The Rural Voice, 1988-07, Page 12or
Vitt
COMPLETE LINE OF
ANIMAL FEED
— Hog
— Veal
— Dairy
— Beef
— Poultry
— Pet
treleaven's
feed mill ltd.
box 182, luCknow, ont. NOG 2H0
519.528.3000
1-800.265.3006
10 THE RURAL VOICE
FARMING ON CRUTCHES
If it is very painful for you to
criticize your friends, you're safe in
doing it. But if you take the slightest
pleasure in it, that's the time to hold
your tongue.
—Alice Duer Miller
Unlike the unknown inventor of
the wheel, the unknown inventor of
the crutch has never been paid fitting
tribute. Yet this anonymous person
has made it possible for not just the
crippled but also those who lack con-
fidence to move around in whatever
field they need to cover.
The crutch in the form of a wheel-
chair, for example, is used extensively
by those who can walk but find it
easier to move sitting.
This latest type of crutch is used
figuratively by many farmers. And
why not? Why should one get tired
when a crutch is available? It is easy
to avoid using muscle either in the
body or in the head, for example, by
using antibiotics in livestock feed —
growth promotants, we call them. The
purpose of, for instance, sulphameth-
azine, is to replace cleanliness or
ventilation or both with an antibiotic
crutch.
Why should we attempt, with
much mental effort, to establish a
minimal -disease herd when the same
goal can be achieved by simply adding
drugs to the feed? Farmers already
must work long hours to make ends
meet, and using sulpha, arsenicals,
DES, etc. makes for a nice ride in the
wheelchair of sloth. After all, scien-
tists and chemical companies, and
even the OPPMB, assure us that the
products are perfectly safe if used
properly.
The proper use is outlined on the
label on the feed bag. We read it two
years ago and remember perfectly
what the withdrawal time is. What is
it? Oh, two weeks. Or was it two
months ... maybe two days? Let me
look again at the label. Darn it, I left
my reading glasses in the house.
Anyway, it doesn't matter that much.
On the farm radio broadcast was the
reassuring news that sulpha is not
harmful to humans, and those tests by
the health freaks aren't related to the
reality of daily living, so if I withdraw
it two weeks before slaughter it should
be all right.
We should tell those American
border inspectors where they can get
off. Those people are rather ignorant
and should be educated by us.
There is no need to ban our
crutches. We know how and when to
use them. Look at herbicides and such
on our crops. I don't know how our
fathers ever managed to grow a decent
crop without them. So there is some
Atrazine and Alachlor in our water
table. No scientist has yet shown that
it's enough to cause health problems
for our families.
Why should we go to the bother
of crop rotation when we get beautiful
weed -free corn fields by putting two
pounds or, when badly infested, five
pounds of Atrazine on each acre?
We have done so for the past 25
years with good results. The average
Ontario corn yield went from 85
bushels per acre 25 years ago to 100
bushels per acre last year.
This crutch may cause some
erosion, but it has allowed us to take
it easy. No more scuffling. We just
use our ATV or mini -bike a couple of
times to see which weeds and insects
have escaped poisoning and we know
what chemical to apply next year. We
may add Bladex or Sutan or some
such to the Atrazine. No problem at
all. Let the doomsayers go home and
talk about things they understand and
leave me, as a farmer, my comfortable
crutch.0
Adrian Vos, from Huron County, has
contributed to The Rural Voice since
its inception in 1975.