The Rural Voice, 2001-12, Page 10DAVID E. GREIN
LOGGING
Buyer of Standing
& Felled Hardwood Timber
& Bush Lots
• Competitive Pricing
• Quality Workmanship
• Over 20 Years Experience
R.R.#1 Neustadt (519) 799-5997
Happy
Holidays from
McGavin's
To All Our Valued
Customers:
Thank You! Thank You! We at
McGavin's would like to thank all our
customers for their patronage in
making our 65th year in business a
busy one! Avoid down time next year
and take advantage of our Winter Fix
Up program on now. Call for details. Be
sure to look for our Parts Fa
special coming in the spnng as well as
our great oil program and toy specials
on now! For your !arm equipment
needs, check out New Holland's
Winter Programs or winter discounts
from one of our 50 Shoreline
companies for your year-end buying.
Once again we apprecate and thank
you for all your suppon and patronage
over the past years and look forward to
many more. From our staff at
McGavin's, we would like to wish you
and your families all the best this
holiday season.
Keep Smiling and
1 Happy Holidays! .
Book your equipment in for our
WINTERF/
NEW HOLLAND
Ask for Jett
eia* sal sae tsy depa4weit Mistwa
McGavin
Farm Supply Ltd.
(519)527-0245 WALTON (519)887.6365 pn."MP.
Ask for Brian, Jeff, Burt or Steve
6 THE RURAL VOICE
Robert Mercer
Survival by creating brand products
Tannadice Farms has survived
because it adapted to the new
conditions of the marketplace created
by subsidy loss and consumer
preferences.
Owned and
operated by
Heather and
Allen
McWilliam,
Tannadice
Farms has
overcome the
disaster of the
elimination of
the feed freight
assistance
program, (about
$30 per tonne
subsidy level)
and the variable hog prices that made
pork production on Vancouver Island
such a vanishing occupation.
A local Agricultural Profile dated
August 1997 reports that in that year
there were 19 commercial hog
producers on the island with possibly
290 total farms with one or more
hogs. Today, Heather says she can
only count three commercial -sized
hog farms left on the island.
"Pork production on the island is
not viable" says Heather, "unless you
do your own marketing". And that is
just what the McWilliams do. They
have set out to "brand" their own
meat products in a market segment
that operates on a commodity basis.
Every animal that leaves the farm
is either sold directly to the customer
at the door, or at the farmers' market
(open from April to December), or
else in partnership with the local
processor Gunter Bros. In the latter
case the product is sold through local
retail outlets and package branded
(where possible) as pork or beef from
Tannadice Farms ... "low fat — high
health — exquisite flavour".
Quality is behind the product.
Quality in the stock which is disease-
free in hogs where bio -security is the
key, and in the use of purebred
Angus, grass-fed for beef. The
product is fresh, not shipped in from
the mainland. it is local, and it's
chemical free. naturally raised and
tasty. Consumers like it, pay for it
and leave the cupboard bare.
Customers are loyal and treated
royally to free sweet corn at the farm,
given a chance for a free draw prize
at the farmers' market on customer
appreciation day and get brought up
to date four times a year with a chatty
a 'Howdy' newsletter.
The partnership with Gunter Bros.,
which is profits -based, allows for
multiple products in both beef and
pork. There are eight types of
sausage, pork cuts, beef cuts, sides or
quarters, bacon and ham. There is
also the popular barbecue pigs 50 -
70 lbs. which can fetch more than $3
a pound depending on the season. •
(They're also known as Party Pigs.)
The farm, on 105 acres, is home to
60 sows and 30 head of mature
Angus cattle which calve in the fall.
The pork is continuously shipped to
the processor each week with 800 -
850 per year over the last year. With
expanded production now coming on
line that number will rise.
Corn silage and hay are grown
along with ample pasture, but the
grain portions of the feed are
purchased, and that comes from the
mainland. There are no chemical
additives of any kind.
Heather says that the average litter
size in this large white, Iandrace-
cross herd is 11 piglets born and 10
weaned per sow. This is in part due to
the tight health control measures over
stock, visitors, traffic and personnel
which has resulted in a pneumonia
free herd.
Although the McWilliams have
been on the property since 1974, this
branding program only began three
years ago. And it's working.0
Robert Mercer was editor of the
Broadwater Market Letter and a farm
commentator in Ontario for 25 years.
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