The Rural Voice, 1988-07, Page 73RAINY RIVER
Federation of Agriculture NEWSLETTER
Box 416, Emo, Ontario POW 1 E0
807-482-2051
' The Rural Voice is provided to Rainy River
Federation members by the RRFA.
Some severe thunderstorms, while
causing some property damage in iso-
lated areas of the Rainy River District in
June, brought temporary relief from the
spring drought.
The extremely dry weather through
April and May has cut the expected hay
crop by about 50 per cent. Most District
farmers purchased hay insurance this
spring, but where they will buy hay will
be the question.
The pastures never did get off to a
start this year and so fall feeding will
probably begin early, causing even
more pressure on the hay reserves.
The drought is even worse in the
west, where farmers are selling cattle
and trucking cows north for pasture.
Grain crops in the District are pro-
gressing slowly, some better than others
because of early seeding or perhaps
some lucky showers.
HEREFORD ASSOCIATION
On June 11, the Rainy River Here-
ford Association held its annual field
day at the Archie Wiersema farm in
Atwood Township. Margie Gemmell
reports that about 100 people attended,
including several from Manitoba.
The District Charolais Association
held its annual beef barbecue June 18.
CATTLEMEN'S ASSOCIATION
The District Cattlemen's Associa-
tion held a directors' meeting at the
Stratton Sales Yard on Tuesday, June 7.
Keith Neilson and the Building
Committee organized a work bee for
June 10. Russell Richards donated his
tractor and loader for post removal dur-
ing these renovations.
The Hay Committee of B. Hartry, R.
Richards, and K. Neilson will tender for
50 tons of square baled hay to be deliv-
ered to the sales barn.
The RRCA decided to spend $600 to
purchase a freeze branding kit to be
available for use by District producers.
Red meat advisor Gary Sliworski is
organizing a demonstration date to be
announced later.
No decision was made regarding the
position of sales manager for 1988.
A motion was passed authorizing
Andy Carpenter to complete the electri-
cal work required at the yard before the
next sale.
72 THE RURAL VOICE
SOIL AND CROP ASSOCIATION
The Rainy River District Soil and
Crop Improvement Association held a
crop tour in the east end of the District on
June 11. Because more dairy farmers
had started haying and perhaps many
others attended the Hereford show in
Atwood, only 17 people participated.
The small group saw a tremendous
alfalfa stand at the Nussbaumer farm,
some trefoil seeding at the Schmutz
farm, and a hay stand seeded with the
Brillion seeder at the Zimmerman farm.
At the John Ploegman farm we saw
the results of foliage fertilizer applica-
tions on alfalfa. John Ploegman is ex-
ceptionally pleased with the results,
especially in this extremely dry year.
The tour concluded at the Frank
Szeders farm north of Emo. The Szed-
ers family explained their experiences
in establishing their ginseng plots three
years ago and now, with trial and error,
they are expanding with more plots.
FEDERATION OF AGRICULTURE
On June 6, the Rainy River District
Federation of Agriculture held its regu-
lar directors' meeting at the OMAF
office in Emo. George Hyatt, Norman
Cain, treasurer Lisa Teeple, Linda
Armstrong, Ralph Hunsperger, Bob
Locking, Rudy Sinninghe, and Dean
Hodgson attended.
Linda Armstrong presented the fi-
nancial statement from the spring dinner
and dance, which showed a net balance
of $219.
There was a long discussion con-
cerning a guest speaker at the annual fall
meeting. Most felt that because of all the
festivities and election of officers, the
guest speaker was not accorded suffi-
cient attention. It was finally decided to
invite Brigid Pyke to speak at a special
meeting during Farmer's Week, where
she could have more personal contact
with District members.
Lisa Teeple presented the results of
the survey taken at the spring dinner and
dance: 55 of the 125 questionnaires
were returned to the committee. The
results are shown below. With more
input such as this from the members, the
directors could establish more definite
goals. Lisa and her committee have
drafted another questionnaire to be used
by the membership committee.
Bob Radboume of Emo will be at-
tending an Agri -North advisory meet-
ing in Sudbury and asked the RRFA for
ideas concerning the future of the pro-
gram. Most of the directors present felt
that Agri -North, which ends in 1988,
has been a good program. Perhaps the
land clearing was overdone and should
have been more closely regulated.
RRFA directors felt there was a need
for a grant on water wells in the District.
All livestock producers need a reliable
supply of water. Agri -North should
continue all the marketing incentives in
the program as well as the 20 per cent
grant on tile drainage. Because of the
high cost of tile drainage, most District
farmers rely on surface drainage.
There should be some assistance
toward constructing outlet drains on
private property rather than just the
grass waterways to control erosion
through OSCEPAP II. Often surface
drains could improve the farm but the
only assistance for an outlet ditch is
through the Drainage Act. The high cost
of petition drains and the bad feelings
involved discourage most farmers. But
even in this dry year drainage is still the
major obstacle to successful farming.
District membership is falling.
Several more key farmers have failed to
renew their membership in 1988.
What is the future of farm organiza-
tions (and farmers) if the members do
not willingly support the directors they
have chosen?0 Dean Hodgson
Are you aware of past accomplishments
of the RRFA?
Are you familiar with the goals of the RRFA?
Do you feel the RRFA effectively deals with
concerns of the members?
Should the RRFA be more community -oriented?
Do you know your zone director?
Do you know who is OFA president?
YES
75%
57%
66%
74%
70%
77%
NO UNDECIDED
22% 3%
36% 7%
17%
13%
21%
17%
17%
13%
9%
6%