The Goderich Signal-Star, 1987-03-18, Page 34Page 16
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1153 7th Ave., Honover
364-1010
wells: ARDA manager for 15 years
• trom page 15
on grass versus legumes concluded grass
pasture and nitrogen can produce more beef
per acre than legumes:
Welts says testing of new and different
products will continue and this year the
farm will be testing a new wormer product
called Parateck. This is a slow-release
about 90 days long-acting wormer and
will. be tested on about 175 cattle. The new
product is designed to clean up and remove
worms for long-standing pastures. Results
will be available to individual farmers in the
fall. .
CATTLE CHECKED
COWBOY STYLE
This will be the 15th year for Wells as
manager of the pasture farm. Parker has
been there for 12 years. -
P'rom May until October, every -day, the
two men check all the cattle, which can take
up to six hours. They' do it the traditional
way -on horseback.
• —We both like cattle, horses' and the out-
doors," says Wells. "It's a way of life we
enjoy.'
Although part-time help may be hired for
extra work, most of the time it is just the two
men who undertake 'all farm operations.
Their job includes maintaining the over 25
miles of fence on the acreage.
At the beginning of the season a crew
comes in to help with the branding and they
return to help round up the cattle in October.
It usually takes about five men on
horseback to pen and sort the cattle.
'These are men who- know •what they're
doing and enjoy it." Wells says Howard
Crow of Wiarton, who worked on the farm
for the first seven year Wells was,there, is
now in his 70s and still comes down for
roundup. "He's a natural cowboy and he
loves it." -
Individual cattlemen don't oftertsivisit the
farm during the summer months, but last
year farmers were invited to spend a.day at
the farm and Wells says over 150 people
showed up including Jack Riddell, minister
of agriculture.
"This will probably become a yearly
event so that farmers can view the products
and demonstration plots and can offer sug-
gestions on running the community
pasture," he says.
The pasture was originally developed
under the guidance of the late George Gear,
agricultural representative, who worked in
with a group of local farmers to start up the
community based farrn.
The land had been owned by_ -Some elderly -
farmers who couldn't afford the machinery
or the manpower to put the. land into good
enough condition to make it profitable, so it .
was sold to ARDA, the jointly operated
federal and provincial organization.
Ronald Slade was the one who looked after
the actual purchasing and he is still involved
as secretary of fhe pasture farm.
• The project's - success over the • years. is
evident in the fact that each year there are
repeat customers as well as new ones. -
Canola: an alternativecrop
While canola may not been an attractive
alterNtige crop -commodity for farms this
year bL duse of falling prices, one com-
modity broker feels the crop will make a
return to stability.
Wes Thompson Jr. of the .W.G. Thomp-
son Brokerage in Bleinheim says that
although the market for canola is not there.'
this year as it has been in the last two
years, there are many indicators which
favor canola as a viable crop for Ontario.'
' `it's been very good in the past and I feel
it'll be good in the future: This past year
and this coming year don't look that rosy,
but there are going to be years in the
future where it's going to make a lot of
sense and going to be very atractive," said
M r. T h o m p s on.
Mr. Thompson was dne of three -.guest
speakers at a -canola seminar at W.G.
Thompsons at Port Albert on February 12.
He said' there was anumber - of pre-
requisites for being a well-established,
viable crop in Ontario. A dependable
market for the canola crop with two large
processing plants in Hamilton and
Midland committed to buying a local supp-
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ly of canola for the oil and meal.
"It's out there. There's a dependable.
market for it," he said.
In addition, he sited there is technical
support for the canola crops from -the
University of Guelph as- they have corn-
mited themselves to establishing canola in
Ontario. A lot of research has been done by
the university in terms of varieties and
production techniques for Ontario.- Also,
OMAF has made a considerable commit-
ment of time and energy in spreading the
word of production techniques. -
As fa as services- for canola, 'Mr:
Thompson said the elevators are -definitely
committed to handling the. canola as . it
represents an alternative crop in the
elevators' off season.
"We like the idea of canola as it spreads
the workload throughout the year in that
canola comes off at a different time of the
year and we can handle that -in an elevator
that might otherwise be idle.
"We're anxious to promote canola. We
think that if there's anyway it can work,
'we want it to make sure' that it does." he
said.
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