Visitors meet King’s four-legged residents at 11th Farm Tour

March 18, 2015 · 0 Comments

By Mark Pavilons
From young emus and piglets to well trained horses, visitors to the 11th annual Farm Tour Saturday got a glimpse into a wide variety of agricultural operations.
“Beasley Bear”?welcomed families to Beasley Farms, located on the 8th Concession.
Beasley Farms is owned by Warren and Noreen Beasley and managed by Richard and Sylvia Dixon. Richard and Sylvia came to Canada in 1994 from England where Richard was a landscape gardener. Richard manages Beasley’s farm and also maintains the rides at Centreville on the Toronto Island, also owned by Warren Beasley.
Sylvia has been working for Warren Beasley since 1989. In England she earned an animal science degree and a national stud diploma. She looks after the farm horses and the ponies at Centreville.
They are a top show barn. They stand three stallions at stud, provide private lessons, breed, and show at The Royal Winter Fair where they were awarded a 1st and 3rd place ribbon in 2014 for their show horses.
Sylvia is also the senior manager of the Far Enough Farm in Centreville on the Toronto Island. Centreville obtained the lease on the Farm in 2012, since then the farm has undergone many improvements. It operates 365 days a year. The on-site manager is Rob Croft.
They showcase many animals such as, peacocks, pheasants, runner ducks, Chinese geese, bantams, black swans, royal palm turkeys, silkys and several other birds.
They also have mini ponies, donkeys, jersey cows, goats, sheep, mixture rabbits, Guinea pigs, llamas and alpacas. There’s a lot to see and do and while enjoying a great learning experience.
Two, recently born emus were on hand Saturday, as well as the large eggs they hatched from.

Winsong Farms

King’s well known Winsong Farm was a popular sport among tour participants.
Bill and Winnie Stott purchased Winsong Farm in 2000.
As Bill said:?“We’re going to look back on this as the time of our lives.”
In 2004 two Lusitano weanlings joined the Stotts. These youngsters started Bill and Winnie on an interesting journey. Since the horses, Zelador and Zeloso, were too young to be ridden (traditionally Lusitanos are first ridden around the age of three) the Stotts started teaching them games and tricks at liberty (by way of halter and leadline).
Since 2008 the Lusitanos have been performing at fundraisers along with the other horses at Winsong Farm. The acts in the fundraisers (which have raised over $13,000 for a variety of organizations) include horses sitting on bean bags, fetching and delivering the mail, retrieving over a jump, catching a towel, pushing a big ball, playing baseball (hitting the ball and running the bases), participating in the Winsong Farm Orchestra, blowing bubbles and rolling out the carpet. The list goes on and on and is added to all the time.
The horses and humans at Winsong Farm presented many of their games in the arena throughout the tour.
Visitors met 25-year-old Kye, an Appaloosa. There’s Blue Executive, a 19-year-old thoroughbred; Pax, a Canadian, who has many talents.
On March 1 Zelador had his first reading lesson. He was in the arena showing off his reading skills.
It gives the Stotts great pleasure to open the arena for visitors to see what they enjoy every day –?the intelligence, curiosity and delightful sense of humour of the horse.

Green Tractors – Nobleton

Nobleton Farm Service began in 1956 as a small agricultural repair shop. Glen Davis began selling machinery shortly after, signing on with the Oliver Corporation. “Green” tractors were sold from this location as early as 1957.
The business grew over the years and in 1977, a new facility was constructed on the site on King Road near Nobleton.
In 1981 Glenn’s son Karl and his wife Barb joined the business. His son Keith joined them in 2009 and then his son Kevin joined them in 2010, making it a 4th generation family-run business.
In 1985, John Deere became the principle supplier to Nobleton Farm Service, continuing the tradition of “green” tractors. 1992 saw the addition of Clark Moor Motors of Brampton, a long-time John Deere Lawn and Grounds Care dealership. In 2002, Milton became the target of expansion, as Halton Turf and Tractors was incorporated at a location just off the 401, continuing the tradition of a strong John Deere presence in Halton Region.
In 2010, Green Tractors merged with Greendale & Utica Equipment Services Inc., with two locations in Omemee and Port Perry, Ontario further strengthening their position in the equipment market and in January 2012 merged with Ag-Nor in Ealton, Ontario.
In 2014, Clow Farm Equipment of Kingston, Ontario joined the Green Tractors family.
The Davis family is still proud to be rooted in Nobleton, with a strong support for local agriculture, commercial, municipal, and residential clients and our community

S. B. Brethet Holsteins

The sign that you see at the end of the driveway represents four generations of dairy farming.
The Brethet family had the first Holstein herd in Simcoe County. Scott’s great-grandfather John, brought the first registered Holstein bull calf to the county in 1908 by train. In 1929, John’s son Gordon took over the farm; in 1960 Gordon’s son Bill took over Erincliffe Farm and now Bill’s youngest son has been farming on this site since 2005.
The herd consists of 100 head of black and white or red and white registered Holstein cattle; 40 are milked daily at 5 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. The balance of dry cows (pregnant cows about to have a calf) and the young stock are kept at Scott’s brother Glenn’s farm right next door.
Select cattle are chosen to compete each year at county Holstein shows, the Royal Winter Fair, and the world dairy show in Madison, Wisconsin.
Scott’s roots, his involvement with 4-H, his keen eye to select a flawless animal, have earned him the recognition of being known as the “Top Fitter” in the Holstein industry. A fitter in layman’s terms is a make-up artist, hairdresser that creates an outstanding image. Scott now travels extensively to buy, sell or judge cattle.

RuffSport

RuffSport is owned and operated by lead trainer and president, Heather McLeod. She is based out of Bow Wow Country Club located in Schomberg.
Heather has had a lifelong love affair with dogs and their well-being. Her training skill crosses multiple sports from Agility, Disc, Dock Diving, and Flyball. She is a fully accredited dog trainer along with being Sport Mutt certified.
She trains using her positive reinforcement training program which really gets the dogs using their brains rather than their noses. She has been performing in events for the past 10 years and the amazing RuffSport dogs are rated among the most requested at special events along with Heather’s enthusiasm, laughter, and smile! She knows everything about all dogs and can help provide excellent and bespoke diets for each dog. Sometimes she recommends Digestive Enzymes For Dogs if they need it, or sometimes she recommends a raw food diet. She understands what the dog needs and caters to their intelligence to train them.
Heather loves to show her team in action and they performed during the tour at the Schomberg fairgrounds.
Her team will be performing with the team at over 12 fall fairs and special events throughout Ontario this summer. The dogs will be performing tons of different skills including Frisbee, dance and high speed performance. Her 10-year-old border collie Diesel was the longest dock diving dog in Canada for the years 2008-2010 and he loves to perform. Diesel is a very active part of the team and has learned in excess of 50 tricks which he performs at most shows. When you come to one of her shows you never know what you might see, she is always working on new ways with her team to surprise and delight an audience.
To make all this happen she would like to thank her sponsors Big Country Raw, Hero Dog Treats and Slobbers Organic Treats.