The Rural Voice, 1989-05, Page 74RAINY R1VER
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.
Spring has come slowly to the Rainy
River District in 1989. Cold weather
played havoc with the 10th annual
Rainy River Bull Test Sale. Although a
large crowd attended on April 8, high
wind, snow flurries, and freezing tem-
peratures emptied the stands long before
the sale concluded.
Only 11 of the 33 bulls offered were
sold. It was another disappointing day
for cattle producers in the District.
There does not appear to be enough
optimism for cow -calf producers to bid
high prices, even for the top quality bulls
offered at the sale.
On April 5, former District agricul-
tural representative Geoff Young was a
highlight of the Seed Fair. A crowd of
more than 50 jammed the Barwick Hall
meeting room to hear Geoff's excellent
presentation on improving pasture
management for better beef gains.
Geoff's lively talk brought back
fond memories. Geoff is now the agri-
cultural representative in Renfrew
County, but still affectionately remem-
bers our District.
Also on the program, Jerry Cormi-
can, a hay buyer from Wisconsin, in-
formed producers that there is a good
market for top quality hay in the U.S.
Jerry Krohn, a seed grower from
Williams, Minnesota, explained how he
successfully combines seed production
with a cow -calf herd.
Directors from the Soil and Crop and
the Seed Growers associations had
combined to organize this year's Seed
Fair. Because of the dry year in 1988,
there were many top quality hay bales
vying for the prize ribbons. The direc-
tors thank all area businesses that sup-
ported the organizing committee.
The Rainy River District Cattle-
men's Association is engaged in a series
of meetings to determine the future of
the Stratton Sales Yard. Several of the
directors want to throw in the towel and
rent the sales yard to a private individual
from Manitoba.
Others are determined to keep con-
trol of the yard started by their predeces-
sors more than 30 years ago. These
determined directors are bringing in
advisors from OLEX, the Toronto and
Winnipeg stock yards, and the Ashern
72 THE RURAL VOICE
Co-operative Sales Yard in Manitoba.
They hope to devise a system to cut
high operating costs, but mainly to at-
tract competitive buyers to the Stratton
Sale. Low cattle numbers will probably
eliminate further satellite sales.
President Doug Carlson has a diffi-
cult position trying to arbitrate between
these two factions. Many District farm-
ers think the directors were not given a
mandate to quash the Stratton Sale, and
should hold a general meeting before
reaching a final decision.
The Rainy River District Federation
of Agriculture held its annual spring
dinner and dance on Saturday, April 15
at the Emo arena. A small crowd of
fewer than 100 attended. Many cattle-
men had travelled to the Douglas Bull
Sale in Manitoba, and there were several
other events held that same evening.
However, all those who did attend
enjoyed the delicious meal prepared by
Marg Irvine and her associates, which
was followed by an evening of dancing.
Ken McKinnon made a presentation
about the progress made by his border
crossing committee. It was disclosed
that the border crossing issue has been
going on and off since 1971. Ken says
his committee, organized in 1986, suc-
ceeded because of its co-operation with
all District livestock groups.
Everyone was urged to keep work-
ing because of the need for a permanent
port of entry into the U.S. market if the
Rainy River District is to be competitive
in beef production.
MLA Howard Hampton spoke about
several agricultural issues concerning
the District. He thinks District cream
producers are being ignored by the pro-
vincial government, but so far there is no
relief in sight.
Howard has been defending the pric-
ing practices of the Ontario Milk Mar-
keting Board. Some retailers in the
District think there should be more
competition among wholesalers. Some
District businesses are hard-pressed by
the competition across the U.S. border.
The RRFA held its monthly direc-
tors' meeting on April 3. Attending
were president George Hyatt, treasurer
Lisa Teeple, and directors Kristine Car-
penter, Linda Armstrong, Ralph Hun-
sperger, Jim Belluz, Bill McLean, Bob
Locking, Les Hoskins, and Dean
Hodgson. Director Debbie Zimmerman
acted as secretary for the meeting. Visi-
tors were Bill Irvine and Kim Cornell.
Bill Irvine, the District representa-
tive for the Farm Safety Association,
requested the assistance of the RRFA. A
long-time RRFA member, Bill has been
organizing St. John Ambulance courses
for rural residents for years. This spring
the First Aid Course has been cancelled
as the Workmen's Compensation Board
will no longer provide financial support.
A committee of Bill Irvine, Ralph
Hunsperger, and Dean Hodgson will
draft a letter of complaint to Dr. Elgie of
the WCB. A letter to Brigid Pyke will
ask for the assistance of the OFA.
Kim Cornell informed the directors
that the District may be losing its top
rural supporter. Darene Yavorsky,
Town and Country editor, may be leav-
ing the Fort Frances Times. A commit-
tee representing all District commodity
groups was formed to write letters urg-
ing the Times to spare no effort to keep
Darene on staff. If this fails, the com-
mittee will meet to plan further strategy,
as everyone feels Darene has had a tre-
mendous impact on the District.
Apparently, farmers in the west end
of the District will be losing their bank-
ing services in the town of Rainy River.
Although the CIBC will continue to
provide daily banking services for resi-
dents, the loan manager has been trans-
ferred to Fort Frances.
This means that some farmers will be
faced with a round trip of more than 100
miles to discuss farm financing with
their manager. Most directors thought
that if they do drive all the way to Fort
Frances, they will give their business to
another bank. Perhaps farmers will turn
to the Rainy River Credit Union.
Directors approved a request by
Kristine Carpenter to hire a carpenter to
repair Farm Progress building props.
Linda Armstrong asked directors to
choose the date for the October annual
meeting quickly, as there are only two
openings left at the Emo arena.
The next directors' meeting is Mon-
day, May 1 at the OMAF office in Emo.O
Dean Hodgson
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