The Goderich Signal-Star, 1979-02-15, Page 29\ ya
At
Brussels
farmer owns
top boar
Wm. J. Turnbull,
Brussels had the highest
indexing Yorkshire boar
in the group which
recently completed test
at the Ontario R.O.P.
Test Station, New
Hamburg. This top in-
dexing Yorkshire Test
Station graduate had an
index of 142 which
combined very low back -
fat thickness of 10.7 mm
(.42"), average daily
gain on test of ,87 Kg (1.88
pounds) per day and feed
conversion of 2.5.
Top indexing boars in
the entire group of 104
boars was a Duroc from
the herd of Andy.
Schertzer, Tecumseh
with an index of 150 and a
pair of littermate Lan-
drace boars from George
and Barbara Taylor.
Princeton with indexes of
149 and 143.
Also among the top
eight boars was a
Hampshire fi•o
m Dan
Lester, Forest, another
Yorkshire from Wm.
Turnbull, another Duroc
from Andy Schertzer and
a Yorkshire from Ray
Small, Kincardine, all
with indexes between 138
and 129.
The station index
evaluates the overall
performance of each boar
which completes test as
compared to the average
performance of the group
which is always 100 in-
dex.
The performance traits
measured' include
average backfat
thickness, average daily
gain and feed conversion.
Boars which index 100
.or higher, and are ap-
proved for physical and
structural soundness are
sold at the monthly sales
at the New Hamburg Test
Station.
A total of 41 of the top
boars have been selected
for the station sale on
February 22nd which is
rti
sponso e by the O
ntario
Swine Breeders'
Association.
Jack's Jottings...
• from page IDA
Despite urgings from
federal 4griculture
Minister Eugene Whelan
to form some kind of
marketing agency, beef
producers stuck to their
guns - and their losses.
It took repeated
prodding from the CC 4 to
convince them 1:o lower
cattle numbers by sen-
ding more female
an-i-nra-1-s—to-•-s1 a u-gh t e
instead of keeping them
for breeding.
Now the cycle' has
swung to the opposite
extreme. Cattle numbers
are so low that the CC 4
recently issued another
plea, this time for
-producers to keep more
animals for breeding and
avoid a meat shortage by
1980.. The CCA's concern
is that low supplies will
drive beef prices so high
that consumers will be
turned off beef to the.
detriment of the industry.
This industry perfectly
illustrates what happens
in a free market food
economy. If producers
co-operate to keep herds
at a level .which meets
demand without creating
too much supply, prices.
would presumably
remain more stable.
However, the beef,
cycle has gone from one
extreme to another and it
remains to be seen
whether producers will
voluntarily hold' enough
future breeding stock
from the market despite
attractive, prices right
now - to prevent a meat
shortage.
This does not .appear to
be happening at the
-...-._ present time as the beef
population is still
declining.
Here's what happened
to beef prices for farmers
and consumers over the
.,past few years.
In 1974 the averagd
slaughter cattle market
price for farmers was 50
cents a pound while
,consumers shelled out an
average, (in Toronto) of
$1.47 a pound. Remember
that the retail price
average is a blend of high
CLAY —
Silo Unlooders
Feeders
Cleaners
Stabling
Leg Elevators
Liquid Manure
Equipment
Hog Equipment
BUTLER —
Silo Unloaders
Feeders
Conveyors
FARMATIC —
Mills
Augers, etc.
ACORN —
Cleaners
Heated Waterers
WESTEEL-ROSCO
Granaries
a & L - Hog Panelling
LOWRY FARM SYSTEMS
RR 1, Kincardine, Ont.
Phone, 39542U4
and low prices for. dif-
ferent meat cuts, •
In 1975, as cattle
numbers began to put
dpwnward pressure on
prices, farmers started
getting less, averaging 47
cents a pound. In 1976, the
average was 43 cents,
dropping to around '40
cents by the year's end.
By the end of 1977,
however, producer prices
began to ri-se-and so -did-
the retail level. From an
average of $1:26 cents in
19-6, "the consumer price
moved upwards„into 197-;.
Cattle numbers -had
declined and producers
were getting more, with
the price -peaking at 70.
cents per pound in June.
4t this point, con
sumers were paying
record prices as well - up
to $2.25 a pound average.
Since then, all beef
'prices have dropped
somewhat but the 'CC.4
predicts more increases
for farmers ' and con-
sumers over the 'year
1979.
Undoubtedly . farmers
welcomed the higher
prices, claiming they
were simply recovering
their losses.
To some, the existence
of the beef cycle (world.
grain prices behave in the
same manner, by the
way) points out the need
for a marketing agency to
stabilize cattle numbers
and prices.
There are many other
factors in price changes
for commodities, some
totally uncontrollable.
The weather, for
example, can hurt crop
yields to the extend that
supply is limited and
prices rise naturally.
PA
BY BOB TROTTER
You can't wait to get your home in the,country?
You want to get away from the city or the town? You
want to bring up your family in the rural atmosphere?
You work. You search and search for that perfect
acre or two or three or i0. You finally get a severance
and get your house built. Maybe you even build a barn
at the back of your lot for a horse or two or a steer or
some chickens. Then, you sit back and enjoy it all.
Bull roar.
Or words to the same effect that may not be ap-
propriate in this family journal. We have been living
in the country now for almost 15 years. And at this
time of year -- every year --.I could easily give it up for
an apartment some place in the city where someone
else has the responsibility for taking care of things.
F'r instance: Got up this morning and couldn't get
the back door open for snow. It was like a third
degree: piled higher and deeper, a Ph.D. Had to go out
the front door, find the snow shovel buried in the snow
and shovel four feet of snow from the door. Went to the
barn, plowing my way through snowdrifts up to here.
Had to struggle to get the barn door open. Shovel was
back at the house. Went back to, the house. Tramped
all the way back to the barn again to shovel the snow
away from the barn door.
Let the horses out and that fool' buckskin was so
frisky she clippec[ me with her head as she went out
the barn door. Knocked my glasses into the snow.
Spent five minutes trying to find them. Froze my
fingers: Chased those fool horses all around the corral
trying to get them back in again to eat. Fell twice in a
snowbank as those crazy critturs caromed past me.
Got back into the house, wet, cold and mad as a wet
hen. Took a hot shower. Tripped over the bathmat and
dern near broke my shoulder.
Finally got a decent breakfast and .promptly got
stuck in the lane trying to get to work ontime.
I know. I know. You've heard'all this before in this
cola .rn-n__.But. it. ..i.s a=r=e gu.1-ar_occu-r_r-nee when .: you're
Le,ieiS ase dpp,<.dted by Bob Trortei Eldale Rd Ermnd Ont N3B 2C>
1
living in the country. When you get to the job a half-
hour late for work, your boss looks at you with a
questioning look. He cannot figure out why you are not
on time. He has jumped into his car, warm from the
garage or the underground parking area in his
apartment. You try to explain that it is snowing and
blowing in the country, in the wide open spaces.
He has driven a few blocks on well -plowed streets.
He.doesn't even know there is a winter going on out
there. You try to describe the snowdrifts, the blowing,
the hardships, but he looks at you as through to
question your sanity.
He simply cannot realize that, in the country, the
wind comes whistling through four or 500 acres and
dumps the snow on your lane. He thinks winter is
nothing but ski, weekends and a snowpile in front of his
driveway.
In other words, country living is great somelof the
time. But not all of the time. Don't let anyone talk you
into it unless you are prepared for a couple or three
weekends every year when you and your family are
incarcerated in the cabin. When three or four days out
of the winter term, your kids are hilariously happy
because the school busses are not running. When you
are surrounded in the house by drifts higher than your
waistline on all sides of the house. When even the cats
won't venture outside because the north wind, she doth
blow. And blow. And blow.
The next time you walk half a block in the biting
wind and snow, think of the many thousands of
country people who are forced to walk many more
"blocks" just to survive and keep their livestock
surviving.
And then don't shake your head because the price of
beef has gone up 10 or 20 or 30 cents a pound.
Those farmers earned every cent of that increase.
Unfortunately, much of.it didn't get into their pockets
because the rest of the food chain got a big bite of it.
But that's another- story.
i
Right-nnw:-E-ean't-wait•for-spring to get sprung.
Oro- s -I reeding•
changes beef
Crossbreeding is
changing the -face- of the
Ontario beef l industry.
New breeds are being
introduced to herds
through on-farxn
breeding.
Through artificial
insemination (AI),
producers can easily
introduce characteristics
of different breeds. '
By crossing different
breeds, producers can get
up to 23 percent more
pounds of calf weaned per
cow bred, says Jim
Wilton, Department of
Animal and Poultry
Science, Ontario
Agricultural College.
The process used to get
this type of increase is not
difficult, he says. Cows in
the commercial herd are
bred with a bull of a
different breed. The
resulting crossbred
heifers are put back into
the herd and bred to a
bull of a third breed. •
"By crossbreeding,
producers can make
better use of heterosis,"
says Professor Wilton..
"Heterosis• is the ad-
van-tage a crossbred
animal has over the
average of its straight- -
bred parents."
Crossbreeding allows
producers more
flexibility in obtaining
different desirable
characteristics:.
The three domestic
breeds, Herefords. Angus
and Shorthornscan he
crossed with Simmentals
or Gelbvieh for more
milk, or with Charolais,
Limousin or 'Blonde
d'Aquitain•e for :more
muscle, says Professor
Wilton.-'
At the Elora Beef
Research Station near
Guelph, researchers° are
completing a 10 -year
crossbreeding study
comparing cow size and
milk yield. The
preliminary results of
this study, funded by the
Ontario Ministry of
Agriculture and Food,
will be available in the
spring.
"This information will
help producers make the
optimum crosses for size
and milk yield."
Producers can also use
sire evaluations.
prepared through the
National Sire Monitoring
Program to assist theircrossbreeding program.
One of the most useful
pieces of information
FARMERS
AND
HOBBY FARMERS
Ask for a Package
Quotation on
FARMOWNERS:
For the dwelling
FLOATERS:
For Implements,
Livestock 8 Equipment
EARNINGS:
For Toss of profits
LIABILITY:
Farm & Personal
J.J. (Jim) MULHERN
GENERAL INSURANCE
46 WEST ST., GODERICH
524-7878
ATTENTION MR. FARMER
IT'S TIME TO THINK SPRING
Proper farming methods and the right use of
AGRICULTURAL
CHEMICALS
will mean abetter harvest in Autumn
This being the off season. we have lots of time to help you plan
and to choose just the right chemicals for your corn, beans,
grain, or whatever your crop. We have an excellent selection of
all your farm chemical supplies. Come see us today.
"Buy with Confidence"
We wliI not knowingly be
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M.iiSMITII LTd.
WANTED
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"ALL OF OUR FACILITIES ARE TO SERVE YOU BETTER"
provided by the program
is the .ease -of -calving
score. This score rates
the sires' above or below
average for ease of
calving.
GODERICH SIGNAL -STAR, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 1979.—PAGE 11A
Bornholm man
offers farmers
writing course
"Write for Better
Farming" -- That's the
title for the effective
writing, course Karl
Schuessler will present
the next three Saturdays.
February 1%, 25 and
March 3 are the dates.
Times -- 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
at the East Wawanosh
Central School at
Be1grave.
"Write for Better
Farming" will be offered
free of charge, except for
the $4.95 cost of ' the
textbook, "Please Be
Advised...This Is No Way
To Write".
The three Saturday
course will interest any
farmer or agricultural
representative who uses
words for persuasion -- in
writing or in speaking.
This includes speeches,
news releases, letters,
memos and reports.
Sessions will help make
writing easier and faster
through letter planning,
simple style, more
thorough research and
human interest ap-
proaches. The course
offers ways to cut
through bureaucratic red
tape and government
jargon. Included also are
ways to say "no" while
retaining people's
goodwill.
Course leader, Karl
Schuessler, has been
teaching letter writing,
report writing, ptkblic
speaking and listening
skills for provincial
government and business
for the past seven years.
1•Ie,won.three awards for
writing CBC -documen-
taries last year and his
weekly column AMEN
appears in this area in the
Huron Expositor
newspaper.,
The Huron County
Federation of Agriculture
and Conestoga College
are co-ordinating the
course with help from
Brenda McIntosh and
Gerry Fortune. For more
information, call 335-3R01.
FARM
CLASSIFIED
SECTION
A. For sale
• LFI FARM SUPPLIES:
Liquid. feeds, cattle
minerals, swine pre-
mixes, wagons, trailers,
Spray Sickle recir-
culating sprayer,
Bauman hog equipment;
Lucknow snow blowers,
Weber cultivator's. Phone
02-3159.-6,7
D. Livestock
FOR SALE • bred gilts
due from 2-6 weeks.
Purehred Yorkshire and
Purehred Hampshire,
boars. Contact Bob
Robinson, RR4 Walton.
Phone 345-2317.-6,7
WATER WELL
DRILLING
"79 YEARS EXPERIENCE"
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PHONE 357-1960
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"ONTARIO'S FINEST WATER WELLS SINCE 1900"
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if you ordered from us in 1978 you will automatically receive our 1979
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ILING COMPLETED 1.1
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In Goderlehe
call Don Bedore, manager,
524-262.6
In Clinton:
call Iner Smith, manager
482-3477
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