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56 - DECKS AWASH balance things out. I've had to shovel 75 tons of lime on my fields. Farming is definitely not a lazy man 's job ! I've invested in boron and molybdenum to increase my yield and it seems to have worked over the years. furs " I have my own beehives becau se I don' t feel there are enough pollinating insects here for growing crops. There is a n unnatural occurrence of (Jowers for the normal amount of insects. Tbe field next to the beehives had Shirley M cE ntegart, f ox farmer S hirley and Jimmy McEntegart have three German shepherd dogs and 400 faxes. We meet the dogs as we drive onto the McEnlegart property near Whitboume. Cautiously, we lower our windows as three long nosesspeculatively sniff the car 's interior. No growls, no raised hackles . So far so good . Perhaps they can smell the scent of our I own dogs. Carefully , we open the door, but the dogs push in, one climbing into the back seat while another sits on the passenger seat and stares at us. We abandon ship clutching cam eras and notebook and head off 10 find Shirley McEntegarl. Kathleen Crane (l)and Shiriey McEntegart (A). Clean ing ~ after evening feeding the highest yield. It might be coincidence, but I'm not moving the beehives . There are native bees four times the size of mine and they'H visit three times as ns many (Jowers, but there aren't enough of them ." Shirley and her friend Kathleen Crane are feeding faxes . Shirley lugs a five-gal lon plastic pail filled with feed, spooning dollops of it into each cage. The cage looks empty , but on a high shelf at the back lurks a silver fox. As Shirley leaves , it darts forward and grabs the food . Three smaller heads peer from a doorway, they 're the fox's hungry pups. "Faxes are more like cats than ~ ," says Shirley. "We brought in 25 females and 8 males from Nova Scotia in 1981. Now we are up to tOO breeding females . They breed once a yea r, between February and April, and the gestation period is 52days . They are picky about who they will breed with, that's why we have 33 males." "There is a danger period after the young are born. Ifthe female is frightened she may eat her young, so you can 't go ham mering or anything aro und the cages. "They a re skittish animals, hard to raise, and ma ny breeders have low production. The Canadian average is only about 2.8 pups per fox. Ours is four. We send the furs to the Hudson's Bay Company for their auction each February. The average Canadian price last year was $156 a fur , ours was $218. The highest price paid was $300. Shirley raises aU silver faxes, but there are variations in color: light, medium, and dark . Last year light was popular . The three qualities a good fur must possess are color, silkiness , and density . A lot of planning goes into the production of good furs, from the select ion of breeding partners to specialized diet. Food may be a mixture of liver, chicken, horse flesh, beef, eggs ,cereal, and fish together with some highly concentrated additives made from molasses , beer malts, and sea weed. " Diets change with the sea-
too attached to faxes because you know they will chew the ha nd off you if you let them . We used to have sheep and cows and I've five children so the kids used to have riding horses. But then they moved on to girl s and cars so it was goodbye to the horses ," she says with a re signed grin . "The only trouble with livestock is somebody has alwa ys got to be there. We don't tak e vason," say Shirley. " A high energy diet before the mating season so they won't get too heavy.then liver , chicken and vitamins in the gestation period. This time of the year the diet is 50% fish protein to put length on lhe pups, around August you start to beef them up. <strong>Newfoundland</strong> has an advantage since most of our food products THE WilEIEURORl[5 Seethem today. Canon rl(fTRCNlf,,""NlIfRS DECKS AWASH - 57 -, cations very often. Of course you are qu ite dirty a lot of the time, too. It' s nice to dress up and go dan cin g occasionally. We have a live fox show each November a round the 9th or lOth with a dinner and dance. "Yes, Jlmmysays he is a lucky man to ha ve me here looking
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Today's teacher meets the challenge
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2 - DECKS AWASH n.~ ~ HARVEY FISHER
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Enter the experience oJ. a new fina
Page 8 and 9: 6 - DECKS AWASH Mare ready 10 loal
Page 10 and 11: 8 - OECKS AWASH difficulty in obtai
Page 12 and 13: 10 - DECKS AWASH the costs to us we
Page 14 and 15: PUT Ii. LITTLE CUSS IN YOUR LIFE TH
Page 16 and 17: 14 - DeCKS AWASH get the high unit
Page 18 and 19: 16 - DECKS AWASH to know what the m
Page 20 and 21: 18 - DECKS AWASH after 10years it w
Page 22 and 23: 20 - DECKS AWASH The real Jiggs e w
Page 24 and 25: 22 - DECKS AWAS H which is what you
Page 26 and 27: 24 - DeCKS AWASH ourselves. This ye
Page 28 and 29: 26 - DECKS AWASH milk, less 5.1¢a
Page 31 and 32: DECKS AWASH - 29 beef cattle A litt
Page 33 and 34: DECKS AWASH - 31 rAnimal farm he ro
Page 35 and 36: "I started with root crops four yea
Page 37 and 38: cedes it would be pointless for the
Page 39 and 40: DECKS AWASH - 37 should be subsidiz
Page 41 and 42: DECKS AWASH - 39 th()5e who are try
Page 43 and 44: DECKS AWASH - 41 25% TO 50% SAVINGS
Page 45 and 46: esults of your per formance everyda
Page 47 and 48: OECKS AWASH - 45 499 chickens that
Page 49 and 50: a teacher. We met there and came to
Page 51 and 52: DECKS AWASH - 49 Transplanted far m
Page 53 and 54: DECKS AWASH - 51 Greenhouses need l
Page 55 and 56: children 100-200 Ills.a day. At tha
Page 57: spreads the risk of frost so you do
Page 61 and 62: DECKS AWASH - 59 Making a go ofmink
Page 63 and 64: OECKS AWASH - 61 trout Aquaculture,
Page 65 and 66: come in and get the moose in our fi
Page 67 and 68: vegetables, fish and crafts. There'
Page 69 and 70: Thinking small may have a big impac
Page 71 and 72: features Home gardening DECKS AWASH
Page 73 and 74: DECKS AWASH - 71 "We had day trips
Page 75 and 76: DECKS AWASH - 73 possible? You know
Page 77 and 78: DECKS AWASH - 75 Secrets down on th
Page 79 and 80: DECKS AWASH - 77 Birds of Newfoundl
Page 81 and 82: letters R ~~~ ~~i~:~i~~: ha lt;~ i~
Page 83: NATIONAL PARKS CENTENNIAL Celebrate
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Newfoundland - Memorial University's Digital Archives Initiative

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