the citizen's salute to agriculture

A Salute to

AgricultureMarch 2016

A Special Supplement to

The Citizen

PAGE A2. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 2016.

Farm to play big part in Cowbell Brewing Company

Part of the announcement of theBlyth Cowbell Brewing Companywas that an on-site farm would beproviding ingredients not only forthe beer to be brewed there but forthe food on the menu of the on-sitebrew pub.

The company, which is a Sparlingfamily venture, seeks to put abrewery, brew pub and farm on theproperty at the corner of CountyRoad 25 and London Road, justsouth of Blyth.

According to Vice-President andGeneral Manager Grant Sparling,having the opportunity for a farm tobe on site was always a big part ofthe plan.

“The site where the brewery isgoing to be has been a farm for itsentire life,” he said. “It was a cattlefarm and a crop farm. It’s importantfor us, as a rural destination, with thegoal of remaining authentic, that wehave some sort of farm aspect at thebrewery. The components that aregrown there will be used for thefoods and the beer and it seemed likea natural thing to incorporate intoour destination facility.”

While the specifics are still beingironed out, the farm will be a placewhere fruits and vegetables aregrown, alongside barley and hops.

Unfortunately, having the bestbrews will mean reaching a littlefurther afield than the back 40 forthe best ingredients.

“As far as the brewing side, thesupply chain in Huron County forbrewing ingredients is pretty muchnon-existent,” Sparling said. “Theclosest maltster would be in Guelph,but they don’t have the capacity toprovide for us.”

Moving forward, Sparling said,the Guelph site might be used for thecompany’s malting, but they didn’thave enough stock to provide thecompany with the vital brewingingredient now.

“The mandate is to have as muchas possible sourced or processedlocally,” he said. “When that doesn’tapply, however, we will get the bestin the world.

“Right now, our malt is comingfrom Germany and the hops will becoming from all over the world,”Sparling said. “For thoseingredients, we can’t sourceanything in Huron County. For therestaurant and other things we plan,we’re working with a list of 30 to 40Huron County vendors and suppliersand will be speaking with themshortly. We’re getting as much forthe restaurant as we can from HuronCounty.”

Sparling said specific dishes oringredients haven’t been discussedyet, however one of the things thatthe company is proud to announce isits on-site wood-fired pizza oven.

“It would be a differentiator forour restaurant from the area,” hesaid. “It’s neat from a visualperspective as well as makingexcellent pizzas. The menu hasn’tbeen confirmed, but we will have thepizza as well as quite a few differentburger options, as it all pairs greatwith beer.”

As far as Blyth’s existingcommunity agricultural program, thecommunity garden at the CanadianCentre for Rural Creativity, or theformer Blyth Public School,Sparling said he didn’t know if thetwo ventures would work together.

“We’re not sure how the garden isgoing to play into our plan,” he said.“Some of the restaurant ownersaround town were excited aboutfresh fruits and vegetables coming

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A big footprintAs part of its proposed brewery and brew pub, BlythCowbell Brewing Company will have a farm on-site, asshown in the darker green in the above map. The grounds

to the east of London Road, shown at the top of the picture withNorth being to the right, will provide food for the restaurant andingredients for the beer. (Photo submitted)

Continued on page A19

THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 2016. PAGE A3.

Anniversary gala to focus on 2017 IPM, food court

With the 2017 InternationalPlowing Match (IPM) now one yearcloser, those at the head of the matchare focusing their attention onsponsorship, since much of theplanning is already in the books.

IPM Secretary Lynne Godkin saysthat in the next few months manycommittee chairs will be submittingtheir final plans for the historicevent – the 100th actual IPM in theyear of Canada’s 150th birthday –and then many of those involved willbe turning their attention to theHuron County Federation ofAgriculture’s 75th anniversary galaon Saturday, April 9 at the Knightsof Columbus Hall in Goderich.

The special event, set to be hostedby the federation, will feature theIPM as the “entertainment” Godkinsaid. It will also serve as the kick-offfundraiser to provide start-up fundsfor the “Harvest of Huron” foodcourt that will include localcommodities at the 2017 IPM.

According to a press release fromthe federation, proceeds from thefood court, which will includestations from many local farmorganizations like the Huron CountyBeef Producers, will be distributedthroughout the county.

The event is called “The Plantingthe Seed for the Harvest of Huron”75th anniversary gala.

Godkin assures those interested inattending that the IPM committeehas some special entertainmentplanned for the evening.

The idea for a locally-sourcedfood court first occurred to members

of the committee in 2013, Godkinsaid, when those involved with the2017 match attended the IPM inPerth County. A local food court atthat match really succeeded inhighlighting local producers andshowcasing the great food grown inthat community. The same will bedone for Huron County in 2017,Godkin said, as they work to includemore and more groups every yearleading up to the IPM.

Godkin teaches family studies atCentral Huron Secondary Schooland she says she’s often appalled bythe quality of food offered at eventsand fairs. In Huron County, residentsare so lucky to have highquality foodproduced right at home, so the IPMwill do its best to showcase that tothe best of their ability.

Godkin says that the food court isjust one part of what the committeeis hoping to do with the IPM, whichis really to shine a light on all that’sgreat about Huron County, from itsfood to its landscape to its people.

“That’s what the IPM is all about.It’s about showing off HuronCounty. It’s not just our food, but oursunsets and just everything that’sunique about living here,” she said.

This won’t be news to many ofthose who live in Huron County,

Godkin said, but with so many newCanadians in nearby urban areas likeKitchener and London, the matchwill be a chance to show thesepeople what’s great about HuronCounty.

To continue the theme ofshowcasing not only what’s greatabout Huron County, but aboutCanada in 2017, the year Canadaturns 150, five themes have beenimplemented for the five days of thematch, Godkin said.

Each of the five days has an “H”attached to it. The themed days willfocus on aspects of life in HuronCounty and in Canada.

The first day will focus on Huronand the following days will focus onheroes (military and local firstresponders), hockey, heritage andthen finally “hundred and fiftieth” tocelebrate Canada and its 150-yearhistory.

Another recent development forthe IPM is making its own history,courtesy of Matt Townsend andtechnology students from ConestogaCollege.

Townsend recently attended thecollege in his capacity as the head ofthe event’s RV park. He was seekinga way to register people digitally on

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Long time comingIt’s hard to believe that it’s almost been three full years since it was announced that Waltonwould be the site of the 2017 International Plowing Match, and since the above picture wastaken, but it was June, 2013 in Seaforth when a (very warm) ice sculpture was revealedbearing Walton’s name. The above group has been hard at work as the process enters thehome stretch. (File photo)

By Shawn LoughlinThe Citizen

In 2014 Canada

exported $3.7 billion

in pork products to

over 100 countries.



4-H Clubs offer varied, unique experiences in Huron

Every year for the past century 4-H groups across the country haveprovided unique learningexperiences for youth in ruralcommunities. Locally, Huron 4-Hprovides nearly 20 different groupscovering a wide array of rural lifeskills from raising livestock tocooking.

Separated into nine differentcategories, the groups encourageyouth to experience different skillsand gain an appreciation andknowledge of rural life.

Incoming President RegVinnicombe said this year there is anexciting list of programs beingoffered. He said the start times aredifferent for each club, with somerunning year-round and some beingtied to the season.

“We had our annual generalmeeting in February,” he said. “I’vebeen on the Huron County 4-HExecutive for six years and I alsohelp with the Grey TownshipLifeskills Club and this year islooking to be a very excitingopportunity.”

The county has two beef clubswhich specialize in not only raisingbut showing beef livestock. Thegroups work throughout the year toraise the best animals possible to beshown and eventually sold for meat.

The Belgrave and Brussels BeefClub show at the Brussels andElemenatary School fairs while theLucknow Beef Club has itsachievement day at the LucknowFall Fair.

For more information on the clubs,contact Holly Holyoake at 519-777-5738 for the Lucknow club or KimHiggins at 519-357-9398 for theBelgrave and Brussels Beef Club.

Youth in the county who areinterested in participating in theswine industry have that opportunitythrough the Central Huron SwineClub.

The group shows at the SeaforthFall Fair as part of its achievementprogram and teaches participantshow to care for market hogs.

Those interested in joining cancontact Barbara Storey [email protected].

There are two 4-H dairy groupsthat serve Huron County: theLucknow and South Central Dairygroups.

The clubs focus on learning aboutcaring for dairy animals throughouteach stage of their lives and thenshowing the success.

For more information about theLucknow Dairy Club, contact Margaret Vincent at [email protected]

Sheep is tied for one of the mostpopulous number of groups in thearea with four separate 4-Horganizations. Three of the four arein the northern part of the countywhile the South Huron Sheep Groupis the lone group in the south.

In the north, there are the NorthHuron, Lucknow and Howick sheepgroups. For more informationcontact Margaret Vincent [email protected] for theNorth Huron Sheep Club, JoanFinlay at [email protected] for theLucknow group or Deb Falconer at519-233-5393 for the South HuronSheep Club.

The Huron Goat 4-H Group is allabout the different skills needed toraise goats. In 2015, according to thegroup’s organizers, members learnedto build kid treatment boxes, tastedall manner of goat products andlearned how to give needles. Thegroup also toured local goat farms,learned how to identify pregnancy in

goats through ultrasound,participated in postmortems andmore. In 2016, the group is set tolearn about breeding andreproduction and show members’project goats at the Zurich andSeaforth fairs.

The Huron Goat 4-H group is ledby Angela Gerretsen, a veterinarianin the Mitchell area, and AmyVingerhoeds. For more information,contact Vingerhoeds [email protected]

For field activities, there are two4-H organizations running: the SodBusters 4-H Group and the LucknowField Crops 4-H Group.

The former focuses on plowingand is a mainstay of the HuronCounty Plowing Match every year.The group’s achievement day takesplace before the plowingcompetition and sees memberscompeting for a chance to participatein provincial and nationalcompetitions.

For more information, contactMelissa Veldman at 519-317-8470.

The field crops organizationfocuses on the planting, growing andharvesting of field crops.

The lifeskills courses providedifferent experiences for participants

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Learning by doingMembers of the 4-H Proud Pollinators Jaxson Curran, left, and Maisy Jefferson prepared a radioshow as a means of learning about ants beetles. These kinds of activities open the participants toinformation and practices they otherwise may not get to experience. (File photo)




College to developprogram for IPM

Fall Fair, IPM plan moves towards finalization

Showing offWith the 2016/2017 school year just around the corner, plans regarding the partnershipbetween the 2017 Brussels Fall Fair and International Plowing Match (IPM) are close to beingfinalized. With a large emphasis on the events’ educational programs, those involved hoped tohave plans to teachers before the end of the current school year. A part of the 2017 IPM willbe the Fall Fair’s annual 4-H beef achievement program, seen above in 2015. (File photo)

With the budding partnershipbetween the 2017 InternationalPlowing Match (IPM) and theBrussels Fall Fair inching evercloser, those involved are focusinglargely on the education of areastudents.

Peggy Sloan, who is co-chair ofthe education committee alongsideCrystal Whyte, said that very earlyin the process, education wasidentified as one of the mostimportant aspects of the partnership.

Sloan has been a teacher for 18years, first in Clinton then inGoderich, while Whyte is a chickenfarmer, as well as a trained teacherand long-time volunteer with theSeaforth Fall Fair’s educationalprogramming.

The relationship between BrusselsAgricultural Society President MattCardiff and chairs from the IPM hasbeen smooth from the beginning,Sloan said and they’ve been inagreement since very early on thateducation was going to beimportant.

It’s crucial, Sloan said, that theBrussels Fall Fair be both integratedinto the IPM, but have its ownidentity at the event as well.Educational programming is one ofthe ways, she said, to ensure thatstudents visit the fair and absorb

some of its generations-old heritageand culture.

One of the earliest concepts on thetable at IPM educational meetingswas that of a “Plowing Passport” forstudents attending the match. Notonly would the passport ensure thatstudents saw as much of the matchas possible without getting boggeddown at one attraction or another,but it would also ensure that theyvisit all the IPM has to offer, takingin experiences they may otherwisenever see.

The passport will reallyincentivize seeing as much as youcan at the IPM. The passport willcontain 10 stops throughout thematch, Sloan said, and if a student isable to collect six stamps, they’llreceive a prize.

Another very early decision in theIPM’s educational planning was tofocus largely on soil. Without soil,Sloan said, nothing in the world ofagriculture works for one reason oranother. The importance of soil,what it does for the world and howto be a good steward of the land aresubjects that need crucial attentionfrom young students, she said, andthe IPM is hoping to bring them thatknowledge.

“From our very first meeting, ourcommittee has felt the importance tohelp students learn and understandthe importance of soil in agriculture

Continued from page A3a tablet-based program. The studentsare now working on a map of thegrounds and a program to allowpeople to register their RV throughtheir tablet.

When the program is complete(the students are working on it astheir final project of the year), it will be the first of its kind, she said.

Work is also continuing with the

IPM’s beautification committee,Godkin said, as those membersprepare to roll out their contributionto the event. Details of that programwill be released shortly.

The IPM committee is still on the lookout for volunteers, butvolunteers have to register onlinebefore they can officially be utilizedby the committee. For moreinformation, visit plowingmatch.org.

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‘Family Herald’ provides glimpse into the past

The evolution of the internet andsocial networking has brought thedemise of several print publicationsrecently but it’s not the first timebeloved periodicals havedisappeared. Recently KarenWebster brought copies of the finaltwo editions of The Family Herald toThe Citizen office.

The final edition was issued Sept.12, 1968 in the magazine’s 100thyear. After the announcement of theupcoming end of publication weeksearlier, the last two issues includeddozens of letters from readers acrossCanada saying how much they’dmiss The Family Herald and oftentelling of their long association withthe magazine.

Among those singing themagazine’s praises was H. GordonGreen, a former editor whoserecollections went all the way backto his boyhood when his grandfathersubscribed to the paper and forbadanyone to read it until he hadstitched it together with needle andstring (in the days before it arrivedstitched with wire) so none of the

pages would mysteriously disappear.Green recalled that his first short

story to appear in print was in TheFamily Herald in 1941, and said hehad never experienced as big a thrillas seeing that first story in print.

The magazine was still printingshort stories until the end, with fourin the final edition including “Aletter to my daughter on the day sheleft for college” by H. GordonGreen.

Green also recalled his pride whenhe took over as editor of The FamilyHerald following World War II. “Iwas not only in the top office of theoldest and most widely circulatedjournal in Canada, but even moreimportant, I was an editor of whatwas undoubtedly the friendliestmagazine in America. Surely noperiodical anywhere has ever been as close to its readers as this onehas.”

In its final days, the magazinefeatured editorials, weatherpredictions, reports on commoditiessuch as wheat, hogs and poultry,feature stories on important farmtopics (eg. “Can we afford alivestock industry”) and a substantialfamily section including advice inraising children, two pages ofrecipes and a youth page.

While much more colourful thanstrictly black and white newspapersof the day, The Family Herald stillused much less colour than similarfarm publications today (such as oursister publication The Rural Voice)and less even than The Citizen oftenprints. That’s because printingcolour was complicated andexpensive with the rotogravureprinting process used then comparedto the offset printing process anddigital composition pre-presstechnology used today. Aside from

the cover most of the colour in themagazine was on advertisements.

There were both familiar namesand names long gone among the

advertisers. Chrysler and GeneralMotors both advertised pick-uptrucks in full page, colour ads. Fordhad a double-page spread on tractorsfrom 32 to 105 horsepower andInternational advertised cultivatorsfrom 8.5 to 28.5-foot widths.Westeel-Rosco was advertising grainbins.

On the other hand there were adsfor companies like Beatty FarmEquipment of Fergus and DavidBrown tractors that, like themagazine itself, have long sincedisappeared. Particularly noticeableby today’s standards wereadvertisements for cigarettes in thedays before tobacco advertising wasprohibited.

Nostalgic for older readers will bea full page advertisement in colourfrom the Doubleday Book Cluboffering “Any four books for only 99

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Outstanding Young Farmer title means sense of pride

Mike and Amy Cronin of Bluevaleadded another accolade to theirfamily’s impressive list ofagricultural accolades last year whenthey were named Canada’sOutstanding Young Farmers for2015.

The title was shared with Patrickand Cherylynn Bos of Ponoka,Alberta and was announced at theannual Canada’s Outstanding YoungFarmers event held last November inEdmonton.

The Cronins were chosen from sixregional farm couples across Canadaafter they were named the OntarioOutstanding Young Farmers in Aprilof last year.

Mike and Amy, alongside theirchildren Alyssa, Tyler, Kyle, Liam,Emmy and Sam, operate CroninFamily Farms which consists of fivehog operations both in Canada andthe US with their main centre ofoperation in Bluevale. The companyemploys 65 people.

In previous years, the Croninshave been named to provincialboards, put in guiding positions fortheir industry and featured in theFaces of Farming Calendar, meaningthe national nod, following theprovincial one, wasn’t out of therealm of possibility, however, it wasstill a shock according to Amy.

“It was a huge honour for Mikeand me and for our family,” she said.“It doesn’t really change anything,but it keeps us excited about the

industry and really makes us want todo even more.”

As far as their co-winners, Amysaid they had only just met at thecompetition when they won, but shesaid she was very interested in whatthey do.

“There are a lot of interestingthings happening on the farmthroughout the industry,” she said.“All of the couples there werefantastic. We learned so much fromthem in the competition, but alsofrom the alumni.

“It’s an atmosphere of excitementand energy for the cultural industry,”she said. “The group of people thereare extremely positive aboutagriculture. It’s an great group to bea part of.”

Being a member of the alumni is

actually one of the greatest parts ofthe win, according to Amy.

“You don’t have to win thenational competition to be part of thealumni,” she said. “That’s a greatpart. Once you make it to nationals,you’re part of it. You forgefriendships with that cohort prettyquickly.

“The couples from the otherprovinces developed some greatrelationships,” she said. “Each year,the alumni come back together and alot of them continue to come back.That’s something we really lookforward to. Keeping in touch witheach one of those couples,supporting them in what we’re doingand learning what is working forthem.”

Amy said that, despite the fact that

there are very different backgroundsfor the couples within agriculture,everyone at the event was excitedabout their industries and theinnovations that are being broughtforward both in specific sectors andto agriculture as a whole.

“Whenever Mike and I are aroundfarmers like that, we learn a lot andit makes us think about what we’redoing on our own farm and how wemight incorporate some of thoseideas,” she said. “I wouldn’t say ithas made any major changes yet, butit’s part of that continuousimprovement we focus on at thefarm. Sometimes little things in howyou administer the farm or how youwork with human resource orproduction information can be


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After 25 years, local’s grazing event continues to grow

In 25 years, Tim Prior of BrusselsAgri-Services has been hosting hisannual grazing events and, in theprocess, has built a following thatcontinues to grow year after year.

This year, he welcomed twoexperts renowned the world over, aswell as exhibitors from throughoutthe province in what was his biggestinformation evening in history.

Over 250 people packed theBrussels, Morris and GreyCommunity Centre earlier thismonth for the event, which makes itPrior’s biggest ever indoor event. Healso hosts an annual outdoor grazingwalk at his home farm, however, thathas attracted as many as 350 people.

He says the experience has beenboth overwhelming and amazing andhe’s encouraged to see the supporthe’s received. But it’s not just aboutsupport for his business or theexperts he attracts from all over theworld, it’s encouraging to see howmany people are adopting goodmanagement practices and seeingthe benefits of good grazingstrategies on their farms.

It was 25 years ago, Prior said, thathe received valuable advice thatsuggested he hold meetings topreach grazing practices. The goalwas to get people involved and atthat first meeting, he did get peopleinvolved – six of them.

The event certainly had humblebeginnings, Prior said, but it wouldsee steady growth over the next twodecades and eventually expandedinto what it has become today: amust-attend for many farmers withinan hour’s drive of Brussels.

Now with meetings held at hishome and even trips that span theglobe to see how grazing is tackledthe world over, word is getting outand more and more people arelearning about how to make theirfarms better, Prior said.

This year’s event kicked off withBob Webb, the North AmericanSales Manager with Alltech CropScience.

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6-24-6Preaching the word

Bob Webb of Alltech Crop Science was one of the two featured speakers at this year’s grazinginformation evening, hosted annually by Brussels’ Tim Prior, at the Brussels, Morris and GreyCommunity Centre. Over 250 people attended this year’s event, which Prior says makes it themost well-attended in its history. (Shawn Loughlin photo)




Continued from page A8products would help farmers seebetter yields out of their farms due tobetter science and engineering.

He then outlined a number of thecompany’s products for those inattendance, including Soil-Set,

Crop-Set and Grain-Set.He said that companies like

Monsanto, Bayer and BASF arebusy investing in biologicals, sofarmers all over the world shouldtake note of what’s happening in thatrelatively new world.

The evening’s second speaker wasJuan Alvez, a pasture technical co-ordinator with an extremelyimpressive résumé.

Alvez is originally from Uruguay,where he was born into a two-generation family farm.

He then began studying in Braziland completed his Master’s Degreeat the University of Vermont with anextension in management intensivegrazing.

Alvez, the evening’s keynotespeaker, addressed the audience onthe topics of grazing and pasturemanagement, soil health, theenvironmental aspects of grazingand grazing tips.

His presentation, however,covered much of the history ofgrazing science, reaching all the wayback to Andre Voisin in France.Voisin was born in 1903 and was abiochemist and farmer and he isknown best for developing thetheory of rational grazing.

Much of the work Alvez does on aday-to-day basis and what he’slearned over the years, he said, canbe traced back to Voisin and hiswork in the early 1900s.

He spoke to the over-250 people inattendance about the importance ofrotating livestock through grazingareas. This work, he said, isimportant in terms of the health ofthe pasture, but also for the successof a farming operation.

When proper grazing methods areemployed, he said, animalsmaximize weight gains, adding to afarmer’s bottom line. If the methodsaren’t followed, he argued, yieldsdrop and the animals aren’t quite ashealthy as they should be.

He set the number at three days, he

said. Animals shouldn’t be in onepatch of pasture for more than threedays. Beyond that, statistics show adrop in production and animalweight.

Periods between rotation alsochange depending on the time ofyear, he said. They should rangeanywhere from 12 to 18 days inMay, he said, to 42 days inSeptember, slowly climbing higherevery month in between.

He also focused on the importanceof being a good steward to

agricultural land. If proper soil careisn’t recognized, he said, farmingwill cease to exist decades from now.

The world is losing soil, he toldthose in the audience, at a rate of oneCosta Rica per year, which he said isstaggering. Proper grazing and landcare can help care for the land onwhich all farmers depend.

For more information on Prior’sevents or his upcoming outdoorgrazing walk, planned for thissummer, visit the company’s websiteat brusselsagri.com.

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An expert in his fieldJuan Alvez, a graduate of numerous universities, includingthe University of Vermont, was the keynote speaker at theannual Brussels grazing information night. He providedthose in attendance with practical advice and a bit of ahistory lesson as well. (Shawn Loughlin photo)

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For some landowners, it’s beenhalf a decade since the microFIT(Feed-in Tariff) program saw solarpanels pop up on their property andbuildings that have started makingboth electricity and money.

Unlike wind energy, the solarpanels haven’t generated near theamount of controversy and,according to one microFIT leaseholder, the reason for that isapparent.

“You forget they are there,”Freddy Pot, an Auburn-area farmersaid. “Sometimes I’ll be driving tothe property from the south andremember that I have them because Isee them, but, usually, I don’t eventhink about them.”

The hands-off investment has beenthat way since day one, according toPot, who discussed the installationwith The Citizen as part of the 2011Salute to Agriculture.

“[Faromor Limited] moved in andtook care of the construction,” hesaid in a previous interview with TheCitizen. “I had nothing to do with it,and, even if I wanted to, my ownelectrician was too busy setting upother solar rigs.”

Despite a few hiccups withCentral Huron staff in regards todeposits for the project, the entireprocess went very well.

“I’d always wanted to redo mydrive shed’ he said. “I needed newdoors and the structure was in needof some renewal. Basically, the

rafters were good and needed someshoring up for safety’s sake, butaside from that construction wentvery smoothly.”

As far as an investment goes, Potsaid his farm, which has a roof-based system, is on par to pay off theoriginal purchase and installationprice near the seven-year markthanks to the rig makingapproximately $1,000 a month.

“After that seven years, theremaining time on the project will bepure profit,” he said. “It really is ano-brainer if you could get in on thesystem.”

He added the investment is purelya financial one and that, as far as

making money goes, it’s “prettyboring.”

“When you’re in the barn, there’sa connection between the workyou’re doing and the money comingin,” he said. “This one is boring. It’sjust there and it generates money.

“We get the notice e-mailed everymonth that lets us know that themoney is coming and that’s prettymuch it,” he said. “If it weren’t forthat, I wouldn’t even know that I hadit.”

Having the roof-mounted systemis something that Pot had beeninterested in since the microFITprogram was announced. He had no

Five years later, solar contract paying off: Pot

The quiet money-makerFreddy Pot, an Auburn-area farmer, says that deciding toparticipate in the microFIT program was one of the bestdecisions he’s made. He was originally profiled in TheCitizen’s 2011 Salute to Agriculture. (File photo)

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Good forestry practices on the rise: Pullen

Good forestry practices have beenon the rise in Huron County for thepast several years and ForestryConservation Officer (FCO) DavidPullen couldn’t be happier about it.

Several years ago, Pullen was atthe point that he was dealing with somany punitive measures through thecounty’s forest conservation bylawthat he didn’t have time to apply himself in any educational

or constructive way.Being such an agriculturally-

driven part of the province, HuronCounty needs good soil and cleanwater and forestation is vital to that.Because of that, Pullen felt heneeded to be spending more timelooking towards a future whereforests and trees were being wellmaintained and less time focusing onthose breaking the rules.

Fortunately, through someprogramming involving the HuronClean Water Project and other

initiatives, Pullen says that HuronCounty landowners are quicklygetting on board with best forestrypractices and getting away from anykind of forestry that breaks the rulesor isn’t sustainable.

“I would say that people, quite abit from word of mouth, have startedusing good forestry practices thatcan help sustain the income fromwoodlands,” he said in an interviewwith The Citizen. “That’s somethingwe’ve been encouraging in severalways.”

Since 2011, the number of bylaw

cases has decreased but the realmeasure of improvement is thenumber of people who aremaintaining their woodlots by goodstandard practices. As a matter offact, since the programs were madeavailable, the number of peopleutilizing those practices has morethan doubled.

In 2011, only 19 per cent of woodharvesting in the county was doneaccording to good forestry practiceswhile 81 per cent was done by whatwas called diameter-limit harvest.

“Diameter-limit harvests are part

of the bylaw,” Pullen explained.“Generally speaking, diameter-limitcut is where measurements are setout in the bylaw where a tree of acertain species has to reach a certaindiameter before being cut. That’s avery basic form of regulation in awoodland.

“What’s more preferable is theother way outlined in the bylaw,which is good forestry practice,” hesaid. “That involves using anindependent professional forester,and it allows trees of all sizes to be

Partnership naturalsays KernighanContinued from page A5and how it is important to bestewards,” Sloan said. “Ruth Knightis leading our soil activities with thehelp of Maria Speleta and JoannaWallace.”

Knight, Sloan said, is currentlyworking with area schools and thelocal conservation authorities. Thetwo local conservation authoritiesare already running pilot programsin schools that they hope will beused at the 2017 IPM, Sloan said.

In educating students about soiland its importance in the world ofagriculture, Sloan said it’s going tobe important not to simply lecturestudents and present them with aslew of facts, but to provide hands-on learning opportunities and enablekids to “get their hands dirty” andlearn about soil by actually puttingtheir hands into the ground.

In addition, one of the mostimportant aspects of agriculture isthe animals on farms throughout thecommunity. Sloan said that AnneliseRinggenberg and Bianca denHertogof the IPM’s animal tent committeehave been hard at work developingprogramming for younger students.

And education at the IPM won’tstop at the basics of the farm foryounger students who, Sloan said,are becoming more and moreremoved from the farm as HuronCounty’s farms grow and morestudents move into villages andtowns. It will also include anopportunity for secondary schoolstudents to learn about jobs thatcould enable them to work inagriculture as a career and remain intheir home county of Huron.

Joanna Wallace and Monica Ryan,Sloan’s sister, will be working in thesecondary school area of the IPM.Its focus will be to showcase anumber of different agricultural andtechnology careers that offer realopportunities in Huron County, butare often overlooked in many highschools for a variety of reasons.

The deadline for IPM educationalprogramming is quicklyapproaching, Sloan said. At a specialIPM planning meeting in mid-April,chairs will present their final plansfor educational programming. Thehope, she said, is to have these plansto teachers before the end of the2015/2016 school year, so they canbegin preparations to integrate theIPM into the 2016/2017 school yearahead of the match.

Mallory Kernighan, IPM specialfeatures co-ordinator, says thateducation is important for both theIPM and the Brussels Fall Fairbecause if those involved with theevents don’t educate the youth, therewill be no interest and no one tocarry on Huron County’sagricultural legacy.

Kernighan says that her firstencounter with the IPM was whenshe was a student and went with herschool when it was last in HuronCounty in 1999. For years, shewasn’t involved in the localorganization at all until she wasrecruited to be part of the 2017 IPM.

To her, the partnership betweenthe IPM and the Brussels Fall Fairseemed natural. The twoorganizations complement eachother in so many ways, she said, andaim to do a lot of the same things.

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Continued from page A11cut in the name of improving thewoodlot.”

Diameter-limit cutting isessentially cutting down all thebiggest trees, Pullen said.

“With that, you get somethingcalled high grading or ‘cut the bestand leave the rest’,” he said. “Thechallenge with that kind ofharvesting is if you do it that wayover two or three successiveharvests, you get to where there isn’tcontinuous quantities of good-quality timber. We’re encouragingpeople to manage their woodlandsbecause that way they can benefitfrom them.”

Since 2011, the numbers havemoved to parity, with nearly half ofall cuts being done according togood forestry practices.

Landowners hoping to make woodharvests a sustainable part of theirfarm income have a friend in thecounty according to Pullen.

“It’s something we’ve beenencouraging in several ways,” hesaid. “There’s a notice of intent thatall commercial loggers file, andthere’s a fee for that. One of thethings the county decided to do wasnot only waive that fee but to offerassistance as well through the HuronClean Water Project. There isfunding so people can get up to 50per cent of the cost of having anindependent forester come andanalyze their woodlot for the bestharvest.”

Pullen says that practice is reallybeneficial to woodlot owners andthere has been a lot of uptake on thatprogram.

“While I was spending themajority of my time working withpeople who broke the rules, I’m nowspending the majority of my timethrough that project and on proactiveadvice to improve their woodlands,”he said. “It’s always our objective todo more proactive work and lessreactive work with the bylaw andthat is the way this seems to begoing.”

Pullen said the county wants tohelp people make money off theirwoodlands in such a way that thesoil is kept healthy, the woodlandsare kept fertile and neither are adrain on farm owners.

“We have some of the bestwoodlands in the province and someof the sugar maple we have is thebest quality in the world,” he said.“There is definite interest in thatmarket and it’s strengtheningbecause of the U.S. dollar. Becauseit’s a finite resource, however, wewant to manage these resources in away to continue giving high-qualitytimber that gives people a sustainedincome for the future. That’s reallyone of the objectives of the county,to assist them in maintaining thatincome.”

Pullen has also been spending a lotof time dealing with ash trees whichare becoming more and more of aliability in the south thanks to theemerald ash borer which kills thedeciduous trees.

“We have a lot of ash dying in the

south of the county and it’s movingnorth,” he said. “There are a lot ofpeople trying to manage theirwoodland to deal with the loss of theash. There are programs to help withthat. If people’s woodlands havebeen thinned out there, they can dosome under-planting to increasediversity of the species. Through theClean Water Project, in partnershipwith the conservation authorities,there are programs available to helpwith that.”

Good advise is worth its weight ingold when it comes to harvestingwoodlots according to Pullen.

The end goal of all of theseprograms, including the bylaw, is tomake sure Huron County maintainsas much tree cover as possible.

“Currently, the county’s tree-coveris 16 per cent,” Pullen said. “All thescience-based thinking states thatshould be closer to 30 per cent, butwe know that, with ouragriculturally-rich land andagriculture-focused community, wecan’t do that. Places with poorer soil

to the north might get there.”Pullen said people with marginal

or fragile land might considerplanting trees where they can, butthe important message for the countyis to maintain tree cover.

“There are places, like Chatham-Kent, where there is no forestconservation bylaw,” he said. “Theamount of forest cover there is lessthan four per cent and droppingevery year. The forest cover is whatmakes our land great foragriculture.”

While time spent on punitiveproblems isn’t as high as it has beenfor Pullen, bylaw infractions are stillhappening.

Over the past five years, there have

been a total of 17 violations recorded.Five incidents occurred in 2011, 10 in2012, one in 2013 and two in 2015. Asthose numbers have decreased, thenumber of people who have filednotices with the county have increasedfrom 123 in 2011 to 193 in 2015.

That growth, according to Pullen,shows that with the right incentives,people are more than willing to followthe rules.

For more information about HuronCounty’s forestry services, visit theHuron County website atwww.huroncounty.ca and find theservices under the planning anddevelopment heading or, for moreinformation about the Huron PerthWoodlot Association, visithpcowa.huronstewardship.ca

Continued from page A10interest in the tracking systemswhich can be seen on concreteplatforms throughout thecommunity.

Aside from a single cable that wasloose after the installation and theaforementioned issues with adeposit, Pot said he has had noactivity related to the panels.

“We had a wire secured that wasout of place shortly after the install,”he said. “Aside from that, it’s justbeen doing what it has supposed to.”

He has considered setting up somekind of rig that would get the snowoff the panels faster than just relyingon the sun to melt it, however hesaid that the time that it wouldrequire and the infrastructure costsare just something he is notinterested in.

“I could put tracks up there and

get the special scrapers that won’tdamage the panels, but I have otherthings to do and that would just besomething to worry about,” he said.“I’m happy with the way the systemis working now.”

While he wasn’t originallyinterested in the tracking systems, inanother year, Pot will be able tocomment on the difference betweenstatic panels like those on hisdriving shed and tracking panelsystems.

Pot’s son Jessie has recentlypurchased a farm that has amicroFIT panel array on a tracker,so the family will be able tocompare notes about what kind ofoutput and finances the panelsprovide.

He said that the purchase is veryrecent and thus far they haven’t seenany paperwork about it.

Proper incentives result in good trends says Pullen

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Continued from page A7tweaked, or you can incorporatelittle things here or there, and it willhelp you thrive as a farmer.”

Another common ground theCronins found with their fellowcompetitors and alumni was thateveryone has a focus not just onfarming but on family farming.

“That balance between farmingand family and community is thereand it’s really interesting to meetpeople who are passionate aboutthat being a part of their industry,”she said. “Family is always at thecentre of all that. Everyone thereseemed to have that in common. It’smore than just being involved in anagricultural or farming business, it’sabout the balance that goes withthat.”

Balancing farm and family hasalways been important for theCronins, having enshrined thatvalue, along with the others thathave made them a success in theircore values which hangsprominently in each facility.

Their mission, to be a profitable,sustainable family businessproviding quality products andservices to the global market, is builton core values of family being themost valuable asset, honesty,integrity, people relationships,championing success andexcellence, embracing change andsustainability practices.

The family is deeply involvedwith the farm. Both Tyler and Kylehave expressed interest in workingon the farm with Tyler focusing onaccounting so he can bring thatexperience to the company. Kylewants to focus on business so he canhelp add to the company’s viability.

While the children are learningfrom Mike and Amy, the opposite ofthat is also true as well. When Amyand Mike noticed that their childrenwere looking outside farming fortheir future, they had to ask why.

It turned out that Mike and Amyhad been talking about their industryin less-than-glowing terms and thechildren had picked up on thatnegative.

“That was our sign,” Amy said ina previous interview with TheCitizen. “We needed to stop beingnegative about the prospects ofgrowing our business.”

The family knows a thing or twoabout weathering the bad when itcomes to their industry. Mike andAmy originally got into the industryin 1998, which she said was theworst year for hogs since the 1930s.

“We got in at the ultimate low, butwe knew there was potential in thisindustry,” she said.

The Cronins bought a farm fromAmy’s parents that the couple hadbeen managing for their in-laws.Amy said she and Mike bought itflat out, paying market value foreverything from the land to theequipment.

That attitude of owning theircompany and its successes, as wellas following the core values set outfor the company, has helped theCronins achieve the accolades theyhave.

Outstanding farmeralumni the best partof winning: Cronins

Growing the farm togetherThe Cronin family were named National Outstanding Young Farmers for their efforts not only at home but in their farm industry as well. The family works hard together to make Cronin Family Farms a success. From left: Mike, Amy, Sam, Emmy, Kyle, Tyler, Liam andAlyssa. (File photo)

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Cardiff youngest president in Ag. Society history

For an organization even olderthan the country it’s in, the BrusselsAgricultural Society doesn’t havethe chance to make history often, butit did earlier this year.

When Matt Cardiff was officiallyelected the society’s president, manybelieve he became the youngest-evermember to take the organization’slead.

The Brussels AgriculturalSociety’s records, Cardiff says,aren’t nearly as complete as he andothers would like them to be, but asfar as the records show and as far asthe memories of living members areconcerned, Cardiff is indeed theyoungest person to be namedpresident.

When Cardiff stepped up from theposition of First Vice-President atlast month’s annual general meeting

of the society, he was 23 years old.In doing so, he eclipsed NicoleNoble, who had previously beenbelieved to be the youngest presidentin the group’s history.

He is also the third generation ofhis family to serve in the society’sexecutive. His father Jeff has twiceserved as the organization’spresident, while his grandmotherBetty was its homecraft presidentyears ago.

At the same meeting where hebecame president, Cardiff alsohonoured a number of long-servingsociety members with specialcertificates, including his parentsJeff and Cathy and his grandmotherBetty, all of whom have beenmembers for decades.

What inspired him to step upseveral years ago and begin workingtowards the presidency (theincoming president traditionallyserves in the vice-president role for

the previous two-year term beforestepping up and taking the big job)was a potential budding partnershipbetween the 2017 Brussels Fall Fairand the International Plowing Match(IPM) set to be held in Walton thesame year.

In an interview with The Citizen,Cardiff said that those discussionsbegan with Bluevale’s JacquieBishop, chair of the 2017 match and

Cardiff thought that bringing the twoevents together was a brilliantconcept.

As one of the major driving forcesbehind the partnership, Cardiff saidhe felt that in many ways if he wasgoing to be so in favour of theevent’s coming together in 2017,then he had to walk the walk as wellas talk the talk.

In addition, he said that at the time

he was considering the position, hewas aiming to be more positiveabout a lot of things in his life –finding ways to talk himself intothings that seemed challenging,rather than ways to talk himself outof them.

In a way, however, Cardiff says hefeels like he’s been destined to serve as the Brussels Agricultural

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Years of serviceEarlier this year at the annual general meeting of theBrussels Agricultural Society, Matt Cardiff, left, became theyoungest president in the organization’s history. One of hisfirst orders of business was to present long-time memberswith certificates recognizing their service. One of thosemembers was his grandmother Betty, who has been amember of the society for over 35 years, meaning she firstjoined long before Matt was even born. (Photo submitted)




Continued from page A14Society’s president for possibly hisentire life. He’s been attending theBrussels Fall Fair for as long as hecan remember, he says, and withhow heavily involved his family hasbeen, his service in this positionseemed only natural.

Because he’s been attending thefair and pitching in for longer thanhe can remember, Cardiff says hedoesn’t actually know when he firstbecame an official member of thesociety.

“It’s hard to know when I wentfrom just attending the fair to beuseful,” Cardiff says jokingly.

In many ways – due to the solidteam of the executive and membersbehind him – Cardiff says he doesn’tfeel like the president. Yes, there issome added responsibility, he said,but he simply doesn’t feel like theman in charge.

Having said that, Cardiff says it is“pretty neat” to be the youngestpresident in the organization’shistory, especially considering justhow far back that history reaches.

He hopes that his presidencywon’t be the end of the positivechanges. He said it seems as thoughyounger people are beginning tobecome involved with the societyand, in turn, their ideas are beingmore widely considered.

For example, some of the youngerfemale members of the organizationhave spearheaded a ladies night in

November, Cardiff said. Youngerpeople are stepping up with creativeideas and members of the society areembracing those ideas.

As for the society’s biggest,newest idea, partnering with the2017 IPM, Cardiff says plans arebeginning to take shape, advancingfurther every month with just about ayear and a half until the big event.

He has been attending some of theIPM’s planning meetings along withsociety treasurer Brian Schlosser.These meetings, along withmeetings of the society’s FallFair/IPM sub-committee, have reallybeen helping the process along,Cardiff said.

He said support for the idea keepsgrowing and people are really

starting to get excited about the idea.Some discussions have already

taken place, Cardiff said, in regardsto rides that will be able to fit intowhat the fair does at the 2017 IPM.

Exhibiting, he said, will remainthe same, including all of thecategories regular participants havecome to expect. While the fair’sdisplay area will be smaller than itnormally is, Cardiff says that

situation should work itself outeventually, as the society isexpecting a lower-than-usualnumber of entries that year due tohow busy many members of thecommunity will be with the IPM,whether they’re volunteering orsimply planning to attendthroughout the week.

Some things, however, are at a bitof a standstill as the society waits

eagerly to find out if their Canada150 grant application has beenapproved or not. Much of what thesociety hopes to do that year hingeson the grant.

Cardiff also said that theorganization is rolling out a newsponsorship program to help financethe 2017 event. Details of thatcampaign will soon becomeavailable.

IPM partnership led Cardiff to society presidency

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Continued from page A6cents” and another from MichiganBulb Company of Canada offeringevergreens at 34 cents each as wellas spring bulbs for fall planting.

At the back of the magazine wereseveral pages of classified adsincluding nearly two pages ofcompanies offering to process colourphotographs – another industry thathas become a victim of digitaltechnology.

Something else that’s changed:yearly subscriptions to the twice-monthly magazine were $1.50 andthe single copy price was 10 cents.

Even that was expensive comparedto an earlier long-departed magazinewhich Karen also brought to theoffice. A single copy of Farmer’sMagazine in February 1948 cost fivecents. A yearly subscription was onedollar.

The magazine was in its 45th yearin 1948. An internet search failed tofind the date of its demise.

Massey-Harris was advertising its“44” tractor while its future partnerFerguson was promoting FergusonSystem Implements. Case was en-couraging farmers to increase theirproductivity by moving up to its twoand three-furrow tractors (it showedits narrow-wheeled versions).

Allis-Chalmers Rumley, Ltd. wasadvertising the All-Crop Harvester, acombine pulled by a tractor.International Harvester Company’sfull-page advertisement promotedthe company’s trucks, bulldozers andFarmall tractors. Cockshutt FarmEquipment’s full page advertisedeverything from its tractors and self-propelled combine to manurespreaders, seed drills, binders and ahorse-drawn disk, complete withseat for the driver.

Home baking was a big thing onthe farm in those days, as evidencedby large advertisements for FiveRoses Flour, Ogilvie Flour Mills andPurity Flour as well as Magic

Baking Powder and Calumet BakingPowder.

Gillett’s Lye had a half-page adencouraging homemakers to maketheir own soap with a smiling youngwoman assuring readers “Now evencity folks make soap at home”.

The magazine also had a patterndepartment where readers couldorder patterns: in this issue weredresses for children and school girls,

even a slip and panties for women.The price: 20 cents per pattern.There was also a NeedleworkDepartment with patterns forknitters and crocheters.

Singer Sewing Centres offeredcatalogues for the homemakerwanting information on its latestsewing machines.

In 1948 there were still farmhomes that didn’t have electricity so

The Coleman Lamp and StoveCompany offered: “Let a Colemanmake your’s a brighter home” whileAladdin promised “more light forless money” with its kerosenemantle lamps.

Farmer’s Magazine was publishedby Consolidated Press Limited ofToronto which also published theiconic magazine Saturday Night,also no longer publishing.

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February, 1948 issue of Farmer’s Magazine

Magazines’ prices not the only big change in decades

(NC)–Understanding the flight zone and point ofbalance for handling livestock can reduce stress tolivestock and help prevent injuries to handlers. The “flight zone” is the animal’s personal space andcan be determined by slowly walking up to theanimal. When a person enters the flight zone, theanimal will move away in the opposite direction.Deeply invading the flight zone will cause the animalto become afraid and possibly agitated. The size ofthe flight zone will diminish as the animal receivesfrequent, gentle handling.An animal’s “point of balance” is in the chest area.To make an animal move forward, the handler shouldstand behind the point of balance; and, likewise tocause the animal to back up, the handler should stand in front of the point of balance.The Canadian Federation of Agriculture along with Farm Credit Canada, the CanadianCoalition for Agricultural Safety and Rural Health, and Agriculture and Agri-FoodCanada want to encourage farmers to practise Livestock handling safety: Put your bestfoot forward.Farm Safety Means Farm Safely.For more information visit www.cfa-fca.ca- News Canada

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Cardiff family closes in on 160 years in Huron

There are few families moresteeped in the agricultural history ofHuron County than the Cardiffs ofGrey Township, now in theMunicipality of Huron East andMorris Township.

With several children justbeginning to find their own way inthe world, the Cardiff family is nowin its seventh generation in HuronCounty.

The Cardiff family originated inWales as early as the 1600s. Theymade their way to Northern Irelandin the early 1700s, and then fled the

potato famine and made passage toCanada in 1823.

It was the branch of the family ledby William Mark Cardiff, born in1809, with his sister Jane andbrother George that first made theirway to Canada.

George and Jane settled on land inLanark County in the eastern sectionof what was not yet officially namedthe Province of Ontario.

In 1834, Mark moved to Kitleyand then to South Elmsley in 1848.Ten years later, in 1858, Mark andhis family moved to Huron County,settling on a parcel of land in GreyTownship that remains in the family.

Mark and Margaret Cardiff settledon Lot 3, Concession 7 in GreyTownship and cleared much of the

land, all of which was bush, leaving15 acres of hardwood bush.

A small log cabin was erected onthe property in which the familywould live. The lot is now owned byScott Cardiff, but the house is longgone. Scott farms the land now, butonly a barn sits on the land.

Mark and Margaret would have 10children (an 11th, Alice Rebeccawas born, but she died at the age ofseven) and the Cardiff family inHuron County would continue togrow from there.

As told in the Huron County Atlas,“Indians peddled their wares andcamped on the farm. Candles, lye,soap, butter and cheese were made.”

Lot 3 Concession 8 would soon

Generations of historyThe Cardiffs settled on their first homestead, above, in 1858 in Grey Township. Pictured on thehomestead are, from left: Sarah Jane, Addie and Laura Cardiff. Below, the Cardiff family wouldeventually build on Lot 3, Concession 6, a home that remains in the family today. Below, in apicture taken in the early 1900s, are, from left: Richard Cardiff, Ernest Cardiff, Lizzie Elliott,Laura Smith, Margaret Cardiff, Berva Cardiff and Harold Cardiff. Murray Cardiff and his siblingswould be born in this home, as would his children, Jeff, Joan and Scott. (Photos submitted)

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Cardiff involvement continues

Continued from page A17come into the family and that is nowwhere Scott and his family live.They live in a farmhouse built in thelate 1800s that had actually beenmoved from Lot 6, Concession 6 in1917, Scott said in an interview withThe Citizen.

Much of the Cardiff family’s cur-rent history, however, took place onLot 3, Concession 6, the formerhome of Harold and ElizabethCardiff, and another property thatremains in the family.

Murray Cardiff, long-time HuronBruce Member of Parliament, wasborn on that farm in 1934 to Haroldand Elizabeth, as were his siblingsMargaret and Jean.

Murray would eventually takeover that farm from his parents in the1960s and build a life and a familythere with his wife Betty(Mathieson) and their children Jeff,Joan and Scott.

Murray and Betty would farm amixed operation that included cattleand pigs. He maintained the farm fordecades, even when he was electedto represent the people of Huron-Bruce in Ottawa between 1980 and1993.

By that time, Betty said, the cou-ple’s children were old enough tohelp out, so between Jeff, Joan andScott and Betty herself, the farmremained profitable, while Murrayworked as an elected representative.

He still helped at the farm when hecould, Betty said, but he was ratherbusy in those days.

As an MP, Cardiff served on theStanding Committee of Agricultureand Finance and spent time on a taskforce investigating a NationalTrading Corporation, whichinvolved hearings all over Canada,the U.S. and Europe.

He would eventually become thedeputy-critic for the Ministry ofState and Finance and for theMinistry of Agriculture.

In his spare time, Murray alsoserved as the chairman of the WhiteBean Producers’ Marketing Board,which led him to be involved in twomissions to the United Kingdom.

Betty said that Murray’s work asan MP sent him all around the worldand she was able to accompany himon many of those trips. His trips overthe years included China, Italy,Spain and Switzerland.

While Murray and Betty’s daugh-ter Joan moved to London afterbeing a tremendous help on the fam-ily farm in her younger days, Jeffand Scott stayed in Huron Countyand built farms of their own, all onland that has been in their family fordecades.

Joan, however, has been workingas an accountant in London fordecades and still works on Scott’sfarm finances for him.

Jeff, a graduate of the AgriculturalCollege in Ridgetown, began farm-ing on his own in 1986 when hegrew cash crops and pigs. It wasonly a few years ago, in 2012, thathe and his wife Cathy decided to getrid of the farm’s pigs.

He says the decision hit his fatherMurray hard and tears were shed.

While Murray acknowledged thatit was the right decision at the time,Jeff said, it was still hard for himbecause Cardiff family farms hadgrown pigs for decades until Jeffdecided it was time to get out of thebusiness.

Murray passed away in 2013, leav-ing his family, colleagues and manyin the agricultural community tomourn. The funeral took place atMelville Presbyterian Church inBrussels, where Murray had dedicat-ed so much of his time over.

At that time, however, Jeff andCathy were fully immersed in thefamily’s catering business, whichthey had taken over from Murrayand Betty, that they simply couldn’tmanage all of the endeavours.

It was around this time that theCardiffs first became involved withthe storied Brussels AgriculturalSociety.

While Murray had always sup-

ported the Brussels Fall Fair, he had-n’t been involved with the societyhimself. Betty, however, has been amember since the 1970s, even serv-ing as Homecraft President.

Jeff has also been involved forover 30 years, serving two two-yearterms as the organization’s presi-dent. Cathy has also been a long-time member of the organization.

They have recently given way tothe next generation, as Jeff’s sonMatt was named president at theorganization’s annual meeting earli-er this year. By all accounts, at theage of 23, Matt is the youngest pres-ident in the organization’s history.

While he’s currently working inagricultural banking for the Bank ofMontreal in Listowel, Matt hopes totake over his father’s farm one day.

He will be the group’s presidentwhen the Brussels Fall Fair and theInternational Plowing Match partnerup in 2017 for the first time ever.

His sister Emily is currently anurse in British Columbia.

Scott hasn’t been officiallyinvolved with the society over theyears, but has been known to exhibitfield crops at the Brussels Fall Fair.He farms cash crops and 1,000 headof beef at his home farm.

His son Blake now has his ownfarm, carrying on the storied Cardifffarming tradition, with 600 head ofcattle. Scott’s other son, Tanner, iscurrently attending St. Clair College.

1, 2, 3It’s not every day that three generations of one family are together, although for the Cardiffs,that was a reality for a number of years. This picture was taken seven years ago in front ofScott Cardiff’s Cockshutt 35 tractor. From left: Jeff, Blake, Scott, Matt, Tanner and MurrayCardiff, who passed away in 2013. (Photo submitted)

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Continued from page A2from there and having them in thekitchen, but we will have our own setof fruits and vegetables at the farm.”

Farming isn’t something thatanyone can just decide to take up, soit has been an experience, accordingto Sparling, getting ready to have afarm be such an integral part of thecompany.

“It’s been interesting,” he said.“Rick [Elliott, who was announcedas being in charge of the farm] isvery excited about getting involvedin the project. He loves digging intosomething and getting hands on withit. Whatever he looks after will bedone well.

“For me, it’s very interesting asI’ve seen barley and visited hopyardsbefore,” he said. “For us to have theopportunity and space to grow ourown crops and use them issomething pretty special.”

The company will be looking, inthe future, to acquire a range ofequipment to look after both theurban part of the property, aroundthe brewery and restaurant, and toaccompany the farm operations.

“That will be in the next year totwo years for us,” Sparling said.“The brewery is the focus and therestaurant as well. Once that’s upand running, we will look at having

the farm ready and having itavailable for tours as an educationalcomponent. People will be able toexperience the farm and then enjoythe final product made there.”

For more information, visit its website at cowbellbrewing.comor look for the Cowbell BrewingCompany on either its Facebook orTwitter accounts.

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No ‘I’ in team, or breweryBlyth Cowbell Brewing Company General Manager and Vice-President Grant Sparling, seenhere at the company’s Home Opener event late last month, explained to The Citizen whyusing locally sourced ingredients was such an integral part of the plan for the company andhow they planned to work with local suppliers. (File photo)

Brewery’s entry into farming should be ‘interesting’

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Baird family wins big at World Show, Royal Fair

The Baird family from north ofWingham have a lot of reasons to beproud of the fruits of their labours asBaird’s Maitland River Jolie, aClydesdale born and bred by thefamily, brought home severalimpressive accolades.

Jolie won silver in the SeniorYearling class at the WorldClydesdale Show in London and topYearling at the Royal AgriculturalWinter Fair in 2015.

The family, which consists ofpatriarch Clayton and sons Peter,Russell and Ronald, have beenbreeding, breaking and showingtheir own Clydesdales since 2001when Clayton’s brother Lornepassed away. The farm was kept inthe Baird family.

Lorne started breeding the animalsyears ago for events like Santa Clausparades and homecoming shows,likely inspired, according toClayton, by the fact that their fatherRussell had Clydesdales going backas early as the 1940s.

Lorne, however, had no interest inthe competitions that have since

been a staple of life for the family.Russell, Clayton and the rest of

the family have taken what Lorne

and the elder Russell before himstarted and turned it into somethingBy Denny Scott

The Citizen Continued on page A21

Some horse!Baird’s Maitland River Jolie, being shown here by RussellBaird, is a big winner in the Clydesdale world, not once, buttwice. The horse brought home second place in the WorldClydesdale Show in London last year and first prize at theRoyal Agricultural Winter Fair as well. (Denny Scott photo)

Big winThe Baird family, including Russell, shown above, wereextremely happy when the family’s yearling Clydesdale,Baird’s Maitland River Jolie, took best in class at the RoyalAgricultural Winter Fair last year. (Photo by Lynn Cassels-Caldwellwww.horsephotos.ca)


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Continued from page A20much, much bigger.

While this year is the best thefamily has had for accolades, it’s notthe first time they’ve earned awardsand, they hope, it won’t be the last.

“We’ve been getting good horsesand buying good stallions and, foryears, we’ve been going to showsand we’re going to keep going,”Clayton said.

“Two years ago, we won the Royalwith a stallion, and we’ve been nearthe top at other shows, but this yearhas definitely been one of the best,”Russell said.

The family breeds, breaks, showsand sells their stock and attends fiveshows a year typically. This year,aside from the Royal in Toronto andthe World Show in London, theytravelled to Barrie, Brampton andseveral local fairs.

The competitions aren’t easy tofigure out, Russell said, adding heunderstands why his uncle never

wanted to get into it.“Some of the shows are all-breeds

together, which makes it tough,” hesaid. “Some of them are specificbreeds, and that has its ownchallenges.”

The World Clydesdale Show,which isn’t an annual event and waslast held in 2011, saw more than 600head of horses brought to London,including breeders from acrossOntario, from eight of the 10provinces and from as far away asGermany, making for some stiffcompetition.

Despite the number and calibre ofcompetitors, Jolie came out on topfor the Bairds and, if you ask themwhy that is, the answer comes downto a few simple things: genetics,hope and a lot of work.

Russell explained that you hope,with every foal that’s raised, thatyou’re going to get a winner withClayton adding that encouraging theright breeding habits among the

horses and putting a good amount ofeffort in before the show helps. Healso said that having a good farrierhelps.

“If you have a good guy for that, itgoes a long way and we have a goodguy for shoeing,” he said. “There is a

lot of art that goes into shoeing.”While some may think that

raising, breaking and selling theClydesdales would be a full-timejob, the family also has sheep andbeef farms and all have jobs off thefarm as well.

Peter is an electrician, Ronald is aplumber, Russell works for theTownship of North Huron andClayton is a perioperative nurse atthe Wingham hospital.

The next World Clydesdale Show

will be held in Madison, Wisconsinin 2018, and the Bairds are alreadylooking forward to it.

Impressive rookie yearBaird’s Maitland River Jolie has some impressive accolades for a yearling. The Clydesdale,shown above, was named second place in the senior yearling competition at the WorldClydesdale Competition in London last year and top yearling at the Royal Agricultural WinterFair. (Photo by Lynn Cassels-Caldwell www.horsephotos.ca)

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Classing the key to growth in alpaca industry

Two days a week, three people gettogether at the Shears to You FibrePros mill, just south of Palmerston,and work to grow the alpacaindustry.

The first is Deb Griffey, the ownerof the mill, who is joined by alpacafarmers Henry Mengers of RR1,Hanover (Andre’s Alpacas – Andreis Henry’s middle name), and DeeGraham of the Lucknow area (DLFarms).

The three are friends and theyspend Tuesday and Wednesday ofeach week classing alpaca fibre –sometimes from Mengers’ orGraham’s farm, but usually fibre thatGriffey has purchased from alpacaproducers from all over the country.

Mengers and Graham, both retiredteachers, have upwards of 60 alpacason their respective farms, whileGriffey no longer has animals of herown. Griffey used to have an alpacafarm two different times, butofficially got out of owning animalsof her own when work at the millbegan “taking over her life”.

With a handful of employees andthousands of pounds of fibre makingits way through the mill every year,it’s easy to see that it takes a lot ofwork to ensure everything runssmoothly.

What the trio do every week iscalled classing and not just anyone

can do it. In fact, there are only 15people in Ontario who are registeredclassers – having taken both phasesof the course and graduated.

Classing is the meticulousscrutinizing of alpaca fibre, dividingit among six possible grades, threedifferent lengths and seven possiblecolours.

What the process does is insurethe quality of fibre ahead of sale orahead of eventually using the fibre tomake a multitude of products fromsocks to mittens to sweaters andscarves, and of course yarn, one ofthe industry’s most importantproducts.

The classification process beginswith a three-day course that teachesthe basics of classing. Many peopletake this course on an annual basis,Mengers said, and take thatknowledge and apply it to theirfarms. Graduating the first part ofthe course, however, does not makeyou a classer, he said.

Fewer take on the second part ofthe course, which is much morelabour-intensive. It includes fourdays of class time, but then a lot ofpractical work, such as the classingof 200 fleeces (that must come fromtwo different breeds of alpaca) andthen 40 hours of work under aqualified mentor.

The course’s final test is thesubmission of 25 samples that needto be graded.

The whole process takes about

two years, the three classers say, andthey are three of the 15 in theprovince who have gone all the way.

Classing, the three agree, is allabout quality control. When alpacaproducts are out in the world,classing ensures that products thathave been properly classed keep upthe good alpaca name.

Griffey says that the fibre dictatesthe product when it comes tocreating something out of the fleeceof an alpaca. If the grade is high (aone or two is the highest, meaningthe softest and highest quality), itcan be turned into some of the best

and most profitable alpaca productsthere are. However, if the grade islow (six is the lowest), they are usedfor alpaca products that are still highquality, but don’t require the softestfibre, such as socks or insoles.

This is where classing comes in,she says. A classer can’t take sub-parfibre and make it great, but someonewho doesn’t know how to class cando the exact opposite and take goodfibre and make it “crap” withoutmuch effort.

It represents a lack of understand-ing in the business, Griffey says,when a farmer simple sheers a fleeceand wants all grade one and twofibre. You get what you get, Griffey

says, and it’s up to a classer to tellyou what you have.

Mengers says that classing alpacafibre is also the industry’s path togrowth.

Currently, the alpaca industry isconsidered a cottage industry, hesaid, with between 200 and 300alpaca farms throughout theprovince – some of which are closerthan you think with John andMaureen Hengeveld’s CranbrookAcres Alpacas farm established justsouth of Brussels.

By implementing an industry-wide classing system andestablishing standards for their

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Classing is the keyTwice a week Henry Mengers, left, Dee Graham, centre, and Deb Griffey get together atGriffey’s Shears to You Fibre Pros mill and class through pounds and pounds of alpaca fibre,separating it according to colour, length and grade. The process, called classing, Griffey says,is the key to taking the alpaca fibre industry from a cottage industry to the next level. (ShawnLoughlin photo)




After bringing home the reservechampionship in the LivestockMarkets Association of Canada(LMAC) Canadian LivestockAuctioneer Championship last year,Brussels Livestock auctioneer KevinMcArter, in conjunction with Markand Cindy Ferraro, the owners ofBrussels Livestock, are preparing tohost the event in McArter’shometown of Brussels.

It was announced last year that theLMAC annual convention would beheld in Huron County in 2016 andsince then the event has grown toinclude all of the county.

Scheduled for May 12-14, theconvention itself, along withaccommodations for most visitors,will be in Grand Bend at theOakwood Resort Inn while theauctioneer championship, which willbe held on May 13, will be held atthe Brussels Livestock Barn locatedjust outside of Brussels.

“I’m excited about the wholething,” McArter said. “We’re goingto put on a good show.”

McArter visited Huron CountyCouncil during its March 9 meetingto ask council to help fund the event.

“Something like this is going tobenefit the whole county,” heexplained. “I think the presentationwent well, though I have my fingerscrossed. We asked for a cashinfusion for advertising and tentrentals and some other expenses.”

Mark and Cindy Ferraro, ownersof the livestock barn, say thatpreparing for the event has been acompany-wide endeavour and thateveryone has been helping out.

“Having the convention heldthrough the barn and hosting theauctioneering championship is kindof a compliment to the BrusselsLivestock employees,” Mark said.“They should be proud and they areshowing that they are by how hardthey are working at this.”

The auctioneering championshipwill see 30 auctioneers competingaccording to Mark, and generalconvention participants will becoming from across Canadaincluding Quebec, Ontario, BritishColumbia and large numbers ofparticipants from Alberta.

The Ferraros, as well as the staff atBrussels Livestock, share McArter’senthusiasm. Mark said theexcitement must be growing becausepeople outside the business are alsolooking forward to the competition.

“We’re getting great local support

as far as sponsorships andparticipation is going,” he said. “It’sreally looking up.”

Mark said that even competitors tothe livestock barn have been happyto help out. “I just can’t say enoughabout how helpful everyone hasbeen,” he said. “Everyone is workingwell together to make sure we canpull off a class act.”

While word is getting out,McArter said he has been surprised

from time to time by the fact thatpeople are only finding out about theevent now. He said he is meetingpeople in the industry who are onlyjust hearing about the conventionand competition.

“I’ll be going to be a guestauctioneer at some events, and I’ll beplugging the event there to try andget the word out,” he said.

The event will also let people whoaren’t familiar with the world of

livestock auctions to get a view ofwhat really goes on.

“People will be able to see how thebusiness runs,” he said. “People whoare completely new to theexperience will be able to find out ifit’s something that they’re interestedin.”

As far as a first brush withlivestock auctions, McArter said thecompetition will be an exciting one.

“It’s a fast-paced, action-filledevent,” he said. “We put three daysof work into one.”

The event will see a broaderselection of cattle, cows and bullsthan normal to Brussels Livestock,but there is still room for thoselooking to consign cattle. Mark saidbeing involved in such a sale will bea good experience for ownerslooking to sell.

“It won’t be a standard sale, butwe will have all the buyers there thatday,” he said. “I think the peopleselling will be satisfied with howthings work out.”

Aside from working with peopleoutside the livestock barn, Ferrarosaid that he has also been workingon the site itself.

“It’s encouraged me to get somework done that otherwise may havewaited,” he said. “We just want

to make sure we have everythingready for people when they gethere.”

The home-field advantage,according to McArter, might helpwhen it comes time for him to tryand earn the championship he barelymissed out on last year, but he’s notcounting his chickens before theyhatch.

“I don’t know if it will be enoughhaving the home-field advantage,but, if it does, it would be a kind ofCinderella story for me,” he said. “Itwould be fitting to win where Istarted, but I’m more compelled toput on a good show right now.”

As far as competition isconcerned, Ferraro said he wasn’tcomfortable making any earlyguesses at the winner of theauctioneering championship.

“There are going to be some top-notch auctioneers from Ontario outthere and they are going to makesure the westerners have their workcut out for them,” he said. “It’s goingto be tough, but I’m sure they willpull it off.”

Anyone looking to consign cattleto be a part of this historic auctioncan contact Brussels Livestock at519-887-6461 or contact McArter at519-357-0594.

Brussels hosts livestock auctioneering championship

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Home field advantage?Brussels Livestock Auctioneer Kevin McArter brought home the reserve championship fromthe Canadian Auctioneering Championship last year. This year, his home barn of BrusselsLivestock is hosting the event and while he doesn’t know if that’s going to give him an edge,he hopes he is able to claim the title. (Denny Scott photo)

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Continued from page A4that change every year.

The Wawanosh Lifeskills Teamruns two to three lifeskill clubsduring the 4-H season and cover alldifferent kinds of skills and traitsneeded in rural communitiesincluding cooking, baking,gardening, sewing, quilting, outdooractivities, sports and healthy living.The group is based in the Auburnarea. For more information, contactMary Ellen Foran [email protected]

The Grey Township Lifeskillsgroup is based in Walton and hasfocused on many different skillsincluding cooking, photography,small engines, sports and judgingopportunities. The projects arechosen based on the members wantsand leaders’ skill sets. For moreinformation contact Vinnicombe at519-933-1798 or Monique Baan at519-887-6998.

The Hensall Lifeskills Club workson a mix of indoor and outdooractivities. As a group, its membershave focused on heritage projects,rug hooking, hiking, pizza, linedancing, vegetarian cooking, winterand summer sports, working withwool and holiday-themed activities.

The focus has been developed tomeet the interest of club members.The group regularly competes in theHensall fair, which is held thesecond weekend of June.

For more information, contactMary Lynn MacDonald at 519-262-3123 or Denise Iszczuk at 519-220-8662.

The Howick Lifeskills Team alsofocuses on different topics includingcooking, gardening, sewing andoutdoor activities.

For more information, [email protected].

Other clubs that can be found inHuron include equine- and rabbit-focused groups. Check www.4-hontario.ca/4h-in-my-area/huron for more information onthose clubs.

The Huron 4-H organization havealso started a Cloverbuds programaimed at younger participants.

“It’s a relatively new program,”Vinnicombe said. “It’s been threeyears since 4-H Ontario adopted itand Howick first started runningCloverbuds.”

The program is an introduction to 4-H built into a three-year cycle so members won’t repeat the same information regardless

of when they join the club.“Each year a different program

will be offered,” Vinnicombe said.“They will get introduced tolivestock, for example, but theywon’t handle animals or compete inshows. It’s more about learning thedifferent aspects of 4-H so they canget into the program with a betterunderstanding.”

Last year was the first year theprogram was run in Huron and it wasoffered by the volunteers responsiblefor the 4-H Lucknow Sheep Club.

“It’s 4-H’s effort to try and getmore participants involved,”Vinnicombe said. “Membership has

declined with the dwindling numberof rural families in general. This isjust a way to boost the membershipand get more people involved withthe hope we might retain participantsas they get older.”

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Continued from page A22products, alpaca farmers can taketheir business to the next level, hesaid.

At its height, Alpaca Ontario, ofwhich Mengers is the president, had180 member farms (not all alpacafarms are members of theassociation) sometime between 2010and 2011. That number has sincedecreased slightly due to theeconomic downturn.

Mengers is a charter member ofthe organization, one of the first 30members of Alpaca Ontario when

it was founded in 2001.Graham is also a director of

Alpaca Ontario and serves as thechair of the events committee.Griffey is also involved with theorganization as the chair of the fibreinitiative.

The work of the fibre initiative isaimed at the industry-wide standardof classing. When it’s implemented,Griffey says, she hopes the brandwill be called Canadian Classified.

The hope of alpaca farmers, shesays, is that it will be an industry-wide brand similar to Ontario Pork

or Canadian Beef where consumerswill see the brand and know they’rebuying from a farmer who adheres toquality the customer can trust.

All three say that alpaca fibre isone of nature’s most amazing

creations. It naturally wicksmoisture, it’s warm and it breathes.

Mengers says, however, thatalpaca fibre likes assistance, somany alpaca products include asmall percentage of other products,whether it be silk, bamboo or nylon,to name a few.

The industry is growing, the trioagrees, but it’s happening slowly.The trick is that the value of alpacaproducts needs to be communicatedto consumers.

While a pair of alpaca socks maycost more than a standard pair ofcotton socks at Walmart, the benefitsare far greater.

Once a customer tries an alpacaproduct, Mengers says, they areoften hooked. But that first purchaseoften comes by way of a luxury giftpurchase for a friend – then word ofmouth takes over.

Mengers says that he sold a pair ofalpaca socks to a friend of his, a pigfarmer, who wore them every day fora year. The man was instantlyconverted. He didn’t have to washthe socks as often as you wouldconventional socks and the comfortsold him, Mengers says.

While all three sell their productsat their farm gate, they are often bestseen at craft and trade shows. Localalpaca farmers are planning apresence at the 2017 InternationalPlowing Match, which will be heldin Walton, but nothing has beenconfirmed.

Alpaca Ontario is celebrating its15th anniversary this year. Its specialanniversary show will be held at theOrangeville Event Centre April 8-10.

For more information on theorganization, visit its website atalpacaontario.ca.

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A bite to eatHenry Mengers and his Andre’s Alpacas farm near Hanover was profiled late last year in TheRural Voice, a sister publication within North Huron Publishing. He is one of just 15 certifiedclassers in Ontario’s alpaca industry. The classing system is a vehicle for the growth of theindustry, he says. (Lisa Pot photo)


Auburn-area rider making her name in rodeo

Morgan Bos had won the firstround in the RAM Rodeo final ofbreakaway roping competitionwith a 3.8 second catch. Sheslipped to third place at the eventheld in October in the secondround with a time of 4.7.

The third round would decide ifshe won the championship. Boswas worried she would choke.

“It’s what I often do. I get sonervous that I over-think things.It’s such a mental game,” says theyoung roper, barrel racer, student,agronomist assistant and farmer’sdaughter from just outside ofBlyth.

The stress mounted when thecalf she drew for the third roundwas one no rider had been able tocatch and which had the annoyinghabit of veering to the left, makingit extra hard to manoeuver thehorse into position.

Stress escalated when the riderroping before her caught her calf in3.8 seconds. She would win thefinals if Bos couldn’t keep ittogether. She thought about the lasttime she’d been in this position.

“Two years ago I was leading theaverage going into the third roundand I pretty much dropped therope,” she recalls.

Morgan was determined not tolet it happen again. Focusing onhow she’d worked her way up inthe rankings (she was rankedfourth out of eight riders cominginto the finals) she gave herselfgrace to lose, but courage to win.

And she came up with a gameplan. “Don’t think. This is all ornothing. Catch that calf before itturns left.”

She was still nervous enoughthat her six-year-old quarterhorsegelding, Sam, got all jittery andhad to turn around three times inthe box before she settled him intothe corner. That done, they wereboth ready.

The calf was released, Bos andSam let loose, and the catch wasmade in 2.7 seconds winning herthe third round, the overall average

with 11.2 seconds on three rounds,and the ladies breakawaychampionship.

“I was so happy!” she said.Bos’s mom, Chastity, was

videotaping the event and says forher, the primary emotion wasrelief.

“She was so ticked about the calfshe drew, I thought Morgan wouldchoke,” recalls Chas, who travelsto every show with her daughtersand husband in what has become afamily event for the family, wholive on a chicken farm outside ofBlyth.

“I didn’t want to watch but I hadto videotape it,” says Chas.

Morgan is the third of fourdaughters born to Art and ChasBos and rodeoing has become afamily affair with Courtney,Morgan and Kate all competing.Oldest daughter, Brittany, lives inOttawa.

They all enjoy it but none are ascompetitive as Morgan, who

would spend summer roping cows,up to 30 a day.

“I want to be the best,” admitsCourtney whose determination,combined with fearlessness, apassion for horses and an ability toturn a green-broke horse into achampion, contribute to hersuccess.

The RAM Rodeo breakawaychampionship is as much hers andthe family’s, as it is Sam’s, a horseshe originally purchased withplans to train and sell.

She’d done this with two otherhorses the year before, selling thepair for a tidy profit. Eager toduplicate the process, shepurchased three more horses in2013. One was a three-year-oldshe intended to keep and train as aback-up horse; the other twoquarterhorses were to be trainedand sold.

At the time, Morgan wascompeting with a horse calledLucy and doing very well. Lucycame into Morgan’s possession aspart of a trade. The Bos family hadtrail horses they no longer needed,and a neighbouring family hadLucy, which was too hot-bloodedto serve as a trail horse. The tradewas made and at first Morganwondered about her new horse.

“Lucy would spin in circles ifshe didn’t want to do something,”remembers Morgan. “But she hadthe build and I liked her attitude. Idecided she would be a goodroping horse.”

Morgan explains that ropinghorses need speed and confidenceto believe they can chase down asteer and catch it. A calmer horsemay choose to give up. Lucywasn’t that kind of horse.

This was back when Morgan wasin Grade 10 and had a lot oflearning to do herself. She joinedthe Ontario High School RodeoAssociation which she credits asan excellent organization for ridersto learn skills in an encouragingatmosphere.

Also, her dad asked around tofind out where he and his daughtercould learn to rope and they wereled to Joe Terpstra, a dairy farmeroutside of Brussels.

“He really taught us all aboutroping,” says Morgan, who waskeen to learn. Local farrier and

lifetime roper, Jason Hoggart, alsohelped teach the pair. He and Artnow team rope together.

There are three parts to ropingfor girls:

1. Breakaway: Where the rope istied to the saddle horn with a littlepiece of string. When the riderropes a calf, the string breaks, therope detaches from the saddle, andthat’s the catch.

2. Heading: This is one of twodisciplines to team roping. Theheader ropes the horns of the steer,then ‘dallys’ (ties) the rope aroundthe saddle horn, and turns thehorse to the left to allow the...

3. Heeler: who races in, jumpsoff the horse, and ropes the calf’sfeet together.

Morgan barrel races, doesbreakaway and competes as theheader in team roping with JesseKinsmen of Staffa, the heeler.

Both Morgan and Lucy had tolearn to work together, to readcattle, to position themselves andget fast and accurate.

Perhaps the most important thingeach had to learn was patience. Todo that, Morgan and Lucy did a lotof scoring.

Scoring is the process of lettingcalves loose in the pen but keepinghorse and rider in the box.

“The horse needs to learn shedoesn’t have to run every time.Otherwise, horses can get hotthinking they have to burst out of

Dynamic duoLike The Lone Ranger and Silver or Roy Rogers andTrigger, every rider needs a partner and rodeo star MorganBos has found hers with Sam. (File photo)

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Tragedy leads to new roping partnership for Bos

Continued from page A26the box whenever they see calves,”explains Morgan.

“I want my horses to listen; to gooff my hand, instead of breakingout of the pen.” Breakouts can alsocost competitors time; a 10-secondpenalty is issued to a horse andrider that break out before the calf

reaches a prescribed distance. Scoring can be very boring,

admits Morgan, but it’s a criticalpart of the training process thatsome beginner riders ignore.

“Now that I know more, I like torun one and score two,” saysMorgan.

It took a year before Lucy was a

dependable roping horse andMorgan admits she was winging itmuch of the time during thattraining year. By the time Morganwas in Grade 11, she and Lucy hadgained confidence and skill and thewinnings proved it.

By then, Morgan was competingin both the Ontario High SchoolRodeo Circuit, the RAM RodeoCircuit (Central Rodeo League)and the RAO Circuit (RopingAssociation of Ontario), gainingpoints and dollar amountsdepending on each circuit’s systemof winning.

Then, trouble.“I had the veterinarian check

Lucy in August and he said shewas good to go. I competed andwon with her at the Grand Valleyrodeo but the next day, she wassore,” says Morgan. Theveterinarian came out again anddiscovered Lucy had a bone chipin her knee, along with a fracture.Surgery was an option, but Lucywould not compete again. Morganmade the hard decision to put herhorse down.

“It was horrible. The worstthing,” she remembers.

“She was the ‘go-to’ horse foreverything. She ran 21-secondpoles, won me a saddle for juniorbarrel racing and got me to thefinals for team roping andbreakaway two years in a row,”recalls Morgan.

Lucy was buried under a specialtree on the farm but Morgan hadalready paid entry fees for a rodeoin Powasson the next weekend.

“I had no choice but to use Sam,”

says Morgan. “He had to step upfast.”

They ended up placing second inthe Sunday showdown and earningtop five spots in every event.Morgan was pleased.

She began rethinking herdecision to sell Sam. Morgandiscovered he was a good workerand as she trained him, realized hewas astonishingly athletic. But hewas a little quirky and not alwaysconvinced he had to power out ofthe corner.

Plus, Morgan said, he wouldscare easily. Riding near the roadwas a nightmare, but somehow, inthe pen, he has absolute focus.

The team of Sam and Morganhave won several competitions andplaced in the top three in othersincluding Blastoff at the RegionalEquine and Agricultural Centre ofHuron (REACH), first at the RAOfinals in May, first for breakawayin Milverton and Spencerville,third in Orangeville, second inMarkham and first for barrelracing at the International PlowingMatch in Finch.

Then, the big prize: the RAMRodeo breakaway championship.

Sam isn’t just a one-trick pony.Morgan believes a multi-disciplined horse is a safer andhealther animal.

“I like all my horses to rope andbarrel race,” says Morgan.“Actually I call them roping horsesbecause I do more of that. Ropinghorses know how to stop. Theyknow how to listen. And when I’mdoing barrels, I want to be incontrol and know my horse is

going to stop when I ask it too.”The wins, and Sam’s quirky but

friendly personality, has won him alot of fans.

She estimates her earnings areover $5,000 this year but since shelives at home, and works summerfor her dad, much of her expensesare covered by the family farm.

There are people who do makemoney doing rodeo but aside fromhorse sales, Morgan doesn’t do itto make a living. “My dad and Ialways say that as long we coverour entry fees, this is just like anyother hobby.”

When she leaves the farm,perhaps after finishing university(she’s currently in year three of afive-year co-op program, earning aBachelor of Commerce, majoringin food and agriculture) she’s notsure how consistently she willcontinue competing, but she willcompete.

“I just know Sam isn’t goinganywhere. He has a lot of years inhim yet. And as long as I have ateam roping partner, I’ll keepdoing that,” says Morgan.

Right now, she’s still riding thehigh of her RAM RodeoBreakaway championship whilemom, Chas, is still basking in therelief.

The rodeo has given the girlsskills, confidence and broadenedtheir social circle. Morganencourages aspiring rodeo girls toalso consider joining the RAO,which holds many events atREACH. “You get more runs forless money and there are so manypeople to help you learn.”

SpoilsMorgan Bos, an Auburn-area rodeo star, has earned a lot ofaccolades which, in her world, take the form of belt buckles.(File photo)

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