OPTIMISM PREVS AT S’SIDE EGG CO-OP—PAE 2 MINUS AIIM AND LEG Bothwell man works fcirm with handicaps DON MacDONALD AND WIFIE 1 Daniel MacDonald, MLA By NEIL A. MATHESON Provincial - Fami Editor A visit to the farm home of and Mrs. MacDonald at Bothwell, was one of the most interesting assignments I had while work- ing on this special farm edit- We? lIsland Dept. keeps pace with farm development The department of agriculture continues to keep pace with new agricultural developments and passes these along to who form an important part in the province’s economy. ' to Agriculture Minister Andrew MacRae. Reviewing some of the aooomplislmients of department. Mr. macRae referred to the dairy industry. “Improvement,” he clinician; continuing hi the grades of cheese and butter pro- uc . “Our inspection staff continues to make regular spot checks where these products are made. During the past year, sanita- tiui in these factmies has improved greatly. MILK IIAS HIGHER STANDARD “wealsobeganaserviceoffluidmilkinspecfiouatthe pmcessung level and ‘made public the butterfat percentages. This has resulted in the improvement of milk from the pro- ceasors to a high standard." Turnln to crop insurance. Mr. MacRae said “while last year saw the introduction of crop insurance to cover potatoes. die scheme will be extended this year to cover grain. When we collect more data on other crops. those crops may be included in crop insurance. Grain growers suffered losses last fall because of weather conditions but through the co- operation of the federal and provincial government, growers were reimbursed at an estimated cost of $105,000." Mir. MacRae said his department, recognizing the im- portanceofcleanandtneatedgrain seed, beganaloampolicy for seed treaters. “A total of eight heater-s," he said, “were brought in and are now available to our farmers. We will be getting more ti‘eaten-s this year." Steps taken to irnlpmve the potato industry were outlined by MacRae. The Elite seed potato farm at Fox Island. he said, is expected to boost the enviable reputation of our seed p0 . . lrs Canada and seed will be available to all Island growers. “Future plans," said Mr. MacRae, “include the construction of a warehouse to store seed until required by growers." Another step taken to protect the potato industry was the purchase of 12 steam cleaning and disinfecting units to clean potato planting equipment. “The program will be furthered this year by the purchase f about six more machines," the minister said. ' MORE LOANS FOR FARMERS Mr. MacRae suggests that this year more people than ever will make use of farm establishment loans. "Last year, 185 applications were approved." he said. “Loan assistance," he added, “helps to buy farms. increase acreage or increasc‘ livestock herds.” The minister emphasized the importance of soil testing. “A good percentage of our soil is hi y acid," he said, "and requires a liberal application of limestone to bring it up to a satisfactory Ph level. ‘Toencmnwagetbeinweaseduseaflimestone,iiiedmt merit started a low-purchase policy for bulk limestone spreader-s which can be purchased by Island operators. The cost of ap- plying limestone is much lower when bought in bulk than whim bought by the bag.” HON. ANDREW B. W Seventh Annual Farm Edition CHARLOTI'ETOWN, P.E.I., APRIL 30, 1963 Wu (demotion ‘4 mans 1A T0 1% MONTAGUE H06 _ PRODUCER - ion. It’s an inspiration to visit the home of this man who lost a leg above the knee and an arm well above the elbow, and carries on a vigorous, efficient ' and successful farm operation. Dannie was crossing the Senio River in Italy with his platoon from the Cape Breton Highlan- ders back in December 1944. when a German 88 millimetre shell came along with his num- ber on t. The powerfully built Scot who can “remember every detail of it as though it were yesterday" hopped on his right leg, despite a shattered and useless left leg and arm, for 50 to 60 yards be- fore he was placed on a stret- cher against his will — he had urged his lads to go on without h. rm. It was John Andrew, of East Royalty who took off Mr. Mac- Donald’s leg. They had been trying to save it, Dannie ex- plained, but gangrene set in and VARIETY IS KEY worn FOR SPECIAL EDITION The Guardian-Patriot mcsents today its seventh annual Farm Edition. It covers a wide variety of Island agriculture with stories and pictures on a number of individual farmers and organizatkms tbnisexpressedtothemanybusypeoplewhotook thetiinetotalkvabouttheirbusmesandenplain enoufli about ittomakothestoriasbeneficlalsswellssinteresflng. A story on page 18 tells about the Black River Farm herd of Brown Swiss cattle. and the development under farm man. agar Ronald Dolloff at Covehead. A. D. L.Gorrllihasbecndoingexper‘unental workstthe Experknental Farm to compare the growth and development of calvesreaiedonpastme,widimuse in bam.CoIntr tonmstempectafions.hehasfoimdthatcalvesthrivebetterom pasture. (Page 8). The Summerside Co-op has the most modern egg hair plant in the movince. government poultrymen have stated. story is on page 2. Pownal'sCyrllJonesistltetblrdetainbreederinlsland liistmy to win the coveted Master Breeder's was. 'llhere are only 108 hi Canada. The feat was a family triumph according to Mr.Jones. 'Someofthetop ndationbreedingstockandtlbe peoplewho fed,flttcdandshowedthemarefeaturedonpage3. The award demm conformation or body type, but it also de- mauaconsistentlygood ormanoeintbemilkp 'llhe JonesCrownPointheidatPownalhasboth. Cecil Godfrey, North Wiltshlre started with a pure bred Yorkshire gilt when he was 17. Today, at 23 he has one of the host sow batteries in the province and produces approximately m weanling pigs a year. ' Albert Boswall. Manshtield has been known for some bred Jersey cattle and 0‘ pbulu'y. He’s~added the interesting hobby of breeding many tm of wild birds. Some of his work is pictured in words and dling The years also Charles J. Fraser, Montague has one of the largest and best equipped pig barns in the proviso And he gets results With better than 73 percent of his hog carcasses hitting the top “A',' grade on the rail. The young livestock man produces s treat deal of the grain he feeds to his hogs on the 140 acres ho [rows each year. The Aberdeen Angus cattle breeders association claims the distinction of being the most enthusiastic and the fastest growing bee! bleed association in the province. Some of their beautiful N801! cattle are shown. along with a story of their development. For the lilrd year in a row some 70 P. E. I. csttlemen have made a week-long tour of some of Ontario's best livestock. hog “Ill poultry developments. Livestock Director L. W. Roper, who Phased the tour and helped to direct it, tells the story of this "ll"! experiences. Bothwoll’s farmer and legislator, Daniel MacDonald is one 0'the 'smostunusnalmen.Whathebasdoneandis imminent»; with only one good leg and arm is so inspiration to . tough going even without any Plil’sical handicaps. The story of this dynamic, friendly and Neccssful “laminar is told on page 1. Nude many other featmes in this edition. They '1 .m‘lmulhiral' govemm people and top agrc Theyshouldbeintescsthrgsndusefidtotbe is seeking information about his wsy 11 life. XIII. A. “MEN. it had to be amputated. John was in charge of a field surgical unit and held the rank of major at the time. He died suddenly in Ottawa in 1956 when he held the rank of a full colonel. N0 HANDICAP The leg is off above the knee and the arm well above the el- bow, but the farmer - legislator CONTINUED ON PAGE 12 \AHI EVE 6.6% ’t ABERDEEN ANGUS BREEDERS ARE 3%» ' ‘; moon r nncnm PRMANCES with the late Harry Winchester A LOOK BACK IN HISTORY ' Dairy industry surges ahead Development of the dairy in- dustry in this province from the days when butter. and any oth- er dairy products. were made at home to the present modern manufacture, is a fascinating story that goes back 250 years to the time w ‘ Acadians brought cattle here in 1713, ac- cording to an historical sketch by Henry pro- vincial dairy superintendent. Mr. MacDonald has covered the early days of the cheese and butter industry, from the days when both butter and che- ese were made at home to mo- dern times. Some of the history 0’ early nnlk distribution here and the days when milk was la- dled out of large cans to the housewife's jug. were recalled by Percy G Gay. proprietor of the Sunshine Island Dairy. Mr. Gay never did ladle the milk into me jugs himself, that was before he went to work more than 40 years ago but the firm did deliver milk in cans to merchants at the time. The cans ran five to 25 quarts in size. BOTTLING BY HAND Bottling was done by hand at the time and the bottles were also capped by hand. The caps came in loose barrels and were grabbed in handfuls as they were being placed on the bot- ties. Mr. Gay recalls that milk sold at three cents per quart at the time in cans and five cents for the bottled milk, which is also a far cry from today's me- chenlsed processing which caps the bottles in much more sani- tary fashion, and the milk sells for the much higher price: Homogenized milk came ap- proximately 15 years ago, he estimates. and "blend" was de- veloped about the same time when the k and required cream mixture would be homo- genised so separ- ate slain. factured and canned in the e 1y 1900’s by Mr. Winchester but can lowing plant, and the condensed milk was sold to chocolate plants in barrels plant clos begun here by the late Percy Simmonds who, started in 1921 Condensed milk was manu- was discontinued fol- firsts in new equipment. ins a fire that destroyed the afterwards until the oduced here since the 01 Ice cream manufacture was Wald AGRICUL 0-!) Henry the business which his sons ar- have expanded into the present plant that has provided many The Simmonds brothers be- gan to produce condensed milk per hour in their new plant in 1953 which was the first condensed milk . pr (1 Donald describes in his story Winchester plant was destroy- ed. Tlheir Central Creameries IA- The aluminum - foil butter wrap was Introduced here nada in 1956 to produce “butter- 1949. oil" commercially and the mo- manufactureing system A more recent development can turn out 2,000 pounds butter- in dairy man cture is the ' which is a far cry “TIT-Milk" product turned out from the old days of commer- at Summersidefiy the Amalga- cm butter making Mir, Mac. mated Dairies in the past two ears. yMr. MacDonald’s review of the dairy history follows: — Dairy cattle were introduced into Acadia in 1632 and accord- ing to the census of 1671. there , was 866 head of cattle on the farms in that district. When Acadia was finally ceded to England in 1713, the emigrating - Acadians took numerous cattle with them to Isle St. Jean (P.E.I.). When these first settlers ar- rived in this province. rhc dairy industry began on the farms. Farmers who kept coWs made butter from cream ani cheese from skim milk. The whole milk * was usually set in creamer; in » a place called a dairy where i. the cream would rise to the top lmlted plant was the first in Ca- which follows. The plant also started producing powdered milk. .‘ skimmed off for of churning into butter. butter was called dairy butter and only a very small amount of it is made on the farms in the 000 pounds a . the skim milk which remained. cottage cheese was made and consumed within the farm homes. Any surplus " butter produced from this cream ' on the farm was generally sold to the nearest store in exchange for groceries. This was the way dairying was carried on in ‘hs province from the time of the earliest French Settlers until 1883, a period of about 170 years. This dairy product supplied the local demand to a rge ex- tent with butter. and to a limit- ed extent with cheese. until the . opening of the first cheese fac- ' tor-y in 1883 and the first cream- ery in 1887. The first cheese face tories were opened as stock CONTINUED ON mm M taut. Missing one means in That black pigment put the ani- Iestablishment with a 700 - hog : of the skim milk and would b. 1 -‘ RADE A Weight watching has good results By NEIL A. MATHESON capacity, is fresh and clean. A Provincial - Farm Editor battery of large circulating fans Montague's Charles J. Fraser keeps changing the air constant- must be the Island's biggest ly and a mechanical barn clean- commercial hog producer. His er that runs around the perime- operation certainly ranks with ter of the 54 by 100 foot building the most efficient, most sani- takes the litter and deposits it tary and most successful. in a large truck ready for haul- Mr. Fraser had 78.6 per cent ing to the field as fast as tho of his hogs in the top Grade A droppings are pushed into the category last year and this year I‘ depressed area on to the clean- to date has achieved an 76.6 "A" or chain. The litter is cleaned average though the Island aver- out four times a week and age has been down sharply ' uilding is virtually free recent months from the grades from the odors one normally ss- vohich brought it ahCanada -top- sociates with hog barns. ping 55.2 per cent st year. The HEALTH FACTOR all Canada average last year The strict attention to samp- was 34.9 per cent. . ' , . - - _ is a definite factor in mam- The mg“ “Lam ‘5 31,9: ‘0 ‘9 taining the health of the ani- veral reasons, aser weighs his hogs every Friday mals' 9°ng that is a?” and anything that hits 190 tial for vigor, rapid pounds, or hslightlykmover, is emtion marked for t e pac ' g house. ‘ While many hogmen lose top Benign” {:11 “this pigs grades from overweight hogs, 3:8“ g5 om armer" Mr. Fraser never does, except . . once in early April when a bad provme she small 1,155 I need’ and thats an operation by it- snowstorm held up his market- ,, . ing operation a few days Self“ he emphaslwd’ tho I]. ' [had “given it some thought ‘A’ IMPORTANT once." And “A” grades are impor- Incidentally Mr. Fraser has a loss 'been one of the men responsible of the $3 premium, plus a cent tor the Prince Edward Island a pound for a total loss of $4.50 Hog Improvement Association on a 150 - pound carcass, for ex- which has caught the interest ample. I spied one hog in the of commercial producers all ov- barn with a small patch of black or the province, because be de- on the hip, a throwback evi- pends on a group of producers dently to a Berkshire ancestry. for his weanling pigs and is anxious that they be of top quap lity. There are some pigs that just won't grade out, no mat- how carefully they are fed. Like all good livestock produc- ers, Mr. Fraser likes his ani- mal automatically out of the top grade, said Mr. Fraser who not- ed with regret that he had not spotted the animal who he bought the lot as weanlings. Most people refer to pigs as dirty animals but nothing could k be farther from the truth. They are careful not to toul their liv- ing area with their droppings and the air in the big Fraser squeal, nor even a sign of a pro- testing sound durlng the appro- ximately two hours C CONTINUED ON PAGE ll grow , an economically successful op- S ,1 i “9