Newfoundland - Memorial University's Digital Archives Initiative

32 - DECKS AWASH
she's the prime of the beef a nd
she's had good calves, a heifer
last year that I didn't keep and a
bull this year. We won't be keep-
1 . ~ .
enough.
With these many animals and
with Newfoundla nd's winters, Albert
needs a big bam, and he has.
It's been expa nded three times
and ca n acco mmoda te up to 150
cattle, 20 horses , and 50 sheep.
But it' s not a business to move
into overnight. The Warehams
have built it up over many years
through long hours of work and
they have bee n fortunate that Albert
's other busin ess has been
Iul It' ant he has not
had to ta ke a living out of the
fann. Still, a lot of capital is involved.
Fortunately, Albert is
good with figures. When he's
dropping fertilizer all over his
fields his mind is operating like
a pocket calculator as he works
out the cost.
"We've got 5 tractors, 3 bailers,
3 manure spreaders and $150,000
tied up in cattle. Then there's the
barn and the other animals. I
don't come here every day , but
my father is 72 and he puts in' a
full day , more time than I do, and
we have three to four men working
with us. It's a lot of work, and
you've got to like to do it, because
to make it work you've got to put
a lot of love and care into all
this," says Albert as he waves
goodbye and climbs back on his
tractor. m
hogs
A Bull in a weaner stock
olin Bull. 65, of Eastport,
too. People don't have the pride
C operates a multiplier hog
in their work that they used to
opera tion on the newly paved
and that's one of our major
road to Salva ge. Recently, he
problems.
visited far ms in Scand inavi a and
" I can 't seewhere we're heading
at the moment. We've got
found tha t famil y farms were the
norm . Colin wonders why Newfoundland
doesn 't follow the
away from the family type of
operation to commercial corporations.
I grew up working on a
Scandinavian lead , considering
the many similarities.
fann and I never expected to
" Wha t impressed me a bout
make much at it. It was part of
Scandinavia was that you had to
growing up, helping your father
be reall y sick to get welfare," he
and making things work. I got all
comments. "There was always
my training on the job and even
something to be done and some ­
15 years ago it would have been
one willing to do it. We need to follow
that example in looking after
difficult to change jobs . Now you
have to have the experience to
the countryside in a proper man ­
seek a job.
ner . Nobody gets a nything for
"When Sandringham was set
nothing ove r there. There's
up as a farming community in
plenty of work to be done here ,
Colin BlAI
the 19305, the Eastport area was
all farming. 1be amount and variety
of crops grown here then are
hard to believe. I can 't under­
1IOi__••• 1stand why people don't want to
... fann anymore. Everyone used to
have a dozen hens, their own
sheep and a few cows and a
horse . Itwas a hive of activity all
year. You stored what you
couldn 't sell and then went into
the woods cutting whatever was
needed and you could bring in a
dollar. There was nowhere more
independent than the Eastport
Peninsula and it was up to the individual
how well he did."
Farming has been part of 0>lin's
life for a long time now.
A view of the farm overlook ing Eastport Bav,