聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 Nick Zawislak started farming at the age of 22 in 1949, and still enjoys helping his son Terry on the family farm north of Canora near Amsterdam during busy seasons such as harvest, even after celebrating his 90th birthday on Saturday.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Terry said his father is an excellent worker around the farm and still puts in the long hours required at harvest.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 The elder Zawislak grew up on a farm near Insinger, and learned all about farming at a young age. By the time he became a teenager, he was doing field work with horses.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Zawislak remembers it took five horses to pull their two-bottom plow, and four horses to pull the 14-foot seed drill.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 He recalls in those days, harvest time was very different than it is now.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 鈥淭he crop was cut with a binder, and then formed into stooks, which were fed into the threshing machine and harvested. It took a crew of about nine or 10 men. In a really good day, a crew could harvest about 40 to 50 acres.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 From 1947 to 1949, Zavislak worked at the iron ore mine in Steep Rock, Ont. as a supplementary source of income. But in 1949, he decided to farm full-time with his brother Max.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Nick bought his first combine, a G4 International (IH) pull-type unit, in 1950. The following year Max bought a 1951 Massey Harris model 26 combine.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 They each had about half a section of land, and farmed together until 1955, when Nick decided to end the partnership and farm on his own with his wife Adeline. They were married in 1954.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Nick said that he and Adeline have been married for 63 happy years, and raised a family of five boys. Terry鈥檚 brother鈥檚 include Bob, Glenn, Dale and Darcy.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Farming has gone through many changes in those years, and Nick has experienced them all. New cropping options came along, including canola in the 1970鈥檚. He included it in his crop rotation, and Terry continued growing it after taking over the farm in 1980.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Their farm size has increased from 640 acres in 1949 to around 2,500 acres of crop land this year. Yields have also increased tremendously, thanks in large part to advances in fertilizer.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 On September 6, Nick and Terry were helping their neighbour Dennis Cymbalisty harvest a bumper crop of oats, which looked to be yielding well over 100 bushels per acre, a yield which was all but impossible in the 1940s.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 The combines used on the Zavislak farm have gotten larger and newer over the years. Nick appreciates conveniences in today鈥檚 combines such as a buzzer which tells him when the hopper is full of grain, and monitors which indicate the moisture content of the grain. Nick and Terry were using a pair of 2188 Case IH units in their neighbour鈥檚 oats field, and even they were a little small for the large crop.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 They can harvest 150 to 200 acres of crop in a good day with two combines, several times what threshing crews used to do with threshing machines.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 The elder Zawislak said one of his favourite things about farming is watching the crops grow, as they start green and then change colour, whether it鈥檚 the yellow of canola, or the blue of flax, or the gold of a ripe field of wheat, barley or oats.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 But he said it鈥檚 the people he鈥檚 met that have really made it enjoyable to be a farmer
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 鈥淲e鈥檝e always had good neighbours, and we try to be good neighbours as well. We help each other out whenever it鈥檚 needed,鈥� said Zawislak.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Since his son took over the farm, Nick has become involved in other pursuits such as selling vacuum cleaners and driving a school bus on a casual basis, but farming is still by far his favourite. He expects to continue working as a farm hand as long as his health is good. 聽 聽
