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COMMENT The Way We Were As the country celebrates its 150th birthday in 2017, Canada's Centennial year was full of special events and ongoing displays of patriotism. This photo from 1967 shows Dominion Seed House lit up with the Centennial symbol, which was designed to represent the 10 provinces, with one for the territories, forming a bold maple leaf. Photo courtesy of Equesing Historical Society/ Text courtesy of Heritage Halton Hills A date with a skid steer e morning before I wrote this, I had to feet. Because of their sheer size, most folks move a round bale into the barn. have seen them. It happens every three days. I have a date is guy was no exception. He knew with the skid steer. what I meant when I said round bales. at skid-steer loader is the most valuBut his next statement blew me away. able piece of equipment I have on the farm. "Man, I'll bet you really felt that the next When it comes to farming, I adamantly day..." adhere to my basic mantra: muscular powI assumed he was joking. er should only be used when it's impossible He was serious. to utilize hydraulics. After I regained my compoTranslation: I don't move sure and apologized for laughanything by hand that I can ing, I explained that round move with a front-end loader. bales weigh a half ton or more It's a simple premise -- why -- a bit more than most folks kill your back when you have a could lift by hand. tractor and loader? I think he felt a bit silly. Being a member of the 65Of course, that's only one of plus club, I'm pretty careful many jobs my skid-steer loader what I lift with my back. tackles. Yet I nd myself easily movI don't own a manure fork. ing things that I would have I refuse to clean out sheep never even considered years pens by hand -- my back TED BROWN ago. couldn't take that abuse. Every And how do I do it? pen in the barn is skid-steer accessible. A skid-steer loader -- you know, one of I clean out the pens with the skid steer, those little four-wheel drive jobbers that push the manure outside and my loadlandscapers and construction companies er tractor takes over. I pile it, ready to be use to clean up with or move material like spread on the elds -- all without raising a stone or soil. hand or breaking a sweat. It's not huge, but it's mighty. Hydraulics rule! Only 25 horsepower and a little foure skid steer sometimes cleans up cylinder diesel engine, it's so compact it ts snow, moves bags of feed and I've even used it as a work bench by setting the buckthrough a 50-inch door. When people say to me "Wow, you sure et at the desired height, then lock it in place must work hard on the farm," I'm some- while I work on a project. I've mixed concrete in the bucket then times a bit embarrassed to say `Well, not drove it to the forms (no wheelbarrow really.'" Mind you, I quickly explain I couldn't needed) and when I'm nished, I use the do what I do on the farm if I didn't have my pressure washer to clean it up. I often state that e Sidekick is my rightskid-steer loader. During the winter I use it to move a round bale of hay into position to hand man, er, partner. But I also think that if I had to choose feed it to the sheep every three days. A while ago, I was talking to a guy who between her and the skid steer -- well, I'd have to ponder for a moment. (Okay honey, wasn't familiar with farming. ...) During the conversation I said I had re- just kiddin' I might not re it up every day, but when cently moved some round bales into the I need it, that skid steer is the tool that albarn. We're talking those big bales of hay one lows me to do what I do on the farm. On top of that, it's kinda fun to operate. sees out in the eld, measuring four-by- ve From our readers SEEING THE LIGHT Sean Murphy shot this photo of St. John's United Church early one Sunday morning. George Kennedy, whose family founded Georgetown, was on the building committee that raised $8,000 and built the church on Guelph St. in 1880. Have a photo you want to share? Email -- with details please -- to cvernon@metroland.com. Furnace Air Conditioning Gaslines Boilers Water Heaters Radiant Heating We handleall handle all insurance work. insuranc e work. 905-877-3100 .ca proud local dealer of Canadian made products Vi s i t o u r s h o w r o o m · Truck Accessories · Upholstery · Heavy Equipment Glass ·Window Tinting 354 Guelph Street, Georgetown 905-873-1655 341 Guelph St., Unit 3 Georgetown 905.873.0236 www.buy-wise.ca info@buy-wise.ca · awarded readers choice 26 times · · your window & door professionals · Thursday, February 16, 2017 - The IFP - Halton Hills - www.theifp.ca - Page 7