European
buyers", he said, "will accept, only
the very best quality veneer."0
Ontario Pork block
agreements achieve
U.S. equivalency
Ontario Pork has announced two
new block agreements with Quality
Meat Packers that mark a new level
in hog marketing for the pork
producers of the province.
The new agreements, effective
June 1, 1998, will deliver two lots of
5,000 hogs/week, each at 103.25 per
cent of the formula price. The pricing
agreements then increase to a new
level of 103.5 per cent on December
1, 1998. The hogs will be indexed on
the Ontario grid at the time of
delivery, with the processor paying
the freight based on the Harriston
rate. The agreements are in effect for
the duration of nine and 15 months
respectively.
"I am extremely pleased with the
outcome of the pricing negotiations
with Quality Meat Packers," stated
Julien R. Den Tandt, Chief Executive
Officer. "We have reached a key
marketing goal of raising the price to
a level that we believe is very close
to U.S. equivalency for the first time.
I applaud Quality Meat's willingness
to bring Ontario's price level to one
that is comparable to what we have
negotiated with other provinces.
Quality Meat Packers' long term
commitment will improve producers
access to world markets, while
continuing to build Ontario's viable
pork industry."
"These new contracts with Quality
JUNE 1998 61