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The Rural Voice, 2000-10, Page 22Raising pheasants on a farm where turkeys were previously raised has worked well for Tom Jackson, a farmer in the northern part of Lambton County. Turkeys and pheasants eat similar foods. ground grain mixes, and are susceptible to similar diseases, such as gape worm and cocidosis. Raising similar stock was a good way to keep in farming when the high cost of acquiring quotas for turkeys might have discouraged them. Niche farming, such as raising game fowl for the table and for restocking programs, can be a way of keeping your hand in farming while you are working off the farm. Jackson, a carpenter as well as a farmer, mentioned that most of his knowledge of pheasants comes from first-hand experience. He likes to have pheasants in prime shape with good colour, dark green heads with a white neck, pale green back feathers and long tail feathers, as fall approaches. Ring -neck pheasants are predominantly raised in captivity and many of the birds, when they are full- grown are shipped to game farms. Game farmers are patronized by hunters because of the significantly reduced numbers in the wild. Pheasants in the wild take cover in corn, sorghum and wild grasses almost at a hunter's feet. Without a dog, a hunter might not ever find a pheasant. Most seasons the hunting catch of pheasants is not good, mostly due to reduced numbers. "Raising ring -neck pheasants is like looking out for nature," says Tom Jackson, an experienced farmer who has raised the birds for 30 years. "They don't winter well." In the fall, pheasants scoot along trails or fly out of the underbrush though the sight of a ring -neck chasing a brown female is less common now than it used to be. This unique bird is not indigenous and pheasants in the fields or the bush are usually left from domesticated stock that have been released or they may be descendants of braces of pheasants introduced hundreds of years ago. Jackson sees raising pheasants as fun and something different to do. Living near Camlachi, Jackson remembers starting to raise a few 18 THE RURAL VOICE BIRDS OF A DIFFERENT COLOUR Tom Jackson finds a niche raising pheasants on a former turkey farm in Lambton County By Sandra Orr hundred pheasants as a boy when his dad raised turkeys. As the years passed, he had the opportunity to decide if he wanted to raise turkeys or not and he decided to stick with the pheasants. Every year several thousand chicks are received from a pheasant hatchery near Aylmer and are kept until full-grown at about four or five pounds. Birds bigger than five pounds can't fly very well. Tom remarked that he really enjoyed raising ring -neck pheasants and he would do it over again. As a boy, when he helped his father with the turkeys he learned that both the wild and domesticated fowl have similar diseases such as parasites which are controlled with medicated feed and antibiotics in the water. Several times every day, Tom checks his pens of pheasants. Twice he fills the hoppers with ground grains mixed with weed seed. A high protein and oil diet with fish meal makes their feathers stronger. Grain is grown on his 200 -acre farm and 50 additional rented acres. The long pens are covered with netting to keep the birds from Tom Jackson holds one of the 3,000 ring -neck pheasants he raises every year. escaping but since animals dig under the steel fence, a dog is necessary to keep marauders away. Brandy, the pointer, roams the farm outside the pens. At night, the dog keeps the possums, weasels, skunks and racoons away. Unfortunately the dog also likes to startle the birds. Hawks sit on the wooden frame and grab the pheasants when they startle and fly up against the netting. Since the pens are in constant need of repair, Jackson carries pliers, wire and string with him to tie up rents in the netting. When he handles the nervous birds, Jackson says he has to be careful especially in the spring when they might aggressively fly at a person's face. "If you hear a cackle and squawk, you know there's a problem in the pens," he points out. Tom's wife Audrey, a lab technician at a petroleum company and his daughter Sarah, age nine, share chores and the periodic walk- through inspections.