The Rural Voice - January 2024

Rural Voice January 2024

The

THE MAGAZINE OF AGRICULTURAL LIFE ... $2.50 PM 40037593

FARMING WISDOM Eric and Elisabeth Bzikot write a book about sheep dairying

SHARE AT SHED TALKS Farmers need to meet more, talk more and be vulnerable to protect their mental health

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Contents The

Rural Voice THE MAGAZINE OF AGRICULTURAL LIFE

Published monthly by: The Rural Voice, Box 429, Blyth, Ontario, N0M 1H0 Telephone: 519-523-4311 Fax: 519-523-9140 E-mail: info@northhuron.on.ca Website: ruralvoice.ca

18

Publisher: Deb Sholdice

22 Columns Lisa Boonstoppel-Pot . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 Keith Roulston . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8 Kate Procter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 Jeffrey Carter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12 Mabel’s Grill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14 Viewpoint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 Gardening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29 Recipes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30 Woodlots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34 Markets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36 Agrilaw . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37

Departments Feedback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Ruralite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 Advice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32 People . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38 Business Centre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39 Classified . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40 Advertisers Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47

Newsletters

National Farmers Union . . . . . . . . . .42 Perth County Pork . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43 Grey County Federation . . . . . . . . . .44 Bruce County Federation . . . . . . . .45 Perth County Federation . . . . . . . . . .46 Huron County Federation . . . . . . . . .48

27 JANUARY 2024 • Cover Photo Eric and Elisabeth Bzikot, Conn Photo by Lisa Boonstoppel-Pot

• Deadlines: Feb. Issue –Jan. 09 March Issue – February 6

18 A Practical Guide

Eric and Elisabeth Bzikot used their “retirement” to write a book for new entrants into sheep dairying

22 Recycling by Rendering Tom Smith is quite passionate about his work in the deadstock business

27 Tom Melady is Ready to Talk Tom Melady shared his mental health journey at the launch of S.H.E.D. talks, a rural health initiative

29 Unruly Shrubs Get Checked

Editor: Lisa Boonstoppel-Pot rveditorlisa@northhuron.on.ca Contributing writers: Keith Roulston, Kate Procter, Jeffrey Carter, Rhea Hamilton Seeger, Arnold Mathers, Donna Lacey, Melisa Luymes, Carolyn Crawford, Bonnie Sitter, Jeff Tribe Advertising Sales: Shelley Kroes rvads@northhuron.on.ca Production co-ordinator & Telemarketing: Joan Caldwell PUBLICATIONS MAIL AGREEMENT NO. 40037593 RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESSES TO CIRCULATION DEPT. PO BOX 429, BLYTH ON N0M 1H0 email: info@northhuron.on.ca Subscriptions: $25 (12 issues) $45 (24 issues), includes HST Back copies $2.75 each.

Make cheques payable to: NORTH HURON PUBLISHING CO.

Trimming overgrown shrubs requires strategy and a sharp pair of pruners

32 Keeping it Balanced

Accountant Mark Verwey wants farmers to use real numbers to see if they are in decay or growth

34 Chainsaws Have Sight Lines

Chainsaw safety and their unique features are highlighted in woodlots

All manuscripts submitted for consideration should be accompanied by a stamped, self-addressed envelope. The publisher cannot accept responsibility for unsolicited submissions. The opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of the publisher. Editorial content may be reproduced only by permission of the publisher. The Rural Voice makes every effort to see that advertising copy is correct. However, should an error occur, please notify The Rural Voice office within 30 days of invoicing in order to obtain a billing adjustment.

A division of North Huron Publishing Company Inc.

We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada.

Feedback

Adventure has a new name

Letters to the Editor: The Rural Voice, P.O. Box 429, Blyth, ON N0M 1H0 rveditorlisa@ northhuron.on.ca

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To the Editor: I enjoy Kate Proctor’s column and always read it first when The Rural Voice arrives.

In her last column on planting trees in the old cattle pasture, I think there is likely no better use than to return it to a more natural setting. I would, however, encourage her to think of leaving a grass area for ground nesting birds.

I am thinking of the bobolinks and meadowlarks in particular. They are endangered, mostly from modern agriculture, and they need space to thrive. An area of five acres or so would attract some nesting pairs. The Maitland Valley Conservation Area could guide you better on that requirement. If they take up residence you will not regret it. Walking through the fields and hearing their cheerful song is a thrill that will bring you joy and immense pleasure.

I attracted many pairs on the farm and as much as I likely had the neighbours wondering why I was not cutting my hay until July, walking through the pastures and hearing the bobolinks was definitely worth the wait. If you can spare the space, please consider it.

The weeds are an unwanted problem for sure. All you can do is control them the best you can and remember that Mother Nature is not a neat freak. Things will balance out in time and be food for wildlife. ~Brian Markle, Stratford

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4 The Rural Voice

Ruralite

“

We need to be talking about our stress levels when managing our farms,” he said. “How are interest rates affecting my business; how am I reacting to this as a manager; how is it affecting my coworkers, my husband, my wife, my children? ~ Tom Melady on the value of S.H.E.D. Talks for farmers. See page 27

A New Year

”

●What is a New Year's resolution?

Something that goes in one year and out the other. ● What did Adam say to Eve on New Year’s Eve? It’s New Years, Eve ● What did the woman say when she was offered a raison on New Year’s Eve? No thank you. I already have a date.

•

Recycling “Rendering is one of the oldest methods of recycling.

It’s been around for hundreds of years. All “dead stockers” are a different type of people, we’re just recyclers, doing what we can to add value to a dead animal.” ~ Tom Smith of Atwood Resources Inc. See page 22

January INSPIRATION

“I love beginnings. If I were in charge of calendars, every day would be January 1st”

•

— Jerry Spinelli

Neil’s One-Liners (Wisdom from McGavin Files)

Black coat, white blanket

Gypsy’s winter coat keeps her warm despite the sticky snow ~ Photo by Lisa Boonstoppel-Pot

● If you are going to lead people, you have to know where they are going. ● To be a success in business be daring, be first, be different.

•

January 2024 5

Lisa Boonstoppel-Pot Lisa B. Pot is editor of The Rural Voice, and farms in Huron County

The Curious Cat resolution I’ve been making News Years’ Resolutions my whole life. They’ve moved from a determined stance to stop biting nails and get up everyday at 6:30 to more esoteric announcements.

A favourite, during a difficult time was Flow, Forgive and Flourish It was hugely helpful as I learned to let go of hurts and bitterness to allow forgiveness, joy and creativity to root.

Last year’s was “You be you and I’ll be me” in an attempt to release judgement scripts and be curious and open-minded to others. A “walk in their shoes” kind of idea.

I had a transgender friend walking their journey and I wanted to learn in

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6 The Rural Voice

love because I’m pretty darn sure that’s what I would need from my friends during such a time.

This year’s new year’s resolution is still in the works but I was watching my barn cats the other day and the words Curious Cat took form.

Curiousity is natural for me, so I’m in a good profession for it. What I like about cats in the equation is that when they nose around to see what’s going on, they are silent about it. No blabbering opinions or giving unwanted advice. Just looking with wide-eyed wonder.

To further this idea, I was just at a Coffeebreak meeting where we were all asked to pull a popsicle stick out of a jar. Each stick had a question, some silly, some deep: ● If you had a superpower, what would you choose? ● What are you afraid of? ● If you could visit your younger self, what would you tell her?

I don’t know all the ladies in the group and the answers gave us glimpses into each other’s lives, so we had some footing for interaction. I

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I’m also a huge fan of the podcast, Diary of CEO by Stephen Bartlett. At the end of each interview, he asks the guest a question the previous interviewer left. (He is now marketing those questions as a Conservation Cards for 25 euros...no wonder he is a multi-millionaire.)

Some of those questions are: ● What are the failures that changed you the most? ● What is a belief you hold that most people disagree with you on? ● What do you promise to do to make the world a better place?

Whew! Hard to answer but imagine how a long drive would fly by using these as a tool for conversation?

I think — no I know — that we don’t make enough time to really LISTEN to each other. What I see most in conversation is the other person already formulating their response while I am talking. No doubt, I often do the same. What if, instead of responding, we sat with large, calm, cat eyes and formulated a question to help our friend/partner search that thought out?

Active listening, I believe it is called. It wasn’t discussed at the recent S.H.E.D. Talks hosted by the Gateway Centre of Excellence in Rural Health, but it was certainly implied.

The S.H.E.D. Talks are a project to focus on reducing social isolation and lessening the daily stressors that farmers experience. Farmers are being encouraged to meet with their neighbours and fellow farmers to create connection, collaboration, community and conversation.

Too often working alone with huge financial worries, farmers need each other. They need to TALK. They also need to LISTEN. So, yes, Curious Cat is working for me. I might even buy Bartlett’s Conversation Cards and make him even richer so that I can refine my own curiousity, listening and questions skills to learn who people are and why they do what they do.

On that note, this is a reminder that The Rural Voice is here for another year to tell stories about agriculture and rural life. If you know someone who has a story to share, contact me! ◊

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Keith Roulston Keith is former publisher of The Rural Voice.

He lives near Blyth, ON.

How life has been changed by time

As I travel in Huron County I’m amazed at how many of the old farm houses have been demolished and replaced by modern structures.

Sometimes, knowing the house was small or simply built, I’m not surprised. At other times, knowing a substantial house has been replaced, I find it sad.

Jill and I still live in the house we bought in 1975. Ours was a prosperous farm settlement predominated by the McGowan family who settled several farms in the neighbourhood in the mid-1800s.

Most of the houses are built of brick

and even stone and have survived.

Our house was far from the top of the line among the McGowans. We have a traditional yellow-brick house, smaller than many of the others but still substantial. A descendant of the McGowan clan bought the rest of the farm in the 1970s. Ours was one first of the lots subdivided by the county’s planning department after it was created.

Our house, though outwardly very similar to the house we bought is much different inside. The biggest change came 20 years ago when we inherited some money and had the original back kitchen and woodshed torn down and an architect-designed addition added. Unlike windows in the rest of the old house, the new room had many windows that make it a bright room that we spend much of our time in.

Our kitchen, designed in the days when the wood-fired range also warmed other rooms, originally had seven doors, including a door to the outside, a door to the back kitchen, doors to the pantry, an off-kitchen bedroom, the living room, the front

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8 The Rural Voice

hall and the basement. We’ve reduced these to five doors, allowing us more room to install cupboards – although still less room than many modern families would choose.

Changes to how we live inside this house, make me think of how a difference in sound changes with the way we live. We long ago abandoned heating by wood stove, which changed the sound-scape in the house. The clang of feeding wood into the woodstove has been replaced by the hum of our geo-thermal furnace, concentrating heat removed out of the ground to heat the house. It also heats plenty of water for our use Pioneers used to keep water boiling on the stove to quietly keep humidity higher during the winter months. We have a humidifier, As we use water, our pump in the basement keeps the water flowing from a deep well, much different than the hand-powered pump that would have been used to draw water to the kitchen from a shallow well in the days before the coming of electricity.

Life changed for the pioneers with the arrival of the telephone. I remember how my mother would talk every day, in our childhood neighbourhood, to her next-door neighbour on the party-line – neighbours being able to listen in if they chose (and some often did!)

Even bigger changes were introduced by the arrival of electricity. It’s even hard to contemplate what this means for the modern farm family. We heat using electricity, we cook on an electrical stove. Electricity powers our radio and television. I can’t even imagine how someone from 100 years ago would react if shown the “magic” of the internet.

As winter storms approach, even our roads are kept differently than the life I grew up with on the farm.

Winters are less vicious than they were when we moved here and the road is almost always kept open. Tar and chip paving on the road mean we never see the grader anymore.

So, winter is so much easier than when we moved to the country.

That’s also attracted many of the non-farming residents who live in many of the farm houses. Yes, farm life has changed over the years. ◊

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Kate Procter Kate farms, hikes, canoes, and plays guitar in Huron County.

The farm ‘year in review’ has almost doubled in pages

D

ecember usually finds me reflecting on the year that was. What worked, what didn’t work, what remains a mystery, what should have had more focus, and what really doesn’t matter anymore. For the vast majority of people who are not crop farmers in Huron County, December doesn’t hold the same definite ending. But for those of us who are, it is the time when we get our yearly report card.

We start thinking about and actively harvesting in July. We have a small reprieve and then are back at it mid-September. When we finish is anyone’s guess – but somewhere between the beginning of November and the end of December. OK, yes, one year it was January – but we don’t talk about that.

In those years when harvest drags on into the late fall, it seems like we jump out of harvest mode, race to get all the equipment cleaned up before things freeze rock hard, and then tackle the mountain of paperwork that has built up while my focus was on keeping the wheels turning outside. Before the dust has even settled, we are into analysing the results of our cropping season so we can order and pay for our seed for next year. While the early December deadlines seem like a cruel punishment after a tough harvest, it really is the best time to make those decisions when the details are still top of mind.

Every year it seems a little more complicated. Corn varieties are evaluated on many factors including 10 The Rural Voice

yield, moisture, bushel weight, and resistance to an ever-growing list of diseases and pests. The Ontario Corn Committee posts their trial results comparing hundreds of corn varieties that have been grown across the province. The plots are grouped according to the corn heat unit (CHU) areas and can be found at their website at https://gocorn.datahome.ca. Crop, or Corn Heat Unit, is a measurement of cumulative heat over the growing season. This takes into account the fact that corn doesn’t really grow much if the temperature is below 10 degrees C or above 30 degrees C. https://www.grainews.ca/columns/wh eat-chaff/growing-degree-daysversus-corn-heat-units/.

Then comes the glossy brochures from all the seed companies. Each variety has its own genetic profile, then may have different traits inserted. These traits provide protection from lots of different things including corn rootworm, western bean cutworm, and a variety of funguses; the list grows longer every year as more and more challenges move into our area. Tar spot is the newest fungus to take up residence in Huron County. We usually get a preview as most of these things start in more southern regions and move our way. We still battle the old things, which are always figuring out ways to get around our methods of dealing with them.

We take all of this data, including what we found on our own farm, put it together and make our selections.

As we have increased the number of CHU over the years, the group of varieties that we consider suitable for us has also changed. Varieties requiring fewer CHUs often have lower yield. Varieties requiring more heat can produce more corn, but they also take longer to mature, which can result in a disaster if we get an early frost. They also tend to be wetter at harvest, which increases the cost of drying. Leaving corn out in the field to dry down also increases the risk of developing fungal diseases, which can mean bigger discounts when it comes time to sell.

The biggest wildcard in all of this

is the weather. While there are long term trends for both heat and moisture, there is a big variation by year and even bigger variation by month. For most crops, there are windows of growth where having rainfall can make the difference between getting a bumper crop and getting less than average. Humidity, wind, sunlight, rainfall, and even dew can play a big role in the development of fungal diseases as well as insect growth and development.

The staff at Brussels Agromart puts together a very interesting annual summary of the weather.

People who comment on how Canadians love to talk about the weather would be amazed if they saw how many ways we can slice, dice, and compare rainfall and CHUs. I don’t know how long Brussels Agromart has been providing their clients with this information. I have a “Local Plot Data” book from 2005 with two charts on the back page – one is a summary, by month, of CHUs, including a column for the 1989-2003 average. The other is a summary of rainfall, by month, including a column for the 15-year average.

The “2023 Year in Review” has almost double the number of pages, including 24 pages of weather data. I keep these books, as they provide a very interesting snapshot of the year that was, as well as a comparison over the longer period that helps us predict, at least a little bit, where we might be heading. For instance, the 2005 book contains the average CHU for the period from 1989 – 2003 of 2555 CHU. The 2023 book contains the average CHU for the period from 2011-2022 of 3056 CHU. Doing the math, that means over the past 33 years, our area has increased the CHU by 16.4 per cent.

We don’t know if this rate of change will continue going forward.

Maybe the best we can do is to be aware of the trends in order to manage the changes as they come our way. We need to look at the fine details for our day-to-day decisions, but occasionally stepping back and taking a bigger view can help us make better long-term decisions. ◊

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January 2024 11

Jeffrey Carter Jeffrey is a freelance journalist based in Dresden, Ontario.

Family agriculture dynasties, sure, but small farmers will persist too

I

have been following the activities of the Ecological Farmers Association of Ontario, including annual conferences, for a number of years. It was only recently, though, that I learned just how long the organization has been around.

It was founded in 1979 under a different name, the Natural Farmers Association, according to the EFAO website. In reading the article, many names were familiar to me, including that of Alvin Filsinger who was a key early organizer and Diane Baltaz who wrote a brief history of the organization in 2004 on the occasion of its 25th anniversary.

Baltaz is an insightful person whom I have known for several years through her long-standing support for matters related to social justice.

In considering her article, I was struck by how my own experience with Ontario agriculture lines up. In the 1950s and 1960s, farming throughout Ontario was dominated by a network of small, “mixed” farms, many roughly 100 acres in size, but that began to change in the early 1970s – an era of consolidation – heralded by such political luminaries as “get-big-or-get-out” Earl Butz, the United States secretary of agriculture from 1971 to 1976.

Chemicals were embraced, typically mixed with a wooden stick and pair of leather gloves, or no gloves at all, and the transition intensified. Yet, as farmers tend to do, some balked at the change, dug in their heels, and remained affixed to

12 The Rural Voice

the precept that the long-term future of agriculture is bound to natural systems which rely as much on giving back as taking away.

Not that the agriculture that came to dominate the North American industry is entirely without merit.

Each spring, when the tractors and planters roll onto the fields, I am amazed and impressed at how thousands upon thousands of acres can be sown to crops in a matter of days by a relatively small and certainly dedicated workforce.

Yet the world of agriculture and food in 2024 is an uneasy place. One might even surmise that the system envisioned by Butz has failed. Food bank usage has risen to precedented levels in Canada and the U.S., dietrelated ailments are pervasive.

Being a gardener, my reliance on the system is buffered and I often look to alternatives as the need arises, venues like the Sarnia Farmers’ Market where, during a visit a few weeks back, prices seemed reasonable compared to most of the big chains.

The EFAO has changed over the years but, I think, still reflects the organization’s roots. Under the leadership of recently retired president Brent Preston and the board and staff that has been in place, the diversity of Ontario’s wider community is now better reflected.

I am not one for labels but do note, with a strong degree of satisfaction, that the effort to engage Canada’s indigenous organization has indeed borne fruit.

I was also pleased to see many familiar faces at the EFAO’s annual conference, including that of Lucy Sharrat who I mention because of her longstanding association with the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network. It is an organization that provides counterpoint to the position represented by the unholy alliance of industry and Health Canada.I also had a chat with the speaker from Connecticut (though I didn’t attend any of his sessions). As we spoke of North American politics, I managed to generate a laugh by offering a salute of an inappropriate nature and he expressed concern that the natural features surrounding his farm appear to be “sick”.

We also discussed my knees and he asked what I did for them to which I replied, “tai chi.”

There are roughly 1,000 EFAO members. Many are small or even “micro” in terms of scale but there are a number of significantly larger farming operations represented.

During the conference there were references to the “them-and-us” of today’s agriculture, “the them’representing those who embraced and managed to survive the transition to industrialization and “the us’ representing farmers who tread a different path.

Sewing further division is not helpful, I think, and it can be observed that not all is well with big agriculture. As I explained last summer to a visitor from Bangalore, India, the wealth of land, equipment and animals he viewed during our day trip through the countryside was real but at the same time the margins of profit are typically narrow.

It has been expressed to me that the future of agriculture lies with family dynasties, the children of large farmers taking their operations to even more ambitious levels. Yet at the same time cracks are showing.

For instance, agriculture in Canada today is reliant, to a large degree, on temporary migrant workers – many of whom are struggling to become permanent – and there is no guarantee of profitability with scale as is clearly evidenced by the current, gut-wrenching state of the Canadian pork industry.

Small farmers will persist too, I think, and so will their children, a number of whom attended the EFAO conference.

I took note of several: the baby announcing its dissatisfaction to something or other; the child strapped to the back of the organization’s incoming president; the little fellow who from his shoulder perch appeared to be control the movements of the largest market gardener in attendance; the girl skipping past me down the flight of stairs; and the small person who informed me she had lost her front teeth in a cycling mishap.

Refreshing to have children at a farmers’ conference as opposed to a sea of grey heads. ◊

Our priorities for 2024 As we embark on another year, we are proud to continue advocating for our 38,000 farm families across the province for the betterment of Ontario’s agriculture sector.

As Ontario’s largest general farm organization, OFA intends to bring forward the issues and policies currently impacting our industry.

When looking ahead at 2024, we intend to focus our advocacy work on: Farmland preservation Environmental sustainability Infrastructure investments Farmer mental wellness supports and resources Skilled labour OFA looks forward to collaborating with partners and stakeholders to address our industry’s needs. Through projects, programs and initiatives, we will continue to raise awareness on environmental stewardship and farmland preservation while addressing labour gaps and connecting with Ontarians.

Stay up-to-date on OFA’s advocacy efforts and policies at ofa.on.ca, or through our social media channels.

As a grassroots organization, we value your input and look forward to another year of growth and opportunities.

As an OFA member in Bruce, Grey, Huron and Perth you are also a member of your local County Federation of Agriculture. The local County Federations of Agriculture provide a complimentary subscription to The Rural Voice for their members, which includes local federation newsletters. Thank you for choosing OFA as your general farm organization.

January 2024 13

Mabel’s Grill celebration to me the more plastered I was.”

“Ugh! The idea of a hangover the next day with the kids roaring around the house is not my idea of a good time,” Molly grumbled.

“I see your point,” Cliff Murray told Molly as he held his finger in the menu. “I haven’t gone out to many New Year’s Eve parties but they never seemed to be as much fun as they were supposed to be.”

“I remember staying up late to watch Guy Lombardo and the Royal Canadians play Auld Lang Syne at some big hotel in New York one year when I was a kid,” George said.

“You know the story behind him playing that, don’t you?” Cliff asked and drew blank looks from the others. “Well, when Lombardo started the Royal Canadians down the road in London, they used to play for dances in some of the communities around London. Now Lombardo was Italian, of course, but most of those little towns were Scottish and they were used to singing a song to Robbie Burn’s poem about New Year’s so he learned the song. When

The world’s problems are solved daily ’round the table at Mabel’s Grill.

“Have you got any plans to celebrate New Year’s Eve?” Dave Winston asked Molly Whiteside as she delivered the menus the other morning at Mabel’s Grill.

“No, I’m pretty boring,” Molly admitted. “The kids have to be in bed long before that and I don’t have a date so I guess I’ll just stay at home.”

“Good plan. That’s me too,” said George Mackenzie .

“What, your wife won’t go out with you?” Dave shot back with a grin. “That woman’s getting smarter all the time!”

“I can’t say I’m heart broken,” Molly replied. “New Year’s Eve always seems like it should be more fun than it turns out to be.”

“Maybe you just didn’t drink enough,” Dave chuckled. “New Year’s always seemed more of a

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he went to New York he took the song with him and he ended up being so famous that when he played Auld Lang Syne at midnight on New Year’s Eve, that’s how it got associated with New Year’s worldwide.”

“So he’s to blame!” grumbled Dave. “You get a whole bunch of people drunk out of their minds at a New Year’s Eve party and you should hear how some of those Scottish words come out!”

The guys took a few moments to give their orders to Molly and then she headed back to the kitchen.

“So did you have a good Christmas?” Cliff wondered.

“Okay, I suppose,” Dave sighed.

“The kids are too old for Santa anymore and a lot of the fun goes out of the holiday when that happens.”

“One of our daughters brought her kids home so we got to see them enjoying their Santa presents,” George said.

“I kind of wish there was a Santa,” Dave moaned. “It would be nice if the presents just arrived and the credit card bills didn’t follow.”

“Well it helps us get through the darkest days of the year, anyway,” Cliff said. “Way back in history the people in northern Europe decided to celebrate Christmas in December to help shorten the winter months.”

“Yeah, and that was before the TV stations and the stores started to prepare for Christmas about a week after Thanksgiving,” George sighed.

“Well me, I don’t even notice the days are getting longer until the end of January,” Dave grumbled. “And then I’d start to get the equipment ready for planting except it’s too damned cold in the workshop.”

“It’s not as cold as it was in the old days,” George remembered. “I remember when I was a kid in the 70s when the highway was closed for days from the blizzard we got in January.”

“Well, some days it’s nice not to be as old as you,” Dave chuckled.

“Winter’s bad enough today.”

“Any day it’s nice to not be as old as me!” George cackled.

“Well, you either get that old or you die early”, Cliff said. “In the long run, old isn’t a bad choice now is it?”◊

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Viewpoint Ralph C. Martin is an author and a retired professor from the University of Guelph

Use prime farm land effectively

W

hen crumbs of soil from prime farmland sift through fingers of my right hand, I conclude that it should be used to grow food crops for human consumption, while maintaining or improving soil health. Obviously, prime farmland must not be paved over.

When more prime farmland soil trickles a bit faster through four and a half digits (I lost the other half on the farm) of my left hand, I ponder the

16 The Rural Voice

best way to maintain or improve the health of that soil. My research informs me that forages (clover, alfalfa, timothy etc.) are required in rotation or in conjunction with row crops. In addition, animal manure, other organic amendments and crop residues can be applied to improve soil health.

Livestock play an important role, in particular, ruminants which convert soil-restoring forages, to meat and milk. Livestock also provide the manure, mentioned above. In addition, within a food system, livestock can consume and convert human inedible materials such as i) food processing byproducts, ii) otherwise wasted food, iii) food crops which inadvertently do not meet specifications for human consumption and iv) crop residues.

Clearly there is an ecological role for livestock.

Although I spent most of my career researching and teaching about agriculture, rather than actually farming, I am firmly rooted in a

Mennonite tradition of mixed livestock-crop farming, with ancestors who were known as clover farmers as well as Anabaptist heretics.

Today, in a world of 1.4 billion cattle, 0.9 billion pigs and 24 billion chickens, more grain crops for livestock feed are required as well as the concomitant land to grow them.

Furthermore, to maximize litres of milk per cow or kilograms of animal gain per day, human edible food often enhances livestock feed rations.

Of all the worlds’ crops, only 55 percent of crop calories go directly toward people. The rest are allocated to biofuels or animal feed.

Unfortunately, global methane emissions from livestock are 131.7 Tg methane per year, about one-third of global anthropogenic methane emissions.

Our ancestors practiced agriculture with due respect for the ecological role of livestock. The problem now is that with efforts to increase demand for animal protein, the livestock tail is wagging the entire food system.

Since WWII, when 20 million deaths from starvation exceeded those from direct military conflict, agricultural leaders have declared, “we must feed the world.” We responded on our home farm in the 1960s by turning the whole farm into one corn field as did others across Ontario. Now it’s time to rethink the dedication of over two million Ontario prime farmland acres per year for number 2, yellow dent corn, grown mostly for feed and fuel.

Three months ago, it was confirmed in a Science Advance paper that six of the nine planetary boundaries have been crossed such that Earth is now well outside of the safe operating space for humanity.

The boundaries, including excess flows of nitrogen and phosphorus, biodiversity loss, pollution by novel entities, land system change and fresh water change are significantly impacted by agriculture, particularly ballooning livestock numbers.

I understand the sunk costs (financial, cultural, emotional) of the current livestock system, in which I

grew up. Nevertheless, Dr. William Rees of UBC, who developed the ecological footprint analysis, stated in his recent paper, The Human Ecology of Overshoot, “We are consuming and polluting the biophysical basis of our own existence. … The global economy will inevitably contract and humanity will suffer a major population ‘correction’ in this century.” Turning away from such warnings propels ecological systems further into overshoot. Governments must develop policies to help livestock farmers break free from sunk costs which prevent them from switching to human edible crop production. To feed the world and avoid overshoot, we need more human edible food crops and less feed.

Currently, more than 40 per cent of prime farmland in Ontario which is dedicated to grow feed crops for livestock could be used instead to grow food crops for human consumption. In this scenario there would still be sufficient animal protein for an adequate diet, according to the Canada Food Guide (2019, Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems).

Many cultures have lived well for centuries with much less animal protein per person than consumed now, in North America and Europe.

It is becoming increasingly evident that we endanger our capacity to feed the world by over-assigning feed crops to prime farmland. The priority for this heritage is to grow crops for human edible food, while maintaining or improving soil health and overall ecological integrity. ◊

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Sheep

“We love our woolies” • By Lisa Boonstoppel-Pot •

S

Eric and Elisabeth Bzikot have raised, bred and milked British Milk Sheep and have now published a book for prospective producers

till farming and raising dairy sheep in their retirement, Eric and Elisabeth Bzikot of Conn have now written a book about sheep dairying for the next generation of those who “love their woolies”.

Called A Practical Guide to Sheep Dairying, the 95page self-published book was designed “for first-time, prospective producers without pockets bulging with

Eric and Elisabeth Bzikot are still farming despite being “retired” from milking sheep. They breed British Milk Sheep for breeding stock and help out at Bestbaa Dairy Ltd., where sheep milk is processed and sold as cheese and other dairy products. They’ve now written a practical guide to sheep dairying.

18 The Rural Voice

dollars,” says Eric, whom I met in the laneway hooking up a trailer in the cold of winter. This is a man who has worked hard his entire life and is still at it, though the pair did give up actually milking sheep some years ago. Now, they raise about 75 sheep in a former horse barn turned sheep barn.

The pair is also active in Bestbaa Dairy Ltd., in Fergus, a business they started to market sheep milk products which is now owned and operated by their son, Peter Bzikot.

“We started thinking about writing a book after we stopped milking,” says Elisabeth from the warmth of their farmhouse kitchen. “Then it took two winters to write, review and change.”

The book includes information on what you need to get started, sheep breeds, feeding and management, lambing, weaning, milking and common diseases and ailments.

“Having received little advice when we first began milking and having learned most of our lessons through hard experience, we are writing this book to give practical advice to sheep dairy farmers to help them avoid problems in this field of farming,” reads the introduction.

Indeed, the pair had a circuitous and trial-ridden journey through sheep farming, along with joys and successes. A foray into their past reveals the pair were brought up in England, before moving to Manitoba in 1984 where they raised beef cattle and grew grains for 14 years.

They struggled through low farm prices, relying heavily on Elisabeth’s income as a teacher. In 1998, they decided to try their luck in Ontario, moving to Conn to become dairy sheep farmers with a sideline of wild boar. The farm they bought had been a horse farm so they converted the horse stalls to sheep pens and so it began.

The wild boar business did not thrive but of the 64 imported British Milk Sheep embryos they implanted into Columbia sheep, there were 27 live births. Of those, seven were females. These became the nucleus of their herd which grew to 250 ewes at the peak of their milking flock.

From the start, Eric and Elizabeth were active in the industry and in marketing. They helped host the North American Dairy Sheep Symposium three times and Elisabeth was a popular speaker in the sheep industry.

On the farm, they milked for nine years in total but discovered early on that the market for sheep milk dissipated. That led to formation of a dairy cooperative with a handful of other dairy sheep producers called Ewenity Dairy Cooperative. When it dissolved, they established BestBaa Dairy in 2003, a name shorted from

their original farm name: Best Boar and Baa Farm.

The idea was to create sheep milk products to use their own milk and that of other producers to make more money selling value-added products.

Sheep milk is known for its creamy texture and it also freezes well because of its high-solids contents.

This allows dairy sheep producers to produce milk over the summer, store it, then create products over the fall and winter seasons.

Best Baa made cheeses, including cream cheese, feta, a gouda called ‘Eweda’, a camembert called ‘ramembert and two raw milk firm cheeses labeled ‘Ewe de cru’ and ‘Mouton rouge’.

Eric and Elizabeth were busy not only caring for sheep, milking sheep and shipping milk to the dairy, but also staying on top of quality control, labelling and marketing. They traveled to farmers’ markets, hosted taste-testing events in grocery stores and were able to get their products in local grocery stores as well as Whole Foods and the The Big Carrot health food store.

It was a busy time. When stores decided to go through a distributor, it eased their workload but the Bzikots say it was actually a negative for their business. “We lost the relationship with the buyers and our product sales dropped by a third without the personal contact,” remembers Eric.

Best Baa, however, went on to be a success, providing a living for their son Peter. Eric and Elisabeth are regular helpers delivering milk from other producers. No longer milking themselves (Eric forced the sale of the milking parlour so Elisabeth couldn’t milk again!), they still raise British Milk Sheep, selling breeding stock and lambs to market.

“It’s worked okay for us,” says Eric. “We were able to make a living but it wasn’t at the level of financing a $1,000,000 new barn!” Elisabeth said “milking sheep is not a money spinner – you get paid for your labour. But one of the advantages is that children can help and not get hurt.”

Both, at different points in their conversation, Eric and Elisabeth

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would say “we love our woolies”.

It’s clear milking and raising sheep has been a valued portion of their life. Eric had always been a farmer – he used to pull the sheep “out of the brambles” when he was a boy in England. When they moved to Ontario, Elisabeth decided to farm alongside him full-time. Together, they learned what it takes to raise dairy sheep, which “is as different from that of meat sheep as beef cattle is from cow dairying.”

Dairy sheep are considered dualpurpose animals. They tend to be finer and larger than meat sheep, typically cycling between August and February, and can lamb between January and June. “The highest lactation yield is obtained if you lamb your ewes in January/early February, they can then milk into

October milking 250 to 300 days,” states Chapter 4 on lambing.

There is much to be learned from their guide in addition to speaking to the pair. Humble and articulate, the pair are genuinely flummoxed that I was amazed at their fortitude. Most couples their age are keen to retire to a smaller house in town but the pair are not convinced. They like being home, taking care of their sheep, gardening and writing! “I’d rather do stuff than sit down and get fat,” declares Eric. As Elisabeth sees it, there isn’t a better alternative and they hope one of their three children will consider taking over the farm one day. Maybe not to milk sheep, but to hang on to their rural heritage.

In the meantime, it’s business as usual for the Bzikots with morning and evening chores, and sharing their

wisdom by word and paper. Copies of A Practical Guide to Sheep Dairying can be found at the North Huron Publishing bookstore on Queen street in Blyth. ◊

Eric and Elisabeth Bzikot hope thier book, A Practical Guide to Sheep Dairying, will help new entrants into the business that gave them new focus when they moved to Ontario after farming in Manitoba. They now raise British Milk Sheep (left and above) for breeding stock, shown here freshly shorn.

January 2024 21

Business

Dead stockers are the ultimate recyclers Collecting and rendering farm animals isn’t just a business, it’s a service that creates by-products from waste and saves landfill space • By Hetty Stuart •

T

om Smith, owner of Atwood Resources Inc. (formerly Atwood Pet Food) is passionate about two aspects of his work: keeping the environment clean by recycling, and keeping it clean by providing a service that keeps our precious water table free of contaminants.

His business turns dead stock into valuable commodities, and in the process, combats climate change.

An important and vital industry, Atwood Resources not only works to sustain the economy, but also employs local people with quality jobs and benefits. He gives back to the community and environment in countless ways.

In 1966, Tom’s Granddad, Garnet Smith, bought a business – a small company that converted dead stock into food for the mink farmers. Demand for the pet food industry began to grow, and thus, Atwood Pet Food was created. Approximately seven tractor trailer loads would be shipped to U.S. markets, weekly.

Tom’s father, David Smith had taken over management of the company in 1986. Then in 2003, disaster struck with the discovery of BSE – or mad cow disease – in Canada. The Smiths were forced to abandon the pet food market immediately, and restructure with a focus on renewable markets.

“When mad cow disease hit, we shut the door of our facility for four days; all the products we had could go nowhere. Because all bovines have SRM (Specified Risk Material) in them, the rendered product from cooking down the bovines could not go back to feed, as per Canadian government regulation. We made the decision at that point to either get out, or to change, and we chose to move forward with rendering, volume reduction, and building on more capacity. Rendering was the best solution, the number one volume reduction method.

Plus, it gave us the biggest bang for our buck.”

Render, from the French verb “rendre”, means to give back: it is the work of processing the dead stock, the spoiled meat, contaminated animals, and the carcasses from abattoirs; and safely creating new products in order that very little waste returns to the landfill sites.

“Rendering is one of the oldest methods of recycling,” Tom stated emphatically. “It’s been around for hundreds of years. All “dead stockers” Tom Smith (above) stands with one of the trucks that pick up are a different type of people, we’re just recyclers, deadstock from farms across southern Ontario to be rendered at wherever you could add value to a dead animal.” their plant in Atwood. Farm animals make up the bulk of their Recycling these otherwise wasted byproducts work but they also render zoo animals, fish and shrimp, skunks helps to minimize the environmental impact of animal husbandry; and of course it also saves and roadkill.

22 The Rural Voice

precious landfill space. Very little of the product coming in goes to waste.

Once the volume of the dead stock is reduced by the cookers in the plant, the byproducts are water, oil, and ash. “First, water is reclaimed during the rendering process, and it gets cleaned to meet all regulatory safety standards to be restored back to town.

Secondly, the meat product (which initially was sold as pet food) is now rendered into industrial use for biodiesel. Incidentally, the heat that is generated by the 10 cookers supplements the natural gas to do the heating process in a gasification process, both for the Atwood facility, and for another company in Quebec.

Thirdly, Atwood has a Permit for Destruction, set out by CFIA, to produce ash that is no longer any risk to animal health. This raw ash is supplied to manufacturers who blend it with other products for their particular land application. This final act of volume reduction perpetuates the agricultural “circle of life”.

Disaster struck in two consecutive years with fire – in 2014, the main building was completely destroyed. During the rebuild, another fire started on the new roof, causing a further delay of a few months before work could continue.

But the new facility is a state of the art plant. The day of the interview, a couple of trailer loads of spoiled meat - about 200 tonnes, was being processed. A tour of this plant was offered, but it required waterproof boots and a strong stomach so it did not happen!

Of the 1.5 million pounds of dead stock that arrives weekly, there is an amazing variety of animals that get processed in this plant. Every month, they receive six tonnes of skunks from the GTA, roadkill, zoo animals (such as elephants and giraffes, snakes and lizards), shrimp from inland shrimp farms and fish from a University of Guelph research farm.

Spoiled meat finds its way to Atwood to be recycled through volume reduction. “We examined many types of technologies to reduce our waste, even visiting Denmark to check out their procedures, but

nothing compares to rendering. This is our prime volume reduction, removing 98 per cent of the mad cow disease risk itself, because we cook the meat at 280 degrees, just enough to boil the water off. We will reduce the water by 60 per cent. We are the best solution for SRM, for taking care of contamination and preventing poisons from entering the feed chain,” explained Tom. “But,” admits Tom, “My largest client is the farmer, who is also my biggest competitor. I keep my

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removal fees as cost-effective as I can, so the farmer will allow us to remove the dead stock off the farms.”

He went on to explain that there are farmers who follow the regulations to dispose of dead stock responsibly, but there are many farmers who do not. The farmer has a few options to dispose of their dead stock. They can bury it in a manure pile (not legal), composting (many regulations about distance to water tables) or use incinerators. Farmers can also use high hoes to dig their own holes, create pits with sand and sawdust or manure lagoons.

“Farmers are very resilient,” Tom explained. “They will find ways to dispose of their dead stock, right, wrong or ugly, and through most of the efforts, they find out that I am still the most cost-effective. To compost a cow will take approximately18 months, adding manure and other products to help it along. That’s a lot of work invested in that cow to keep turning it every few days. I know of a few farmers who have three or four piles of dead stock, rotting in the bush, and the well-fed coyotes become a problem in the neighbourhood.”

Tom’s biggest concern is that cows are large animals. Whatever drugs were in them could eventually reach the water table. “They need to be disposed of properly, otherwise, a disaster will strike, in the magnitude of the e.coli outbreak as happened in Walkerton in 2000. There was manure in a well, causing people to become sick. A dead cow also contains manure. If it gets thrown in the bush where the water table is at six feet deep, the groundwater will be affected.”

Tom says, “the cheaper I can make it for the farmer for picking up their dead stock, the better chance that safety will be assured. I know I will never get 100 per cent of all dead stock: in Ontario, approximately 60 per cent of all large animals are picked up, the rest are being dealt with on the farms.”

In Tom’s opinion, small animals are the worst. “I used to pick up 8,000 calves every month in our area.

We added a $10 charge to the cost, and our figure dropped to 1,200. That is 6,000 calves monthly that end up

Tom Smith (left) of Atwood Resources Inc., took over the reigns of the animal recyling business from his father, David Smith (far right) after it was started by Garnet Smith (centre). Will young Hudson become the next Smith involved in the business? on the manure pile, mostly, and in a couple weeks, it is supposedly ‘gone’ - broken down into the manure that we spread on our land – diseases, medications, and all – used as fertilizer to grow our crops. We need to educate the farmer about contaminating their dirt.”

Tom is in a working group with OFA, trying to assist with dead stock management in Ontario, being a solution to this potentially deadly problem. “If you’re not doing it correctly, you’re hurting someone down the road,” maintains Tom. “Beef farmers and cow/calf farmers who are experiencing tough times, are watching every dollar being spent on their farms; but if they throw dead calves on the manure pile, are they saving money? Saving that $50 at the moment could cost you much more in the long run. The risk is too high: if you make one person sick down the road, it is not worth it.”

What plans are brewing for the future for Tom’s growing company?

He works with the University of Guelph to try to find a solution to work with hides. In the past, he sold about 700 hides weekly, but the leather industry has suffered in the past decades. “If you sit in one spot,

you’ll get pushed out, so you have to keep moving,” he concludes.

Another idea that he thinks about is pressing the bone meal into chips that can be used for outdoor furnaces for heating. While other countries have regulations in place to allow these chips to be manufactured, Canadian regulations do not allow it.

There is always the fear of BSE happening, with the chance of a cow consuming a chip.

“But, my biggest challenge is to get enough volume from the farmers to keep the cost down for them. My goal is to keep it as cost-effective as possible for the farmers, to convince them that this is a valuable service.”

As Tom struggles to keep the cost of pickup low for the farmers, as well as educating them about his service, he also effectively manages his business of 35 employees and keeps abreast of all government regulations and requirements. His greatest accomplishment is keeping our environment clean, and maintaining a safe place for the future generation.

After all, he has three children – two daughters and a son – who are interested and involved in a small scale with the business. The fourth generation will be involved soon! ◊ January 2024 25

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Community

Farmers should be proud, say S.H.E.D. speakers • By Lisa Boonstoppel-Pot

Road safety, crop rotation and creating community were key topics at S.H.E.D. talks, a project focussing on reducing isolation and stress OPP Constable Kevin Bilyea, Peter Johnson of Wheat Pete’s World and Tom Melady, a retired farmer and mental health advocate were featured speakers at December’s Gateway’s S.H.E.D. talks held in Brussels.

F

armers, you are doing a great job! That was the message a full house of rural leaders, farmers and mental health advocates heard at Four Winds Barn in Brussels at the launch of S.H.E.D. (Sustaining Healthy Farms Through Empowerment and Dedication) talks launch in southwestern Ontario. S.H.E.D. talks are an initiative of Gateway, the Centre for Excellence in Rural Health.

Both Tom Melady, who spoke on his experience with depression and Peter Johnson ‘Wheat Pete’ who spoke on why farmers should be proud, shared this sentiment. It’s important to hear it, said Johnson, adding he recently met with a farmer who said he felt troubled about farming. “I feel we are poisoning the land and I am ashamed to be a farmer,” he was told.

“When we talk about mental health, can you imagine the burden that puts on you if you actually have that mindset?” asked Johnson. He then shared data (story in the February issue of The Rural Voice) on how productive farmers are and said the reality of what farmers have done in terms of feeding the world and making improvements to soil health is something farmers should be proud of.

Farmers have a purpose, and pride in their work is part of mental wellness.

farmers face

Tom Melady agreed. A retired farmer from Perth County he waxed an almost fairy-tale-like existence from his early days of farming, before farmers experienced isolation.

“Think about this. In a block of land 10 by eight miles, there are about 10,000 acres. Back 70 years, there were about 100 families in the space, each operating around 100 acres,” he began. “There were churches, community centres, grocery stores and a neighbour across the fence in the back 40 you could talk to. There were card parties, church suppers, community caring and closeness.”

Compared that to now where the same space of 10,000 acres is maybe run by 10 to 15 active farmers, each running 1,000 acres. “The local church is closed, the community centre is less active, we shop at Costco and there is no fence to talk over. In fact, they are so busy, there is no time to talk,” he said.

In less than 100 years, many of the social supports that once nurtured good mental health are gone.

It was isolation and stress that led to Melady’s breakdown back in 1992. Though it was 30 years ago, what happened to him is exactly the same as what could happen to anyone today. Melady said they were building a new barn in 1992 which was “the worst year of farming I ever January 2024 27

mental crisis.

Quoting statistics from a University of Guelph study on mental health amongst farmers, he said the results from the Ontario portion of the study revealed 22 per cent of farmers experience anxiety at a moderate to high rate.

“That means every fifth farmer is experiencing moderate to high anxiety,” said Melady.

Thoughts of suicide amongst Ontairo farmers are two times higher than the statistical norm.

“We need to be talking about our stress levels when managing our farms,” he said.

“How are interest rates affecting my business; how am I reacting to Tom Melady said the day his depression reached this as a manager; how is it affecting my crisis mode, his wife did not know who to call. He coworkers, my urged farmers and mental health advocates at the husband, my wife, my S.H.E.D. talks event in Brussels on December 2 to children?” keep a number on the fridge for loved ones to call That’s why Melady during a crisis. is in full support of Gateway’s S.H.E.D. talks. “Gateway is had and many farmers would say creating a venue to initiate some that.” Most of the corn was plowed discussion in your farm community down and it was just a miserable about your farm needs, your farm year. “The wear and tear of that year pitfalls and your farm worries.” cause me to slide into a clinical He urged those present to be depression and I was big, strong Tom leaders and host a gathering of farm Melady…I never thought it would be friends, however it works for them. possible.”

“Maybe it's over a real good game of He felt stressed and he felt cards!” he laughed. Other ideas isolated in his thoughts and included getting together to hear a experience. “What happened to me guest speaker talk about their trip, was a psychological response. We all have a fashion show with every respond differently and that was the farmer showing off their latest cap, or way I responded that year. Another just meeting at the local restaurant. year, another time I might have “S.H.E.D. talks is about coming responded in a different way.” together shoulder to shoulder with Melady said he slid into his those in your community that share depression over a two-month period the same problems, the same stresses and when crisis day came, his wife and the same pitfalls,” said Melady.

Joanne had no idea who to call or “It’s about being a friend, being a what to do. He wished they’d had a confidant, being a support for one number on their fridge for someone another because that creates she could have called and urged community, caring and closeness – everyone in attendance to have a all characteristics that support good number of a support person on their mental health.” ◊ fridge in case they are ever in a 28 The Rural Voice

Best Wishes for a safe & prosperous year ahead. www.livelandscape.ca Lisa Van Bakel 519-949-3444 Email: lisa@livelandscape.ca OVER 25 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE

Gardening Rhea Hamilton‐ Seeger is a skilled cook and gardener who lives in Goderich.

Look for nodes and buds when pruning

M

y idea of January is to be snug indoors, with lots to read and the coffee pot always on. Surely, it is the best month for dreaming and planning for spring. But my planning actually started first of December when I was stealing snippets of greens from overgrown shrubs along the front of the house.

The yew and juniper are a study in contrasts. The deep blue green of the yew blends nicely with the lighter green and yellow highlights on the tips of the juniper. Both were planted in the late 1980s, which gives you an idea of their girth. Initially pruned, over the years they have been let go and now tickle the eavestrough and cover a window. Pruning them will entail a couple of ladders, a small chainsaw, and some keen observation to avoid having stripped trunks waving from the back of the garden.

Klaus usually initiates a pruning job when he has been hit with unruly branches while cutting the grass. I then get busy with him and he has accused my taking more off than he would. But once you get started… what can I say, it’s hard to stop until you are satisfied with the results.

The yew, Taxus, is probably an English variety, as the Canadian cousin does not have an attractive habit. It is best pruned in mid-to-late spring which will allow us to get into the back of the border with minimum damage to the rest of the perennials.

The first bit of advice starts with planting shrubs; pick one that will fill the space you have when mature.

Picking one that will exceed the space will lead to more work controlling the size. Welcome to my space!

Yews are multi-stemmed making them easier to shape and prune effectively. I think the worst way to prune is to take hedge trimmers and simply whack around the shrub to get the outline you want and leave it at that. You can get quite a tangled mess inside and the trimmers tear at the new growth, which will/may die and leave you with holes in your shrub or heal over and make a nasty thicket of branches.

We will be lopping the tops off both these shrubs to force them shorter. I am aiming to hold back the side branches to get at the main trunk and do a diagonal cut. The interesting job comes in selecting the side branches to prune back. Remove any damaged branches, cut back any shoots that are growing across the centre of the plant. You can remove about one-third of each remaining shoot. If some light has managed to get into the shrub you can easily make out the nodes or lateral buds. If you can choose outward-pointing buds this will encourage growth outwards. You can help with the healing by using sharp hand-pruners and pruning closely to the nodes but not damaging them.

The other shrub appears to be an Eastern Red Cedar, Juniperus virginiana, with lovely soft-scaled needles. Its dark green is highlighted with paler touches of yellow blush. It is a very old tree and I suspect not as quick to rejuvenate. Our approach will be to carefully prune with overhang hiding the cuts. I can see some nodes so will approach it the same way as with the yew at the same time of the year.

There is a runoff from the eavestrough here so water is not an issue for either of these shrubs.

As far as fertilizer goes we have been adding well-rotted compost to the new garden in front of them as well as mulch which will benefit these shrubs.

We did go at the forsythia in the back yard a couple of springs ago and lopped off a trailer load. No exaggeration! There were branches 12 feet long draped over the front of the border and laying on the lawn. It is looking better but we need to have another go at it to help give it a more natural shape. The problem is the shrubs next to it have also grown over the decades and there lies the question — what to get rid of when pruning is not the answer?

A few feet over is a large lilac tree, nothing spectacular, and has a large portion that is dead. Yes it will be firewood this spring but the real question is do you trim out the lilac suckers to encourage the larger youthful wood or simply dig the whole thing out. I can hear the experienced gardeners moaning that there is no such thing as digging out a lilac of that age and eliminating it from the garden. So deep trimming it is and some much needed shaping. ◊

Trimming an overgrown yew involves lopping the tops off and then selecting which side branches to prune back based on the location of nodes or lateral buds.

January 2024 29

Recipes by Carolyn Crawford

Hungry for comfort foods on those cold days

I

n the cold winter season, we look forward to comfort food to sustain and fulfill us. For some of us, vegetables are hard to include in our comfort foods, but quite often, we do need to eat more of them!

Some of the easiest vegetables to add to your dishes are onions, celery, peppers, carrots, zucchini, and mushrooms. Even when cooking my favourite comfort foods, I often try to max out my additions of these power veggies.

Keeping a balance of flavours is essential to great tasting food. Chefs will use a ‘mirepoix’—a combination of two-parts onions/leeks:1-part celery:1-part carrots slowly cooked in butter or cooking oil. Within this ratio, a mirepoix can be added to a myriad of side and main dishes, or soups. You also can freeze your mirepoix combination to have on hand in portions appropriate to what you would add it to: leftover reheated mashed potatoes, spaghetti sauce, omelettes, and stir fries, for example.

Creamy Ham and Mushroom Supper This recipe is nice to serve over whole grain toast or a tea biscuit topped with shredded cheese and finely chopped green or red onions— or both!

Ingredients: 2 celery stalks, finely diced 1 can (284ml) mushrooms, drained or 2 cups sliced mushrooms 1 tbsp. butter 2 cups of thick white sauce (1/4 cup each butter and flour, 1 cup milk, salt & pepper) 3 ½ cups cooked ham, cubed ¼ cup green onions, minced Salt and pepper to taste Directions: Saute celery and mushrooms in butter in a large heavy saucepan. Add white sauce and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly. Add ham, turn heat to low and cook until ham is heated through. Sprinkle with green onions. Serve on a halved tea biscuit or toast.

This is an original 4-H recipe from the 70-80’s. I have embellished

this recipe many different ways by adding some mirepoix, peppers, zucchini, and other starchy vegetables like peas or corn or, in a pinch, frozen mixed vegetables.

Quite often, I end up adding more milk and/or flour to the sauce (doubling it) in the recipe because I have added so many vegetables! his next recipe is great for having a gang in to watch a hockey game. Serve hot out of the oven with tortilla chips (scoop shaped or restaurant style), mini pitas and of course, a veggie tray of celery, carrots, zucchini sticks, cauliflower, broccoli, etc.

Hot Taco Dip Ingredients: 1 package cream cheese, softened to room temperature 1 small tub (250 ml) sour cream Beat these two ingredients together with a mixer and spread in the bottom of a 10” x 15” glass pan.

In a large heavy saucepan, cook the following: 2 lbs ground beef 1-2 onions, chopped

T

Hot taco dip (left) is great when you have a group of people over. Creamy ham and mushroom supper (centre) is nice servved over toast or tea biscuits. “Mirepoix” is a mixture of onions, leeks, celery and carrots which can be added to many dishes to increase the amount of vegetables in your diet.

30 The Rural Voice

2-3 ribs celery chopped (Insert any other veggies here chopped fine: tomatoes, zucchini, mushrooms, carrots, corn, sweet and/or hot peppers. Sliced black olives are also a nice addition. By adding extra veggies, you can stretch this out to make two pans for a larger crowd.)

1 large jar salsa (hot, medium, or mild — your preference) 1-2 packets taco seasoning mix (chili seasoning mix works too— or add Mexican/hot seasoning to your own taste) Directions: Cook above mixture and drain any excess liquid to use immediately or simmer on stove uncovered to reduce the liquid and marinate flavours.

Spread this mixture on the base.

Cover with 2-3 cups shredded Tex-Mex cheese blend (Cheddar, Monterey Jack, or Mozzarella cheese).

Bake in 325°F oven for 45 minutes or until cheese is nicely browned. Make sure your pan is not too full as it can bubble over in the oven.

Stuffed Portobellos I made this recipe by combining my favourite ingredients in stuffed mushrooms.

Ingredients: 8 large portobello or portabella mushrooms, stems removed 1 package cream cheese, softened to room temperature 1 egg 1 tbsp lemon juice 1 clove garlic, minced ¼ tsp celery salt 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper (optional) or regular black pepper to taste

1 ¼ cups smoked cheddar or gouda cheese, finely shredded 1 small package frozen crabmeat OR 1 cup frozen seafood mix, chopped, OR bay scallops, chopped, OR salad shrimp, thawed ¼ cup roasted red (or sweet fresh red) pepper, finely chopped ¼ cup each finely chopped onion, celery, carrot (or mirepoix) ¼ cup panko bread or cracker crumbs ¼ cup grated parmesan cheese Melted butter Finely chopped chives for garnish Directions: Preheat the oven to 350°F. Set portobellos on a parchment lined cookie sheet and set aside.

With a mixer whip softened cream cheese, egg, lemon juice, garlic, celery salt, and pepper. By hand, stir in thawed seafood, smoked cheese, and chopped veggies.

Using a medium-sized cookie scoop, place this mixture gently onto portobellos being careful not to overstuff. Gently press with fork to slightly flatten.

Mix crumbs with parmesan and sprinkle a little over each stuffed mushroom. Drizzle with butter to cover crumbs.

Bake in a preheated oven for 3040 minutes or until evenly browned.

Watch in the last 15 minutes to avoid a mess from bubbling over.

Serve hot with finely chopped chives sprinkled on top. love rice pudding at the best of times. It seems like the perfect snack or dessert to have on a cold day!

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the cinnamon or nutmeg, vanilla, and raisins (plumped in boiling water, drained) until the end of cooking time because it makes the rice look less appealing by giving it a more brown colour. When serving, you can also add nuts for protein as a garnish and chopped fruit (apples or berries).

Old-Fashioned Rice Pudding (For Crock Pot) Ingredients: Butter for greasing crock pot.

2 ½ cups cooked rice (2 cups water, 1 cup raw rice, 1 tsp salt cooked for 15 minutes) 1 ½ cups evaporated (I use 1 full can) or scalded milk 2/3 cup brown or white sugar 3 tbsp butter 3 eggs, beaten ½ - 1 tsp nutmeg or cinnamon 2 tsp vanilla extract ½ cup – 1 cup raisins (optional) Directions: Grease the crock pot generously with butter. Thoroughly combine rice with remaining ingredients and pour into a prepared crock pot. Cover and cook on high for 1-2 hours or on low for 4-6 hours. Stir during the first 30 minutes. (I stir throughout the cooking time to avoid pudding sticking to the bottom and burning— it is just what happens in MY slow cooker.)

Note: this recipe may be doubled for 112 or 144 oz models. I have an extra-large crock pot and have done up to 5 times the batch to have leftovers for a couple of days.

Wherever you are in the cold winter, I hope you enjoy the comfort of your favourite hot foods! ◊ ~ Carolyn Crawford can be reached at carolynbcrawf@gmail.com

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January 2024 31

Advice

• By Lisa Boonstoppel-Pot •

Economic weakness will continue The economy is slowing down but interest rates likely won’t decrease until the latter half of 2024, says senior economist

Justin Shepherd

T

he Canadian economy is slowing down and interest rates will go down but it likely won’t happen until the latter half of 2024, predicts a senior economist with Farm Credit Canada (FCC).

Speaking at the Young Farmer Summit held November 28 virtually and in-person in Ontario, Justin Shepherd of Fergus gave young farmers an idea of what the economic climate will look like this year and next as he reviewed interest rates, climate change and international trade.

“Navigating inflation is the main piece of the puzzle but it doesn’t necessarily impact your farms. What really impacts farms is interest rates,” said Shepherd. In review, he stated 2023 was a transition year with “cracks starting to show” and there will be “continued weakness” into 2024. However, he believes borrowing costs have peaked.

“We are in a market where the short term rate is higher than the long term rate. That is something that only happens every few years and typically means there will be a recession in the future,” said 32 The Rural Voice

Shepherd. “We do not think we will see a strong recession…more a weakness in the economy.”

At some point, the inverted interest rate scenario needs to uninvert, so that short-term money costs less than long-term loans. “We are looking at 2025 for that to happen,” said Shepherd. All this could change if Canada goes into a hard recession, which would force the Bank of Canada to cut rates rapidly to jumpstart an economy in trouble. Again, he stated that FCC does not believe there will be a strong recession.

Canada got into this place because demand for produce exceeded supply.

During COVID-19.

Consumers began spending on vehicles, housing and consumer goods because they were not able to travel. The demand exceeded supply which means inflation. “Fifty percent of Canada's economy is driven by consumer spending,” said Shepherd.

Food inflation has been the highest, peaking above 10 per cent when Shepherd says the Bank of Canada considers two per cent a healthy inflation. In total, inflation rose above eight per cent, which is when the Bank of Canada rapidly increases interest rates to balance future inflation. “It takes six to 12 months for those interest rates to impact inflation,” explained Shepherd.

Prior to COVID-19, Canadians were spenders. In fact, most Canadians, if they earned $100, would spend $97 of it. “We tend not to save in this country,” said Shepherd. Currently, as inflation digs into consumers pockets, they are spending $95 of that $100.

Shepherd says housing prices play a role in our spending. When housing prices go up, consumers spend as though they actually have that money, even though they don’t.

Similarly, when housing prices go down, consumers feel less wealthy so they spend less.

Other economic predictors Shepherd addressed included: ● Unemployment is around five per cent which is historically low.

Job growth is strong and he predicted future softness in wage growth, such as one to two per cent. ● The Canadian economy is starting to slow down as homeowners face the reality of impending mortgage renewals at higher interest rates. “They will have to spend more of their disposable income to service their debt,” said Shepherd. ● The Canadian dollar is slightly weak which is actually beneficial because it increases profits for those selling grain and meat products. A slightly weaker dollar is “beneficial to agriculture in Canada'' compared to a strong dollar. He predicted the dollar will “stay flat” through 2024. ● Grain and oilseed prices are moving in separate directions as the Canadian west, the southern United States and in countries like Brazil and Argentina have experienced drought. ● Cattle prices have been healthy which is also affected by drought as limited amounts of hay and stunted pastures and rangeland forced cattle ranches to reduce their cattle numbers ● Farmers can expect lower input costs for 2024. “They won’t be back to 2019 levels, but neither are commodity prices,” said Shepherd.

America has been shipping diesel fuel to Europe to meet their demand which is lowering diesel stocks and influencing prices. If Europe has a cold winter, this is something to watch as it affects diesel prices. ● There have been fewer farms coming up for sale, but the appreciation in farmland values continues. ◊

Advice

• By Lisa Boonstoppel-Pot •

Is you farm in a state of decay, stability or growth?

Answering this question requires three accounting statements because numbers represent reality far more than your bank account

T

here are two questions that can ease stress and help farmers make wise decisions on their farms, says Mark Verwey, a chartered accountant with BDO Canada who spoke at the Young Farmers Summit(s) held across the country in November.

“The first question is ‘What is the impact of this decision’”, said Verwey. The second question is “How easy will it be for this decision to be implemented?”.

Before answering those questions, farmers need to first ascertain if they are in a state of decay, stability or growth, with growth being the ideal.

Verwey said many farmers will say “stability” but “it’s dangerous to think you are in stability when really, you are in decay.” In fact, the answer is rarely stability.

In these times, there are many impediments to growth. They include rising input costs, fluctuating market prices, supply chain challenges, weather variability and rising land prices. “That weather…some are calling it climate whiplash,” said Verwey.

In order to meet those challenges and maximize growth potential, farmers need to be aware of two key statements: a balance sheet and a statement of operations. Numbers, said Verwey, represent reality, are verifiable, and more accurate than the money in your bank account.

A balance sheet categorizes your current assets, liabilities and shareholders’ equity to assess your value. A statement of operations keeps track of your revenue and expenses to determine your net income.

“Using these two statements together, you can create what I think is the most important page – the Owner’s Equity Accumulation.” This statement will accurately measure a farm’s growth.

A balance sheet and statement of operation are two key documents to help farmers make wise decisions on their farms said Mike Verwey (right), a chartered accountant with BDO, at the Young Farmer Summit hosted by depreciation and amortization) Farm Credit Canada. divided by (interest plus current portion of long-term debt). A To help farmers understand the good debt service ratio means a importance of these documents, farmer can add more debt to the Verwey shared his personal health operation. A poor debt service ratio experience which involved two heart is challenging because “it says you procedures and being a candidate for can’t service your existing debt.” knee replacement. “What they forced The debt to equity ratio is balance me to do was look at my health and sheet focused and compares the total what I need to be healthy. In all the debt of your farm to the value of your research I did, I found three things I farm operation. The equation is debt need to do: flexibility, cardio and divided by equity. strength.”

After creating the statements and Relating those three elements of analyzing the ratios, a farmer is able health to finances, Verwey said to accurately determine if the farm is flexibility can be compared to in a state of decay, stability or working capital ratio, cardio to debt growth, said Verwey. service ratio and strength to the debt From here, it’s back to the original to equity ratio. questions of “what is the impact of Working capital ratio is calculated this decision” and “how easy will it by dividing current assets with be to implement this decision.” These current liabilities. “Some financial questions help decide priorities, institutions like that ratio to be $1.25 particularly if you create a chart and of assets to $1 of liabilities,” said label each decision in a range from 1Verwey. Farmers with a high 10. Then, you can visually see which working capital ratio have a lot more decision had the highest impact with control over their operation. the greatest ease.

A debt service ratio measures the “Having a set plan for making farm’s ability to service the existing decisions will give you peace of debt it has. The calculation is mind,” concluded Verwey. ◊ (earning before interest, taxes, January 2024 33

Woodlots Donna Lacey is a forester with the Saugeen Valley Conservation Authority

Chainsaws have sight lines to help you drop a tree Recently, I attended a workshop that was offered by the Bruce Grey Woodlands Association. The instructor was actually one of the two people that signed off on my Cutter Certification in 1992. This training session reminded me of all of the items that I was taught so many years ago.

I attended as a bystander, not a trainee, which was a different role for me and offered the opportunity to just listen and relish the information shared. While it was pretty awesome to watch both experienced chainsaw operators and relatively new operators, it was also neat to see just how much I have actually retained from my teaching. I sure hope that my cartography professor doesn’t expect me to have the same recall. I

suppose it was easy for me to remember because it was all very practical information shared to keep me and my colleagues safe.

The workshop was a half-day inside followed by an afternoon outside with the saws running. The inside learning started off with what I would call general chainsaw safety, leading off with necessary safety gear for the chainsaw operator.

Operators should wear a hard hat outfitted with a screen and muffs, along with either chaps or pants that are designed for chainsaw safety, safety boots, and leather gloves.

Some operators may prefer to wear safety glasses and ear plugs. For the Cadillac in safety, I recommend the operator wearing safety glasses while using a screen. It is important to ensure that muffs are properly rated and in good condition to ensure effectiveness.

I prefer pants over chaps as I feel that they provide greater safety. In my experience, chaps shift and move a lot while in use. This movement may result in the ballistic nylon to move from where it is needed.

Chainsaw pants and chaps are outfitted with ballistic nylon in the most often encountered danger places. Ballistic nylon will save the user by filling the chain with fibers that stops the chain from turning, it essentially jams it up.

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34 The Rural Voice

 Feasibility Studies & MDS  Soil Health

Other important pieces of information reviewed included such things as parts of the saw as well as the dangers of kickback when cutting using the noon to three o’clock location of the bar and chain. Also discussed were the handguard, hand brake, the inertia brake, and the chain catch on the underside of the saw.

Another feature mentioned was the often forgotten, at least by people under 60, anti-vibration features. The final item that I will list is the sight line. Most of these safety features are very casually included with each chainsaw manufactured in the past few decades.

Who has operated a chainsaw and not experienced a kickback incident?

I think most of us can be very grateful that we have experienced a kickback without any outcomes that required a first aid kit or worse.

Knowing where the risks are is the first step in avoiding them. Operators should avoid cutting with the top to middle of the bar tip as much as is possible to avoid kickback. If a kickback should occur and the operator’s hands are in the correct position on the handle, the hand brake should stop the chain.

The hand brake is in a location that covers most of the handle that would be used in regular cutting. It is incredibly important to remember that the hand brake should always be engaged when you are not cutting, especially when you are walking between cutting areas. The process is simple – if the saw kicks upwards or you rock your hand forward, the brake will engage and stop the chain from turning. This is a very valuable safety feature that just works.

Should the operator experience a kickback or other sudden movement while operating the saw, the inertia brake will engage. The inertia brake will also stop the chain from turning.

It is important to note that while both of these brakes are incredible safety features, an operator could still be cut severely by the force of the chainsaw when it makes contact with skin.

Chainsaw teeth, if properly cared for, are very sharp and will penetrate many materials. I have seen many close calls in damaged safety

equipment to prove the importance of avoiding kickback and wearing safety gear.

Many people that operate a saw do not heed much notice to the small plastic or aluminum piece that is on the underside of the saw furthest out from the handle. This small piece doesn’t look like much, but if your chain were to come off during cutting or outside of the tree, you will be very glad that it is there. This little item will stop the chain from flying free from the saw and right into you.

Anti-vibration adaptations keep operators from suffering from many common ailments like white finger disease or Raynaud’s Phenomenon.

Young people will not understand just how important this feature is if they haven’t operated an old saw or even a trimmer. Many people don’t know why the saw flexes a little between the handle and the motor.

Most operators would notice that the bottom for the trigger handle has a wider side to it. While this width may help those that chose to start the saw on the ground, that really isn’t its main purpose. Should the chain come free from the bar, this wide section will protect the hand that is most vulnerable.

When I went to college for forestry I never really knew what my Dad thought of the stuff I was learning. I didn’t know if he thought it was a ridiculous waste of time and money or if he saw any value in it.

Following my lessons in chainsaw safety and cutting, I was given the opportunity to cut wood at home. It was at this time that I was using the sight line on the saw to determine exactly where I was going to place the tree, if all went right. My Dad was quite surprised to learn about this feature that was on every saw he owned. All saws manufactured in the last few decades have a sight line on them that runs around the top three sides of the saw, basically perpendicular to the handle. If you read the tree appropriately and use the sight line, you should be able to drop any tree where you wish, if there are no obstacles.

There is so much more to say about this, I hope I have started off well, more to come. ◊

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Markets Scott Krakar is a Grain Merchandiser with LAC Inc., Hyde Park, 519‐473‐9333

Distrust between China and the United States has China trying to buy more from South America

F

or quite some time central banks have been making aggressive efforts to slow inflation. Interest rates were moved up significantly and very quickly, in an effort to bring down the seemingly relentless higher prices of goods.

Higher interest rates make it more difficult for consumers who buy on credit to keep purchasing goods and leave less disposable income for discretionary spending.

As borrowers focus on paying increased debt servicing, such as increased mortgage payments, there is less available for other wants and needs. Higher borrowing rates also make it more expensive for business likewise, as business loans for working capital and investment cost more to finance. Unfortunately the high capital requirements of farming also make growers susceptible to higher rates. The result of all of this is that consumer buying slows, and business investment is also curtailed as fewer projects show an investable business case with higher rates.

Lower spending results in less inflation. While this is good for fighting inflation, it can also spark a recession if this monetary tightening is over extended.

Economists indicate the effect of the higher interest rates is working in tempering inflation. Economic growth is faltering in much of the

36 The Rural Voice

developed world, and most impactfully – the U.S. economy is slowing. While this is good news for inflation, it is not positive to commodity prices in general. Less economic growth means less demand for goods and services.

Not only is economic growth faltering, but trade flows between nations are also uncertain. There are ongoing wars in the Black Sea region and the Middle East, both of which could disrupt market flows.

There are fractured relationships between some countries that are also large trading partners. An example of this is the United States and China.

The U.S. is a big buyer of manufactured goods from China, so there is an interdependency between them. China is also the largest consumer of U.S. agricultural products. It is apparent that there is growing distrust between the two nations and that China is making moves to become less reliant on U.S. ag products, in favour of South America and the Black Sea region.

But while China may have a desire to move away from U.S. supply, the reality of this transition has not been feasible.

South American weather has been difficult in some regions over the past few growing seasons. Last year, Argentina had a devastating drought and crop losses were widespread.

The ramifications of this drought are still ongoing, as Argentine soy crush facilities cannot find beans to crush.

This has been to the benefit of U.S. crushers, who have been experiencing wide crush margins, as they sell products to countries that Argentina could not service.

This planting season, Brazil has had difficulties also. Northern Brazil has been experiencing drought, while southern Brazil is too wet. The difficulty in planting and establishing a crop in Brazil has recently supported futures prices. These crop worries have caused buyers from China to purchase more beans from the U.S., to bolster their supplies in the event that crop shortages do develop in South America again this crop cycle. This, of course, will be determined by the weather this

growing season. And although the weather has been tough to begin the crop, the region has been seeing a higher frequency of rain in the driest areas.

Nevertheless, many analysts are expecting production forecasts for Brazil to decline. Brazil is now the largest grower of soy in the world and therefore even a small decline in production can result in the loss of large volumes of product. A mere five per cent reduction in Brazilian production is a whopping eight million tonnes of soy. This slight reduction is more than double the entire production of Ontario soys.

But it’s not just soy that China is buying from the U.S.. They are also looking for wheat. China had heavy rains in key growing areas prior to their wheat harvest. Heavy rains at harvest severely downgrade the quality of wheat as every Ontario grower knows, as we have experienced downgraded quality for the exact same reason here at home as well. So far this year, China has bought more than one million metric tonnes of U.S. wheat, the vast majority of it being Soft Red Winter.

Ontario’s harvest is wrapping up.

Corn yields have been a mixed bag, depending on the region. Some areas are seeing phenomenal yields, while others have been disappointing.

Ultimately the early dryness, followed by wet weather later in the season did not work for heavy, poorly drained soils.

Corn quality has been a challenge in some areas also. Vomitoxin is pretty widespread in much of the province, with some tests reaching extremely high levels. This has translated into some very high levels of industrial processing byproducts such as distillers grains.

Winter wheat production will be down significantly from last year's high acreage. Currently it seems that planted acreage will be down about 25 per cent from last year. While this reduction is large, it is widely due to the fact that last season had a much larger crop than average. This fall Ontario growers planted about the average planted acres for the province. ◊

Agrilaw John D. Goudy is a partner in Scott Petrie LLP Law Firm, and also farms north of London.

Should the old law, Statute Labour, be reenacted for the 21st century?

I

probably shouldn’t have been surprised, but I was surprised upon learning recently of a municipal by-law requiring landowners to keep grass and weeds down below a maximum height on the municipal boulevard abutting private properties.

The by-law was passed by an urban municipality – a city in the GTA area – and applies to all “private land” regardless of its use.

While it is easy to picture the small strip of grass located between the edge of the street or sidewalk and a residential front yard and to understand why a municipality might expect the homeowner to cut the grass on the boulevard (road allowance) strip if the homeowner is cutting the lawn on the private property anyway, what about larger farm properties or industrial properties within the municipality?

Is it fair to impose an obligation to maintain large stretches of municipal property on non-residential landowners? Is it legal?

It turns out that boulevard maintenance by-laws are fairly common in Ontario. A 2012 report from the “Boulevard Maintenance Task Force” to municipal council in one community explains the rationale and authority for the by-laws: “Most residents and business owners … assume responsibility for

maintaining turf areas on municipal boulevards abutting their properties, however, some property owners only cut the grass within their own fenced yards or only up to the limit of the sidewalk fronting their homes. This practice creates an unsightly, unkempt appearance within the community particularly on residential corners and side lots. […]

“Amendments to the Ontario Municipal Act now authorize municipalities to enact By-laws requiring property owners to maintain the boulevard areas abutting their private properties. Enforcement of the By-law would be similar to the current practice whereby Enforcement Officers would respond to complaints by conducting site visits and providing formal notice to the owner to cut the grass. However, if the owner chooses to ignore the notice, the Town will undertake the work and add the costs incurred (including administration and overhead) to the tax roll.”

I have been unable to find any specific authorization in the Municipal Act, 2001 for by-laws that require property owners to maintain abutting municipal lands, whether within a road allowance or not. The preamble to the by-law I looked at from the GTA-area municipality refers to the very broad authorizations in Section 11 of the Act, which permit by-laws for the “economic, social and environmental well-being of the municipality, including respecting climate change” and for the “health, safety and wellbeing of persons.” The Act also provides that municipalities may require a property owner to clean and clear the owner’s own land and may prohibit and regulate with respect to public nuisances. However, there doesn’t appear to be any specific authority to require private landowners to carry out maintenance work on municipal-owned property.

Another by-law I reviewed stated in its preamble that: “AND WHEREAS … section 446 of the Municipal Act, S.O. 2001, c.25, grants a municipality the authority to direct or require a person to do a

matter or thing, and the municipality may also provide that, in default of it being done by the person … directed or required to do it, the matter or thing shall be done at the person’s expense and, the municipality may recover the cost of doing a matter or thing from the person directed or required to do it by action or by adding the costs to the tax roll and collecting them in the same manner as property taxes”. However, Section 446 of the Act doesn’t actually grant authority to order someone “to do a matter or thing” – it only provides for the municipality’s right to charge back the cost of doing the matter or thing where a person doesn’t do it.

The municipality still has to have had the legal authority to order someone to do something in the first place.

So are municipalities really authorized to order landowners to maintain the municipal boulevard or road allowance adjacent to private lands? Keeping weeds and grass down to an acceptable height along streets and highways is certainly a reasonable goal that should be supported by all members of a community. However, boulevard maintenance by-laws don’t just call on certain members of the community to devote time and expense to the upkeep of public lands; a requirement to carry out work on municipal lands also shifts the risk of liability to private landowners. I didn’t see any by-law that mentioned protections for landowners who are required to enter upon and carry out work on boulevards or road allowances. If damage is done or someone gets hurt, the landowner may very well be on the hook.

If there is legislation that authorizes a municipality to require private landowners to carry out operations on abutting municipal lands (and to take on the risk of liability), it doesn’t seem to me to be the Municipal Act, 2001. There used to be a law in Ontario called the Statute Labour Act, which obligated landowners to contribute labour to maintain municipal roads. The law dated back to the first Acts of the

January 2024 37

People Parliament of Upper Canada in 1793 and effectively enabled property owners to contribute labour in lieu of paying taxes in cash. The original Act provided: “That the roads and highways, in and through every parish, township or reputed township shall be cleared, repaired and maintained by the inhabitants thereof, and that every person being a householder or freeholder, shall either in person or by a sufficient man in his stead, be obliged to work on the roads …”. The Statute Labour Act was repealed on January 1, 2022 and no new legislation has been passed to replace it. ◊ ______________________________ John D. Goudy’s law practice includes real property and environmental litigation, expropriation law, energy regulation, and regulatory offences. Agrilaw provides information of interest to the farming community, not legal advice. Readers should consult a legal professional about their particular circumstance.

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38 The Rural Voice

Tree-planting “luthier” crafts custom guitars Lennon Nemirovsky plants trees over the summer, then returns to Ontario to work at his other job — a luthier.

Lennon repairs stringed instruments and also creates custom‐made guitars in the woodworking shop at his grandfather’s home in Tavistock.

By Gary West

A

craftsman called a “Luthier” is part of Tavistock’s fabric, making and repairing stringed instruments in his grandfather’s woodworking shop.

Lennon Nemirovsky is honing his skills and making guitars in his grandfather’s (John Schultz) woodworking shop, on Woodstock Street North in Tavistock.

The 24-year-old studied at a variety of educational institutions including London’s Fanshawe College, Ryerson and the Summit School of Guitar building and design in Bowser, British Columbia.

After moving back to Toronto, he started creating hand-made guitars in his own bedroom!

Since September, Lennon’s Grandfather has enjoyed watching him work in his woodshop above the garage behind his house.

In the spring and summer months, Lennon enjoys his job as a seasonal tree planter in B.C and Alberta, working out in bush camps where he enjoys the life of living outdoors.

He’s spent four years with “Folklore”, a seedling tree planting company which plants spruce, pine and fir trees. This summer Lennon was close to Prince George when

wildfires consumed thousands of acres of forests and trees, and smoke was everywhere.

Lennon, who is also a guitarist, is now back in Tavistock, working on finishing a guitar for a friend of his, who plays and sings in a band.

All the wood products making up his guitars, come out of “A&M” specialty wood products in Cambridge. He uses Indian Rosewood, Mahogany (neck), Ebony Frett Board, Red Cedar (top plate) and Cherry (for the back and sides).

His specialty tools include Japanese saws and plainers, while working with many hand tools created exclusively for making stringed instruments.

Commissions charged can range anywhere from $2,000 and up, for a custom made, one-of-a-kind guitar, with a sound unlike any other massmade guitars.

He has a template for different sizes of guitars. The sound is greatly affected by the wood used and the style in the crafting of the instrument.

The young entrepreneur invites inquiries and those interested in having a custom made guitar to contact him at lennon.nemirovsky @gmail.com or call 226-448-5122. ◊

The

Rural Voice

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January 2024 39

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Contact Courtney Grain & Seed (2015) Ltd., 225 Hwy 21, RR 1, Ripley. Phone 519-395-2972. Ask for Carmon or Mitch.

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40 The Rural Voice

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Posthaven Limousin, John Post, 519-766-7178. John Jr. 519-8311869. www.posthavenlimousin.com -------------------------------------------RESTORATION -------------------------------------------The Olde Tyme Radio Centre antique radios, clocks, gramophones, telephones; sold/restored. (vintage autoclock radio repairs). Golden Oldies Antiques For Sale. Belgrave 519357-4304, www.oldtymeradio.ca -------------------------------------------SERVICES -------------------------------------------Cronin Poured Concrete Ltd. Since 1976. Liquid manure tanks to 200'.

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-------------------------------------------WANTED -------------------------------------------Dion threshing machine 22x32 or 22x38. International or John Deere grain binder. 905-983-9331 -------------------------------------------Farmland - Long or short term. Cash rent, share crop. Contact Paul at Hill & Hill Farms, 519-233-3218 or 519-525-3137 or email: paul.hill@tcc.on.ca -------------------------------------------Scrap Cars Wanted. 20, 30, 40 yd. scrap metal bins available. We sell quality used auto parts. Wanted to buy - scrap cars, trucks, farm machinery, heavy equipment.

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January 2024 41

National Farmers Union – Ontario NEWSLETTER ● Strong Communities ● Sound Policies ● Sustainable Farms

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he N F U-O’s free on-line Human Resources training for farm operators is back by popular demand!

Are you looking for advice and support on how to train and manage your staff next growing season?

Or maybe you have management tricks and tips for a healthy, fair, and energized work environment that you wish you knew before you hired your first employee?

Whether this is your first year hiring staff or whether you have decades of management experience, by coming together we can collectively learn from our successes and our mistakes. By sharing our onfarm management insights we can improve our operations and help small and mid-sized farms across the province become more resilient and more attractive to job seekers.

“I learned so much from the panelists,” said one anonymous participant of the NFU-O’s 2023 HR offerings. “And I used the resources and templates to successfully hire my first employees!”

“Even though I’ve hired and managed farm workers for over 10 years,” said another 2023 participant, “these sessions gave me so many tips on how to foster a happy, communicative, and cooperative work environment.”

Join us for the second year in our series of four two-hour free on-line HR training modules, where our team of agricultural H R experts will provide a crash course on best management practices. The four sessions will cover:

Hiring and Incentives – Wednesday, January 31 7-9 p.m.

Find out how to hire effectively!

This session will include a discussion on deciding what type of employees will work best for you, how to develop a job description and interview questions, job advertising options, and building an incentives package.

HR Fundamentals – Wednesday, February 7 7-9 p.m.

Scared of the paperwork? Not anymore! Learn about employment standards and legislation, health and safety and W S I B requirements; payroll and wages, grants and costshare programs, and other general logistics.

Interpersonal Dynamics, Training, and Retention Wednesday, February 21 7-9 p.m.

Want to create a friendly and cooperative work environment? You’ve come to the right place! Experts will share employee handbook and orientation designs, training and development tips, equity and discrimination policies, stress and wellbeing measures, staff retention strategies, and more.o

Planning, Task Management and Delegation Wednesday, February 28 7-9 p.m.

Being a good manager means staying organized! Learn successful time-tracking, strategic management and planning tips. Explore a variety of staff management approaches and how to motivate and evaluate staff.

Learn how you can you support employee routes to equity, co-ops, and/or other partnership.

Join us for one session, or for all.

In addition to hearing from our expert panelists, participants will receive a variety of HR materials, including: job advertising and recruitment method tips; how-towrite job descriptions, employee handbooks and orientation templates, payroll and wage templates, scheduling and time-tracking templates, grants and cost-sharing tips, and more!

These sessions will help your farm become more resilient and more attractive to job seekers.

If you have any questions and/or would like to participate in our HR programming, please contact David Thompson (david@nfuontario.ca) or call 705-738-3993 ext.102. ◊

Human resources training for farm operators is back. The program is funded by the Ontario Ministry of Labour.

A subscription to The Rural Voice is one of the benefits of being an NFU-O member 42 The Rural Voice

Perth County Pork Producers NEWSLETTER

C

Henry Groenestege, President * The Rural Voice is provided to Perth County Pork Producers by the PCPPA perthcountyporkproducers@gmail.com

Green goals, grey realities: The net-zero quest

anada has committed to reaching economy-wide netzero GHGs by 2050, aiming to slash global emissions in half by 2030. The Canadian government has set various legislative measures to meet the goals, with the most important being the Canadian NetZero Emissions Accountability Act. Currently, the government is developing its Sustainable Agricultural Strategy (SAS), outlining the indicators, tools and actions that could help the agri-food sector meet the target.

What does “net zero” really mean?

Interpretations of “net zero’” usually refer to reducing GHG emissions to the greatest possible extent and balancing what’s left.

‘Offsetting’ and ‘insetting’ GHG emissions are two basic strategies for agriculture. Offsetting allows producers to compensate for emissions already produced by investing in environmental projects outside of their operations, to reduce their carbon footprint. Insetting incorporates carbon reduction directly into the production business model, such as conservation tillage, crop rotation and manure management. Producers can combine offsetting and insetting practices tailored to the on-farm contexts to progress towards the net-zero goal.

Are some net-zero goals out-of reach?

The net-zero approach represents a good attempt to tackle climate change in theory, but in practice, the path is burdened with complications. This will require significant adjustments for the agrifood sector, including how we produce crops and livestock, eliminate food waste and manage biodiversity. Transitioning to net zero often requires substantial investments in new technology, equipment and procedures. For agriculture alone, RBC suggests costs will be $2.5 billion annually to cut emissions from 73 mega-tonnes in 2019 to 43 megatonnes going forward. While current

government programs can cover some of the cost, it is unclear how public incentives can guarantee longterm commitment.

Technological limitations also challenge innovation. Despite scientific progress, we are still in the early stages of creating scalable, efficient and cost-effective climatesmart technologies. While other sectors have identified many technologies that could substantially reduce emissions, these are not readily available in agriculture.

And there’s another problem: nitrogen. We still have much to discover scientifically when it comes to understanding biological processes that contribute to GHG emissions, especially the nitrogen cycle.

Nitrogen encourages carbon sequestration by promoting plant growth, so it must be managed carefully. As the nitrogen enigma becomes better-understood, we may find out that the net-zero calculations are even more complicated than previously thought. The existing knowledge gaps in agriculture make net zero unfeasible with today's tools.

Find a more balanced way forward Even if all of the recommended best management practices are implemented, the agri-food sector has little chance of attaining net zero.

Despite the associated risks, many agricultural sectors have already committed to pursuing these environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals.

While the Canadian pork industry’s carbon footprint is comparatively low, we have significant potential to reduce our overall environmental impact. Hog farmers are constantly striving to improve on-farm practices to lower their input costs and generate positive ecological outcomes.

Yet, some experts consider the net zero commitment necessary to fasttrack progress, while others argue that additional regulations and taxes should accompany the pledge;

however, relying on legislation rather than cooperation undermines the incentive for producer engagement.

Initiatives that measure and enhance producer sustainability support the broader industry's transformation efforts. Sustainability as a principle – rather than net-zero commitments – balances all associated factors to ensure the industry’s long-term viability, rather than only targeting GHG emissions in the pursuit of a one-dimensional objective.

Given that the obstacles to net zero are significant, acknowledging them does not justify inaction.

Instead, it demands a more realistic approach.

Prioritizing best management practices is important, but producers are not the sole drivers of change. We should shift our attention and invest profoundly in research and development to address technological gaps and develop strategies that work for everyone.

The reality of arriving at net zero is grey because, regardless of which direction we take, no solution is completely green. Instead of unreachable targets, we should understand that the path toward sustainability is a series of steps, and every step in the right direction is critical. ◊ ~Source: A truncated version of one which appeared in the Canadian Hog Journal, Fall 2023. Written by Katerina Kolemishevska, Canadian Pork Council's Director of Policy Development. Published with permission.

LOCAL PORK PRODUCTS AVAILABLE Order today from:

Tanya and Darryl Terpstra (519-291-7603) or visit Leis Feeds in Milverton – Open Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and Saturday from 8 a.m. to noon

Pork supplied by: Perth County Pork Producers

January 2024 43

519-364-3050 or 1-800-275-9551 Grey County Federation Email: grey@ofa.on.ca Website: greyfederation.ca of Agriculture * The Rural Voice is provided to OFA Members in Grey County by the GCFA

The effects of weather on a farmer’s mind It has been no secret that the weather has played a huge roll on the outcome of many commodities in the agriculture industry this year. From an unpredictable spring with high input costs to a wet summer, leading into a short-lived fall and yet again an early winter for some with crops still in the field. These factors created the perfect storm that traveled through the seasons of calving cows in damp freezing conditions, planting crops in very small windows of good weather. The summer came with about one day of above 30 degree weather. Causing many to use the option of wrapping hay instead of drying it. Cash crops were held back in their stages and pastures were saturated with water. The fall came with small windows for harvest, great yields but high moisture crops with higher drying fees, reduced qualities and low prices in some commodities. Being a farmer myself I know exactly what strains a year like this can have on the mentality of farmers dealing with unpredictable effects of mother nature. A few weeks ago I came across a piece done by the late Paul Harvey for the Dodge Truck commercial. It goes like this…

And on the 8th day, God looked down on his planned paradise and said, "I need a caretaker." So God made a farmer.

God said, "I need somebody willing to get up before dawn, milk cows, work all day in the fields, milk cows again, eat supper and then go to town and stay past midnight at a meeting of the school board." So God made a farmer.

"I need somebody with arms strong enough to rustle a calf and yet gentle enough to deliver his own grandchild. Somebody to call hogs, tame cantankerous machinery, come home hungry, have to wait lunch until his wife's done feeding visiting ladies and tell the ladies to be sure and come back real soon -- and mean it." So God made a farmer.

God said, "I need somebody willing to sit up all night with a newborn colt. And watch it die. Then dry his eyes and say, 'Maybe next year.' I need somebody who can shape an ax handle from a persimmon sprout, shoe a horse with a hunk of car tire, who can make harness out of haywire, feed sacks and shoe scraps. And who, planting time and harvest season, will finish his 40-hour week by Tuesday noon, then, pain'n from 'tractor back,' put in another 72 hours." So God made a farmer.

God had to have somebody willing to ride the ruts at double speed to get the hay in ahead of the rain clouds and yet stop in mid-field and race to help when he sees the first smoke from a neighbor's place. So God made a farmer.

God said, "I need somebody strong enough to clear trees and heave bales, yet gentle enough to tame lambs and wean pigs and tend the pink-combed pullets, who will stop his mower for an hour to splint the broken leg of a meadow lark. It had to be somebody who'd plow deep and straight and not cut corners. Somebody to seed, weed, feed, breed and rake and disc and plow and plant and tie the fleece and strain the milk and replenish the self-feeder and finish a hard week's work with a five-mile drive to church.

"Somebody who'd bale a family together with the soft strong bonds of sharing, who would laugh and then sigh, and then reply, with smiling eyes, when his son says he wants to spend his life 'doing what dad does.'" So God made a farmer.

Reading this piece made me realize that getting depressed and frustrated at what we cannot control should be brightened by what we can control and the pride we should take in knowing we supply our country and the world with food and products. Without farmers, the world would look a lot different than it does. The next time that the effects of the weather take a toll on your thoughts of why you are doing this profession, take a step back and look at the big picture. Let that brighten your day.

Submitted by: Kevin Raszmann, Director GCFA

Next GCFA Meeting January 10 via Zoom, Call our office for details

We want to hear from you...

Do you have any questions, concerns, comments, suggestions for the GCFA? Or even an agriculture related event that you would like to see promoted on the Grey County page?

Please send them to grey@ofa.on.ca Or call 519-364-3050 Ext 1

Annual Curling Bonspiel February 17th at Williams Ford curling club

9am and 11 am Draws - Two 8 end games (lunch included) Prizes for all players Please call 519-364-3050 Ext 1 or visit our website for more details

Please support our “Build A Barn” Campaign when visiting our booth during Grey Bruce Farmers Week

* The Rural Voice is provided to OFA Members in Grey County by the GCFA.

44 The Rural Voice

Contracting for 2024 Food Grade Soybeans SQWH S07-M8 S12-J7 OAC Aberdeen OAC Bruton GMO-White Hilum

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More varieties available for contracting. Please contact Pete Rowntree pete.hillhill@tcc.on.ca

38631 Mill Rd., hillhill@tcc.on.ca RR #1 Varna, Ontario N0M 2R0 www.varnagrain.com 519-233-3218

519-233-7908 1-877-433-7908

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www.barnpainting.ca DORCHESTER

CHRISTIAN FARMERS Federation Of Ontario

CFFO

WORKING FOR ONTARIO FARMERS

When registering for your Farm Business Registration Number...

CHOOSE CFFO AS YOUR ACCREDITED FARM ORGANIZATION! We advocate for policy that encourages Christian stewardship and supports thriving family farms.

Register by March 1, 202 at: www.agricorp.com/FBR For assistance, contact: info@christianfarmers.org or 1-855-800-0306.

KEEPING FAITH IN FARMING www.christianfarmers.org

Happy New Year!

The Rural Reading Room Specializing in Rural Living & Local Authors

GRANDMA YOU’RE THE BEST Humorous and inspirational quotes celebrating brilliant grandmothers by dozens of famous people, ranging from Mark Twain, the Dalai Lama and Audrey Hepburn to Homer Simpson. $13.95

Hello, Farm! (Tuffy Book) EVEN COWS GO TO HEAVEN QUILT YOUR STORY Linda Knox tells the often funny Say hello to this busy farm and see a Turn favourite t-shirts, uniforms story of her father Melville Knox John Deere tractor hard at work. Learn and clothing into a memory quilt. who was born near Stratford, names and sounds of farm animals. This You will find over 22 projects trained at Ontario Veterinary indestructible book with washable, which include how to deconstruct chewable pages is perfect for teething College, and practiced veterinary and prepare your fabrics and babies and busy toddlers who like to play medicine in Grey County for many in the dirt! Built-in teether is safe for what tools you’ll need to sew your years. $14.95 “everything in the mouth” babies $13.50 new creation . $26.99

WOODPECKERS OF NORTH AMERICA Woodpeckers are fascinating birds, using their beaks to find food and communicate. See beautiful colour photos and learn about 28 North American species, their feeding habits and their benefit to the environment. $24.95

BARNYARD GAMES & PUZZLES Join your favourite farm animals for games, jokes and puzzles barnyard style! Crawl your way through a worm squirm, or find out how to tell if there are cows in your refrigerator. $12.95

GRANDMA YOU’RE THE BEST EVEN COWS GO TO HEAVEN HELLO, FARM! (TUFFY BOOK) QUILT YOUR STORY WOODPECKERS OF NORTH AMERICA BARNYARD GAMES & PUZZLES MEGA MACHINES ACTIVITY BOOK WHITEWATER COOKS

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WHITEWATER COOKS Together again The top of the food chain at a Nelson gathering is the bearer of a Whitewater Cooks dish. A community could be built on such great food and Shelley Adam’s recipes are foundational for elevating our communal experience. $36.95

Send cheque or money order for full amount to: Books: North Huron Publishing P.O. Box 429, Blyth, ON N0M 1H0 or call and pay by credit card 519-523-4311 MAIL BOOKS TO: Name:_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Address: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ______________________ Code _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Phone: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Prices subject to change with increases in wholesale prices, postage, taxes, etc.

Please refer to current issue for correct figures. Incorrect payment will delay delivery.

Email: bruce@ofa.on.ca website: brucefederation.ca

NEWSLETTER

519-364-3050 or 1-800-275-9551 * The Rural Voice is provided to OFA Members in Bruce County by the BCFA

Farmer Wellness Initiative 2024 Directors Meeting

When a tire is flat, we fix it. When the fence is broken, we fix it. When the calf is sick, we fix it. When we are “broken”, why don’t we fix us?

Let’s face it. We have all been there in some form or another. Struggling.

Struggling at home, at work, in the field, or in the barn. It’s happened.

And it’s okay that it does.

Farmers have been thought of as being such a resilient breed for decades. And we are. After all, farming is hard work: long days, debt, weather, and stress thrown in the mix, sure doesn’t make our job any easier.

We regularly deal with forces of nature beyond our control. Unpredictable weather, market volatility, and government regulations are often major stressors for those of us in the agricultural industry. When we deal with overwhelming amounts of stress, it can lead to anxiety and depression, whether we want it to or not.

We are all human. But it is our nature, to not let our true colours show. The ideal of being resilient is important to all of us. We wouldn’t want anyone to know that we may be having a difficult time. It is in our character, to put our work and family ahead of our own well-being most days.

The rates of stress and mental health issues are much higher among people who work in this industry as compared to the general population. The many constant demands, pressures and time constraints that come with this business, often make us numb to our own needs.

January 22 February 26 March 25 April 22 May 27 June 24 August 26 September 23 October 25-Annual Meeting November 11

Farmers are profoundly independent creatures. It is unnatural for them to ask for help. Breaking down these barriers is needed today more than ever before. Allow your voice to be heard. Give yourself credit for the tough times you have survived.

It is okay to not be okay. We need to start advocating for our own needs, as well as those around us. Talking more, listening more and asking more.

Recognizing that something is “broken” is a first step. Going to battle for yourself, a family member or friend and finding the supports that are needed, is possible. We can stop the stigma surrounding mental health now.

Together, we have the strength to overcome anything. None of us are expected to go on this journey alone.

Reaching out to help your neighbour is what we do best.

After all, we wouldn’t let them mend the “broken” fence alone, would we?

Happy New Year to all the farm families in Bruce County.

Wishing you and yours all the very best for 2024!

Tammy Young BCFA Vice President * The Rural Voice is provided to OFA Members in Bruce County by the BCFA.

January 2024 45

Perth County Federation of Agriculture Email: perthcountyfedofag@gmail.com Website: www.perthcountyfarmers.ca Office: 1-833-229-6834 Julie Danen, President: 519-801-9200

What it is like being a veterinarian in rural Ontario...

Veterinarian Derek Van De Walle with one of his Jersey cattle

H

i, my name is Derek Van De Walle and I am a large animal veterinarian. I’ve been given many titles: some more conventional, like doc and doctor, to more unique ones such as the cow whisperer, bovine OB/GYN, or even the “rural rectal tourist”.

I have been practicing for two years at a predominantly dairyfocussed clinic, and so there is admittedly some truth to these labels!

During this time - besides nicknames - I get many questions about being a vet. Whether it’s a student riding around with me for the day, or my great aunt Martha inquiring about my life, I find it difficult to describe what this profession fully encapsulates.

For me, my day starts and ends in a barn as I have a herd of jersey cows of my own. Between my own chores, I head to work, and check in with the receptionist to see what emergency calls have come in. With scheduled on-farm appointments, and some office work, emergencies can turn your day around in an instant!

It's a bit of an art for the clinic to manage what is thrown at us.

Oftentimes, I am nowhere near where I thought I would be, looking at an

animal that I have never seen before.

I tell students shadowing me, to expect the unexpected and be comfortable being uncomfortable.

Being a veterinarian is a profession in which you are always learning. No amount of schooling can prepare you for every situation you’re put in. It’s why I am especially grateful for my 4-H years where you “learn to do by doing” using the experience and tools at hand.

I joke with my medical equivalents on the human side that “real doctors can treat more than one species”, but secretly envy that their patients understand that they are trying to save them, not kill them!

They can at least ask their patients “what’s wrong?” and get more than a moo, or a kick in the shin as an answer.

Being a large animal vet in rural Ontario can be demanding: on your schedule, your body, and at times, your emotions.

Being truly “off” of work seems like a foreign concept sometimes, because if you aren’t on call, you might be still answering texts from clients, helping out with a local 4-H club, or at a conference learning

about the newest method to synchronize heats on cows.

And then there’s my truck. My truck is both a pharmacy and my office, as well as my wardrobe and lunchroom. Unsurprising to some, some days I feel as if I live out of it.

Seeing the countryside out of my window makes my commute to farms well worth it, even if the potholes and snow drifts on the dirt roads taint that view.

Regardless of where my truck takes me, I am often working with 1500 lb livestock in all kinds of climates and hours of the day alongside farmers who care deeply about their animals. As a herd vet I’m a member on a farm’s team, consulting with the farmer, employees, nutritionist, hoof trimmer, breeder, crop advisor, and anyone else involved.

Being invested in the farm makes it satisfying to be able to improve the health of both individual animals and farms as a whole. Having said that, when things go wrong, I myself as the vet feel it too.

It may not be the calling for everyone, but it is truly a very rewarding and fulfilling career.

Working with some of the most progressive farms challenges me to be a better veterinarian and makes getting out of bed to answer the phone well worth it.

With more years ahead of me, I look forward to the many adventures - and titles along with it - to come! ◊ ~ Submitted by Derek Van De Walle, PCFA Vice President

Mark your calendar January 26 in St. Marys PCFA Annual Meeting Follow PCFA social media and website for more details

* The Rural Voice is provided to OFA Members in Perth County by the PCFA.

46 The Rural Voice

Index Allied Associates ........................31 Argyle Marine & Small Engines..39 Armstrong’s Home Bakery ..........31 Bautec Industries Inc ..................15 Belore Trailers ............................39 Bernie McGlynn Lumber ............35 Bervie Supply ................................7 Canadian Co-operative Wool ....28 Chalmers Fuels............................20 CFFO ..................................Cover 7 CMHA Ontario ..............Cover 3, 19 Crafter’s Corner ..........................20 Crop Quest Inc ............................34 Cross County Eavestrough ..........7 DeDell Seeds ..............................47 Design & Build ......................24, 26 DL Distributing ............................39 Dundalk District Credit Union ......11 Easy Lift Doors Ltd ......................14 Farm to Table ................................4 Feeney DesignBuild ..........Cover 4 Fieldwalker Agronomy ................39 Gladys Munro ..............................39 Green Valley Heating Inc ............35 Grey-Bruce Farmers’ Week ..........3 Hanover Honda..............................2 Harold Jones Enterprises ..........40 Hayden Water Wells ....................11

Hayter & Associates......................8 Hearing Life Canada Ltd ............17 Highland Fuels & Supply ............23 Hill & Hill/Varna Grain....Cover 2, 5 Hub Capital ........................................35 Huron Commodities ....................35 Kingwood Bins....................Cover 6 LAC ..............................................47 Lakeside Shelving & Racking ....23 Legge Fitness Superstores ..Cover 4 Leon Brubacher ..........................17 Lisa Thompson MPP ....................19 Live Landscape ..........................28 Lucknow Auto Parts....................40 Mapleview Agri Ltd ......................19 Marcrest Backhoe ......................40 Marquardt Farm Drainage Ltd ......6 Martin’s Nursery ..........................41 McLeod Water Wells Ltd ............23 Morris Sachs Silo Construction ..15 Nature’s Wave Inc ........................16 Nu-Matic Systems ........................3 OFA ..............................................13 R & M Gorman Hay & Straw ......39 RCS Forestry Mulching ................2 Ridgeway Metals ........................40 Rural Voice Books........Back Cover Schmidt’s Farm Drainage ..............9

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Schweiss Doors ..........................20 Seebach & Company ..................15 Silver Creek Nursery....................41 St. Lawrence Cruise Lines ..........15 Steffen Well Drilling ....................40 Stephen Thompson Accounting ..9 Superior Barn Painting ......Cover 6 SWO Diesel Inc ..................Cover 5 Townsley Barn Painting ..............38 Trimit Field & Forest ....................17 Triple P Consulting......................44 Usborne & Hibbert ........................9 WD Hopper & Sons Ltd ................7

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January 2024 47

HURON

42 First Avenue, Clinton, Ontario N0M 1L0 519-482-9642 or 1-800-511-1135

County Federation of Agriculture NEWSLETTER

Huron County Federation of Agriculture well represented at the 2023 OFA Annual Meeting in Toronto

Website: www.hcfa.on.ca Email: ofahuron@tcc.on.ca

Upcoming Events January 1 Happy New Year January 3 Grey Bruce Farmer’s Week 2024. Full details at www.greybrucefarmersweek.ca January 16 District 8 Huron Grain Farmers meeting at 9 am, Holmesville Community Centre.

January 17 Huron County Beef Producers Annual Meeting, Brussels February 21 & 22 Goderich and Area Ag Show 2024 Memorial Arena, Goderich

Congratulations to OFA Zone 7 director Ethan Wallace on his election onto the OFA Executive Committee for the 2023/2024 year.

Attending this year were back row: Anna Vincent, Murray Workman, Dave Frayne, Mike Eckert and Arletta Hallahan, Middle row: Joanna Wallace, Shawn O’Rourke, Ethan Wallace, Erica Murray and Neil Vincent. Front Row: Rob VandenHengel.

MPAC Property Assessments Landowners have received updated MPAC Property Assessments. Please read your assessment carefully. The deadline to Request a Reconsideration regarding your property Assessments for agricultural properties is on your assessment.

Maintaining your Farm Property Class Tax Rate program status Maintaining your farm’s status in the Farm Property Class Tax Rate program cannot be overstated. To have the Farm Property Tax Rate applied to the assessed value of your farmland and farm buildings, you need to have a valid Farm Business Registration (FBR) and participate in the Farm Property Class Tax Rate program.

The programs are administered by Agricorp (1-888-247-4999; contact@agricorp.com). Farms not enrolled in the Farm Property Class Tax Rate program are taxed at the full Residential Property Tax Rate unless another property assessment classification applies.

Farms already enrolled in the Farm Property Class Tax program remain enrolled in future years as long as there have been no changes in the farm’s ownership, farm business registration number (FBR) status, etc.

Farm Business Registration (FBR) status To be eligible, the property must be actively farmed by a farmer with a valid Farm Business Registration (FBR). Your

(or your tenant’s) registration must be renewed annually. The FBR deadline is March 1st of each year. In some situations, Agricorp will accept later registrations.

If a farm operation’s gross farm income has dropped below $7,000, the land may still qualify for the Farm Property Class Tax Rate Program. To discuss eligibility, contact Agricorp.

Agricorp administers both the Farm Property Class Tax Rate program and the Farm Business Registration program.

New Farm Operations New farm owners, or current farmers who purchase an additional farm property, need to contact Agricorp to be sure the sale doesn’t trigger the property to be reversed to the higher Residential Property Tax Class.

A new farm operation needs to have filed a Statement of Farming Activities with Canada Revenue Agency, declaring at least $7,000 in gross farm income, before Agricorp will issue a FBR number.

However, before a FBR is issued, a new farm operator can contact Agricorp to apply for a gross farm income exemption under the Farm Property Class Tax Rate program. Once an income tax return declaring gross farm income of at least $7,000 has been filed for the new farm operator, the farmer needs to apply for a FBR number through Agricorp. With their new FBR number, the farmer needs to notify Agricorp’s Farm Property Class Tax Rate program

HCFA Director’s Meeting 8:00 pm Monday, January 22, 2024 Vanastra Office administration so the new FBR number can be linked to the farm’s Property Tax Roll Number.

Appeals There is limited time to appeal if you have fallen into the higher Residential Property Tax Class. Usually the appeal deadline is stated on correspondence from either MPAC or Agricorp. The deadline is normally March 31st of the taxation year.

Your first interim municipal tax bill won’t likely reflect a change to a higher Residential Tax Class. In many cases, your final municipal tax bill will arrive after the appeal deadline has passed.

Therefore, your MPAC Property Assessment Notice is key information to alert you to call Agricorp’s Farm Property Class Tax Rate program administration regarding the property tax class status of your farm property. Be sure to have your Property Roll Number and your Farm Business Registration Number handy when you call Agricorp.

Questions?

Additional information is available on the Agricorp.com website, including how the Farm Property Class Tax Rate Program works (https://www.agricorp.com/enca/Programs/FarmTaxProgram/Pages/H owItWorks.aspx).

If you have further questions about the Farm Business Registration, or the Farm Property Class Tax Rate Program, please call the OFA Area Office for Huron/Perth 1-519-803-0419 or loni.elliott@ofa.on.ca

The Rural Voice is provided to all OFA members in Huron County by the Huron County Federation of Agriculture

48 The Rural Voice