Clinton News-Record, 1969-05-08, Page 11104th YEAR NQ, 19
Clinton.
News- ecor
QLiNTON, QNTAR10 TH6RspAY, MAY 'EL 1969
$ECON.P SKTIQN
Open house today at
Londesboro
Pullet
palace.
*84000 .barn for 39,00.0 chicks
View of new poultry barn from the east, the side facing toward Highway 4, shows rows of hooded
exhaust vents along 484 -foot wail. Structure is 40 feet wide.
PHOTO FEATURE BY ERIC McGUINNESS
One segment of wall in the utility room at new barn shows a
portion of the wiring and control boxes in the all -electric
environmentally controlled building.
A visitor to Harry Bakker's
new poultry barn in Londesboro
during today's open house will
cover nearly four-fifths of a mile
if he decides to walk just once
past the cages which soon will
hOu,pliee30s,i1010g0lersryutollete; metal.ciad,
insulated, windowless structure
is 484 feet long end 40 feet
wide, features full environment
control, is all electric and cost
•about $85,000.
In. it, day-old chicks will be
raised to the age of 20 weeks
before being shipped to egg
producers. During their
four-month stay, the young hens
will be kept in double-decker
wire cages arranged in eight rows
running the length of the
building.
Electric hot water heating
will keep the temperature high
when the birds are young and
later forced ventilation will cool
the interior. Dimmer -equipped
lighting and timers will regulate
the length of the artificial days
inside, gradually changing the
intensity to simulate dusk and
dawn.
Housed off the ground ,in
cages, the birds are away from
floor drafts and damp litter and
have to compete less for food
than on the floor in open pens.
An automatic system supplies
water to each cage, but feed
trays must be kept filled from a
mobile cart — this task was
p urposely not au tom ated
because it helps to insure that all
the chickens are checked each
day.
Mr. Bakker, 25 last Monday,
lives on the 13th concession in
Hullett Township, 1.25 miles
south fBlyt.h, On a farm
bought two years ago from his
,father, W. J. Bakker, whose
adjoining farm and starter pullet
operation, the Orange Villa,
fronts on Highway 4.
The elder Mr. Bakker came to
Canada from the Netherlands 18
years ago. In 1953 he purchased
the farm Harry now owns.
Harry went to high school in
Clinton, later studied business
administration in Michigan and
was married a year and a half
ago to a girl from Goderich. He
and his wife, Betty, are
expecting their first child later
this month. Betty's father, Leo
Idsinga, retired from farming in
Goderich Township, now lives
and works on the Bakker farm.
In addition to the new pullet
barn, Harry will continue to
raise 60,000 broilers at a time in
barns behind his house and is
building a pig barn on another
piece of land along the highway.
He said he decided last
September to build the pullet
barn because quota controls
prevent expansion of the broiler
business. The first step in the
pullet project was reaching an
agreement with Neuhauser
Hatcheries Ltd. in Stratford --
the company which supplies the
chicks, 20 weeks later ships out
the young hens and pays the
farmer for raising them.
Though maybe not unique,
The Bakker barn is said to be
one of the largest and most
modern in the area. Harry
explains that the barn was built
Centre aisle reaches more than 200 feet down one half of new
barn, with cages on both sides. There is also an aisle to the left
and right of this one, along the walls, and whole pattern is
repeated in other half of building, with service core in the middle.
Construction was still underway when photo was made.
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West side of pullet barn, teen aS it neared corripletidn, shows feed hint at either end and Centre
doorway to service Section. bark band just beneath reef line is an air intake vent, Shielded t6 keep
fight out of the
for 30,00Q pullets because that
is the nember which one man
can care for econemically. With
the aid of mechanical
equipment, ele man can handle
the daily chores in six or seven
hours, Mr. Bakker said.
The barn is being built by
Schweitzer Farm Systems, Ltd.
of Montrose. Feed will be
supplied by Howson , and
Howson, Myth millers.
W. D, (Don) Kempston, area
sales representative for Ontario
Hydro, called in Hydro's farm
specialists from London and
helped design the building's
electrical service, Mr. Kempston
notes there are two fail-safe
features in the plan. One is an
emergency generator, not yet
installed, which will start
automatically within 10 seconds
of a power failure to keep
heating and ventilation systems
functioning at all times. The
other involves pairing of the
building's eight water heaters. so
that failure of any one will not
leave part of the barn unheated.
The barn is actually divided
in two halves each more than
200 feet long, with a service core
at the center, Cages, suspended
from the ceiling, run in four
rows down each half, with a
center aisle and one along each
wall.
Between the aisles are
concrete -floored trenches
beneath the cages. When the
pullets leave the barn, a small
tractor or mini -bulldozer with
wing blades can drive down the
aisle, pushing manure to one end
where a built-in auger system
will move lt outside.
Feed will be trucked to two
feed bins, one outside at each
end of the barn. On one side of
the barn are air intake vents and
on the other, pairs of exhaust
fans — a small two -speed fan and
a large unit for the times when
maximum air flow is needed. All
the openings are designed with
light -blocking baffles so the
interior lighting can be kept in
complete control. The ceiling
has six inches of insulation, the
walls four inches.
When the chicks arrive —
10,000 a day for three days
early next week — 17 will go in
each of 24 by 16 -inch upper
cage. The top row of cages have
special openings for the chicks
to reach the feed and have
heated pipes running directly
through.
After five to six weeks, if all
the chicks survive, nine are left
in the top cages and four placed
in each of the 12 by 16 -in.
bottom -row cages.
Another "fail-safe"measure is
the provision of egg trays on the
cages in case the hens have to be
kept once they start laying. This
rnight happen, for instance, if an
egg producer had a barn fire and
was unable to take delivery of
the pullets on the scheduled
date..
Today from 1 to 9 p.m. the
public is invited to inspect the
new building as guests of Mr.
Bakker, Schweitzer Fairn
Systems, Howson and Howson,
Neuhauser Hatcheries and
Ontario Hydro. Coffee and
donuts will be served.
EASE DO NOT ENTER 5055INGS
PH. 523- 9284 11
Harry Bakker, 25, shown at the entrance to his farm lane.
End vie* cif cages shOwS tWo4ier Stairstep arrangement with heating pipe running through upper r6VV.
Sinall pipet sticking diScOnnected .out of the ends �f the feed treys will supply water to ihdividUal
units in each cage, Photo was taken before installation was finished, Atso Visible ate egg tray#
prOvided in case pullets have tn. be kept after they Start to ley. Note that cages are hung from the
ceiling and aro suspended aver trench- trehi Whidir manure Can be cleaned With a snuff tradtot ridiho
between the cage tc1Ws,