Letters to the editor

Goat info

I was shocked to read the story about goats in the Western People section of the Producer.

You cannot keep goats in pens like pigs. They are a fussy animal (in) what they eat. I had goats for a few years. We have a long driveway to our main road. I would take a scythe and cut the alfalfa growing in the ditches for them to eat.

They do not breed in summer months, only from October to February, as their hormones change their body system and they have to be two years old before they have little ones.

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I had two goats that were never bred. They started milking on their own. I had the real gallon pail (not litre ones of today.) I got a gallon in (the) morning when I milked them and same amount in (the) evening. They like oats and warm water to drink and a warm barn at night. I would leave the barn door open in summer and they could go out and then come in but I fed them grass during the day I had cut. Mine were well looked after.

I love animals of any kind. But I had two boys and one girl. They really loved the goats and it’s the best milk anyone can drink. I can’t drink the milk out of the carton that we get in stores today. My goats’ (milk) had lots of cream on top of it. I wish I had kept my goats.

– Phyllis Le Grand,

Arborfield, Sask.

CWB in organics

I would like to thank Ian Cushon for his article on supporting the Canadian Wheat Board in organic grain marketing. Hearing from the supporters helps us fine tune our arguments and understand how others are being misled so as we can correct the misinformation.

First, the consultation process conducted by the CWB is suspiciously lacking. Summaries of the public meetings were made part of public record, although no indication of the balance of support or dissent was clarified.

However, written submissions made by producers unable to attend the meetings were not summarized and released. This raises questions as to what information is being selectively withheld to change the perception of where the balance of support lies.

Second, no farmer can process Board grains and export without a buy-back, contrary to what you have indicated. Feed mills licensed by Ag Canada although, can export at no cost through the Export Manufactured Feed Agreement as set out by the CWB. I ask how does that capture premium prices from grain companies and return them back to the farmers?

I openly question the validity of any marketing report attaching a dollar figure to the economic benefits provided by the CWB. There is really no benchmark to compare against as we have never fully seen the effects of an open system.

For analysis, I will concede that by the same token open market supporters can also be accused of drawing on unproven assumptions. There is truly only one way to find out.

Basing the argument that we “would set a precedent that would open the door for exemptions” disregards the allowance given to certified seed growers and feed processors. Their operation outside the pool has not devastated the CWB’s power….

One can make or lose money on the buy-back process, as you have admitted. That presents a key dilemma, uncertainty of final return. Setting a price and realizing profit is difficult when one does not know where the final payment will settle at. …

In closing, I wish to appeal to your sense of reason and logic, and not emotion. We, as industry leaders, have a duty to seek out the best of both worlds for all farmers by allowing us the flexibility to openly choose our markets and service them unhindered, thus creating an environment of open competition amongst buyers for our grain in the global market which cannot be dictated to by any one player.

– Steven Snider,

New Norway, Alta.

Saying goodbye

As a young man growing up on a farm, I always feared losing the farm and never getting to visit it again. I moved off the farm 10 years ago to join the workforce but always enjoyed returning to it.

My visits brought back many memories of the days gone by. I met with old neighbors and inhaled the fresh air. I would go on long walks thinking about how I used to fix fence or hunt gophers.

I cherished every visit, watching and sometimes helping my brother and father work the land and cattle. I especially missed the bawls of a lonely calf and the sense of freedom of the wide open prairie.

It now seems my fears have become a reality. My brother cannot raise his family on the income farming provides and my father is frustrated from working so much for so little. They have put aside their pride to make a better living somewhere else for their families.

It seems every year more and more farmers succumb to the meagre income of farming and move on to something else. I share my thoughts with them in this poem I have written.

I Must Say Goodbye

To the pretty, rolling, prairie hills,

the wildflowers and cacti,

the haunting cries of the coyote,

and the red sunset spread across the sky,

I must say goodbye.

To the memories of struggle and triumph

our family has faced through generations gone by,

the blood, the sweat, and the tears we spilled,

the fortunes, the losses, the dreams, and the try,

I must say goodbye.

It’s time to move on, abandon the way we live.

Bills are not paid with desire and pride,

Onto greener pastures, ironically, they say,

With no more than a single tear to cry.

I must say goodbye.

The hills will continue to roll,

Flower and cactus will bloom even when it’s dry.

The coyote will still howl,

and the sunset will remain high.

But now, I must say goodbye.

– Michael Oleksyn,

Saskatoon, Sask.

Canadian history

All these years we have looked forward to each Thursday when we get The Western Producer, and our favorite is Western People.

We’ve kept every copy for a long time, enjoy all the stories from olden days. All the people who wrote about our Canadian history were a great joy. We can’t know too much about (our) country.

Like the story “Rich in the ways that matter.” Using houses that were built many years ago, there’s a lot of work, but pride in what can be done. It’s upsetting to have seen what happened during the last years, seeing good buildings bulldozed down.

The Western Producer has been a part of my life as long as I can remember. Mom and Dad had it when we were growing up.

We are living 90 miles southwest of Edmonton near Pidgeon Lake. There’s a lot of activity around here. Battle Lake is three miles west of our land and runs through our pasture.

We can see the river from our living room window. It’s interesting to know that the Battle River runs for many miles east of us. We rent our pasture out each summer, so we enjoy watching cows and also mares and colts. We grew up with cattle, etc. so we find joy in having them here…

Our little granddaughter Summer was thrilled when her little drawing was on the kids’ page this summer. She’s seven since Sept. 13, in Grade 2 in French immersion school in the city. Right now she has chicken pox…

To say we’ll miss Western People is an understatement… Thank you so much and we’ll enjoy the Western People that we have saved all these years.

– Eda Satre

Westerose, Alta.

Making bread

We have always read and enjoyed Western People and the thought that I could ever write for it had never occurred to me.

But that happened in a rather strange way. I had written a letter to my cousin in Alaska and to get beyond the “how are you, I am fine” part, I described how my brother and I had tried to make bread.

She got such a kick out of it that she had phoned our sister Lil in Regina telling her about it.

Lil in turn phoned me and urged me to write it for Western People. She felt readers could have similar reactions and I wanted to thank her for seeing something I didn’t.

But I’m no writer, don’t know the first thing about it. There were doubts. Wasn’t it teachers and professional writers that wrote? How could I fit in there? Don’t matter, what have you got to lose?

With that thought in mind, I wrote it up and was on pins and needles wondering what would happen. The reply came that I had a good story but I was to shorten it and they would publish it. This sounded good. I was a bit too long winded.

The shortened version they published and paid me. That’s how my writing started.

A stranger phoned long distance to tell me how much she enjoyed my story.

She was laughing and had a hard time talking.

Here’s where I want to thank the editors for helping a beginning writer and encouraging him. If they had rejected the first try, I don’t think that I would have bothered to try again.

This story was later selected as one of the stories in the book Scrapbook of Memories. One of the photos on the cover was of our bread making. …

We’re going to miss Western People after having several stories and photos published. Thank you for allowing me to be part of Western People.

– George Almusa,

Margo, Sask.

Book collection

I am very sad to see the end off Western People as a separate magazine but it seems every good thing ends sometime.

I have always had the best of help from The Western Producer any time I needed it.

My father subscribed to the forerunner of The Western Producer, The Progressive by Mr. Harris, a blind man about 1922. Details could be out by some. Then The Western Producer from its start to about 1960 when he could no longer read it.

I have subscribed to it for 40 to 50 years. Maybe someone might be interested, or maybe not.

I am still farming and living on the farm that I was born on in 1920. We have been married 52 years. I have produced pedigreed seed, wheat and barley for 55 consecutive years. Check with C.S.G.A. Time flies.

It also might interest someone that I have well over 100 books published by Western Producer Prairie Books. Wonderful books.

Have 53 of Grant McEwan’s books, many by WPPB (Western Producer Prairie Books.) Also mention that the writer in Issue 1,055 on Aug. 3, Lois Gordon, is a nearby neighbor.

The farmer she writes about even lived closer to us…

To all who have worked with Western People over the last years and also to the contributors of the articles, I say thank you.

– Lloyd Galloway

Fort Saskatchewan, Alta.

With a cup of tea

Our Producer came in yesterday’s mail and as soon as I had a spare moment, I put on the kettle, made tea and read Western People from cover to cover including the children’s section.

I usually begin with your editorial, then the poems and Mailbox and go on from there.

I will certainly be suffering from severe withdrawal symptoms when Doug Gilroy’s Prairie Wildlife, the delightful stories of reminiscing, history and humor; the Prairie Nights page, the puzzle, the clever and often nostalgic, poems and the pictures of Western People are no more…

Many thanks for the learning, the pleasure, the laughs and the tears that I have experienced during the many years of reading Western People.

Best wishes to all those involved in its publication.

– Marjorie M. Duff,

Hanna, Alta.

Gilroy fan

Thank you, Michael, for your fun column and to all the writers over the years.

However, my very favorite has always been Doug Gilroy’s Prairie Wildlife, the one I turn to and read first. I wish you a long and happy retirement, Doug.