MARCH 11, 2020 - WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION DECLARES COVID-19 A PANDEMIC
Serving Tavistock and area since 1895 VOLUME 124 • NUMBER 24
MAIN STREET A QUICK LOOK AT OUR TOWN!
THIS ‘N’ THAT This is Spring Break +2 weeks for the school children … how things have changed in one week’s time! … last week at this time (March 8) the Public Health Agency of Canada reported 62 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and that the public health risk remained low … not so this week; the numbers have climbed to 375 in Canada alone as of March 16th and last Wednesday, March 11th the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic … the following along with many other events have been cancelled locally - the Lenten Lunches at Grace United; the Annual Meeting for the Tavistock & District Historical Society; the Tavistock and Area Horticultural Society April meeting; and the list goes on including, schools, sports groups, churches, libraries etc. - the phrase of the day is “social distancing” … however, the first day of Spring arrives this Thursday, March 19th bring on the sunshine and enjoy a walk outside.
BIRTHDAYS & ANNIVERSARIES Simon Ruby is 12 today March 18th; Blake Zehr, 12; Karlee Satchell, 13; birthdays also for Reeve Hohl; Bruce Yausie … on March 19th Lennix Graham is one year old; a first birthday also for Oliver Smith; Aubree Diehl is 7; Owen Bender, 9; a birthday for Cindy Larsen … on March 20th birthdays for Kevin Zehr; Paul Heinbuch; Jack Holdsworth; and Brock Pellow … Caleb and Ethan Faulhafer celebrate their 9th birthdays March 23rd; Riley Oesch is 17; a birthday for Jenine Stock … on March 24th Josh Kimpel celebrates his birthday.
THE GAZETTE OFFICE WILL BE
CLOSED
THIS WEDNESDAY, MARCH 18TH Sorry for the inconvenience!
TAVISTOCK, ONTARIO, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 18, 2020
1.19¢+.06 HST = $1.25
A Proud Pig Farmer
The day personalized licence plates allowing seven characters was announced, Tom Murray rushed to the licence office for his new plates. PIGFRMR was the name he chose. Having spent a lifetime in the livestock business, Tom now labels his farm vehicles with that name. Tom is the eldest of five children of Betty and the late Jim Murray. The Murrays started out on Jim’s parents’ farm between Innerkip and Bright and spent a year in Brantford where Jim began dealing with dead stock. In 1960, the family moved to Hickson and in 1962, purchased 30 acres just west of Hickson and built Oxford Dead Stock. Their signature vehicle was a single-axle, red truck. “I grew up driving those little red trucks all over the place,” Tom recalled. After a short stint at Ridgetown College - ”I wasn’t getting anything out of it,” - Tom continued managing the family’s 1,000 beef cattle and 500 sow operations on their 1,400 acre properties. “I preferred my animals to be alive,” Tom said. In hindsight, he said he wished he would have stayed on at Ridgetown and got the (diploma) “piece of paper;” but the knowledge he acquired from his parents had far outweighed the value of the courses he was taking. Tom had already been managing the farm and two full-time employees. With the larger herds,
BILL GLADDING / TAVISTOCK GAZETTE
Tom Murray has been in the pig business over 30 years and is proud of the industry. Tom began driving tractor trailer rigs and picking up Western calves from the northern counties. “At that time you could buy pigs and cattle and mix them together,” he said. The family slowly grew the sow herd from 100 to 500 while switching the beef operation over to pig production. In the meantime, his two younger brothers became involved in the dead stock business. It was sold to Rothsay, a division of Maple Leaf Foods, in 2008. Tom married Cheryl (Ramseyer) on November 29, 1987 at Tavistock
Mennonite Church and for the first year and a half, they lived in the farm house on the dead stock property. Later, in 1988, Tom and Cheryl purchased one of Tom’s parents’ farms on the 9th Line, on the border road of Zorra and East ZorraTavistock townships. It was here that they raised their two children, T.J. and Melissa. T.J. and his wife Victoria now have three children, Alexis, River and Lennyn. Their daughter Melissa (Missy) and husband, Matt Habsch have a son, Ryker. As the pig business grew, Tom, Cheryl and
their son T.J. established TNT Swine Inc. and are currently transitioning the business to T.J. His wife, Victoria, works as the office manager. A fire at their home farm in June of 2012 forced them to rebuild their barn. They now have a 2,500 head fi nishing barn as well as about 2,000 head at multiple contract barn locations in the surrounding area. “They are run by many good people,” Tom added. TNT Swine has three tractor trailer units and they ship 1,000 pigs a week to their co-op at Conestoga Packers. There are 158 private owners in Conestoga Packers and they process about 40,000 pigs a week at the facility. “There should be three Mondays in a week,” Tom said. “Everybody wants things done on Monday.” TNT Swine also hauls all their own feed on their own trucks. Just as Tom was hoping to cut back on his work, he was offered a job as sales and customer service representative for Eastern Canada for Zantingh Direct Inc., a company based in Wyoming, Ontario. Tom is also currently a director with the Oxford County Pork Producers and a member of the Pork Congress committee. He is a past member of the Hickson Lions Club and had coached softball for many years in Hickson. Cheryl recently retired as manager of the D.H. Jutzi Ltd. gas bar in Ayr
after 19 years with the company. Five years ago Tom and Cheryl moved to Tavistock and built a new home in Fiddler’s Glen. Now with four grandchildren, “there’s one or more at the house most days,” Tom said. Tom’s mother, Betty, lives in Fort Myers, Florida in the winter and Tom and Cheryl enjoy visiting at least once a month. They fly down most times, then drive her car back to Ontario when they return in April. The Murrays have been on many vacations, but last fall they were excited to have a 15-day tour of Africa. They saw Victoria Falls and took a safari in Kenya where they saw lions, elephants, cheetahs and crocodile. It was the off-season and “we were treated like kings,” Tom said of the experience. “It was better than the Caribbean … and the Indian Ocean was 98 degrees.” For the last municipal election, Tom put his name on the ballot. Although unsuccessful, “I do believe in giving back to the community as much as possible,” he said. “I’m still interested in the running of the Township,” he added. “I think it’s run well.” Tom suffered a slight concussion in January of this year, so cutting back on his workload is a priority. “It’s time to give the younger generation a little more control,” he admitted.
COVID-19 • TEMPORARY MEASURES MAY BE NECESSARY FOR GAZETTE These are scary times. The Coronavirus, or COVID-19, which began in China the end of December 2019, has now transmitted all around the world. Canada is not immune. For that reason, with the start of March Break this week the world as we knew it has changed drastically. From the closure of schools for an extra two weeks after March Break to the cancellation of
community gatherings and entire sports seasons, we are living in an unprecedented age. In providing local news since 1895, the Gazette not only relies on community events for us to report on, but we need our advertisers and subscribers to support this newspaper fi nancially so that we can provide these services. On Monday morning, the Gazette was full of
events and advertising, however, one by one these events and ads were cancelled. During this immediate crisis, while people are asked to isolate themselves, the majority of planned events and happenings that we report on have disappeared. And for good reason. This pandemic is not to be taken lightly. We can all do our part. We may have to cease
providing the printed version of the Gazette for the next few weeks and make it available online only on our website: tavistock.on.ca. If this happens, all print subscribers who don’t have internet access will have their expiry date extended. We ask that you bear with us during these uncertain times. If you have something to advertise or other life
events to announce, please continue to send them to us at tavistockgazette@rogers. com. There is also an opportunity here for digital advertising campaigns. Access to your business and stationery printing needs will continue as usual. Without your support, we simply will not be able to continue. Stay healthy! ~ The Editor and his wife