HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Wingham Advance-Times, 1985-03-20, Page 61Ashfield township broiler farmer creatir�g farm sanctuary
Harry Burgsma
By Alan Rivett
Although diidrns are king at Harry
Burgsma's farms, there. are a host of other
animals that give the 100 acre property an
honest -to -goodness' farm feel.
In front of the large, finely landscaped
Burgsma home, located on the seepnd
concession, south of Dungannon, is a pond
filled with a variety of duds and geese, 'Which
swim in the pond year round. On the other
side of the driveway, a stream winds its way
through a spacious field where goats are
allowed to roam in the summer time.
"No farm is a farm without animals," says
Burgsma. "I love animals and as a kid I had
rabbits and ducks. It's just a childhood dream
which you baring about."
On the opposite side of the concession mad
is another newly fenced off section of land.
According to Burgsma, the seven acre
property will be used as an animal santuary to
include duds, fowl and larger animals such
as deer and sheep. He hopes to have the
animals in the park within the next two years.
"Hopefully it will be park with animals for
people to look at and walk through for their
enjoyment,'." says Bergsma.
"It's not meant as a money making
proposition, but to share with other people in
the area"
Chickens, however, are the mainstay of the
• Burgsrna operation. Back in 1958, when
Burgsma.fnst bought the farm, the thickens
on the faun numbered 9,600. 1bday, he raises
65,000 broilers (chickens used for meat) at the
four barns on the premises and 22,000 laying
hens in two barns on the premises and 22,000
laying hens in two barns located on County
Road 1 outside of Dungannon.
Burgsma first came to Canada from
Holland in 1955 at 17 years .of age. He said he
and his wife emigrated from Holland because
of the few opportunities for young people to
'better themselves in that country.
"There was a lot of uncertainty in Holland
after the war. If you were well-to-do, you
could make headway. If you weren't, there
were very few opportunities. Wages were low
at the time," he says.
"A lot of people came to Canada I thought
the only city in Canada was Chatham. Every-
body was going to Chatham, but, I wound up
in Sarnia."
While in. Sarnia, Burgsma worked on a
construction crew for three yeas. During this
time a person with whom he worked moved to
the Clinton area and started raisingbroilers.
Harry Burgsma owns an extensive poultryoperation on the second who is aeating a seven are sanctuary on his farm to include water fowl,
concession of Ashfield 'lbwnship. At present he raises 22,000 laying deer and sheep. (Photo by Alam Rivett)
hens and 65,000 broilers. No farm is a farm without animals, says Harry
While visiting his friend for a weekend, he
was asked if he wanted to buy a farm
Burgsma said he had grew up on farms, as his
father was a hired hand on fades in Holland.
Soon after, looking at farms in the Goderich
area with a Goderich real estate agent, he
came upon his present fann which he
promptly changed to a broiler operation.
"I wasn't really knowledgeable about
farms. I saw a farm on a hill. It was really
cheap and I didn't have much money," says
Burgsma
He entered broiler raising because he
thought it was a largely untried field of
agriculture with a lot of potential.
"I saw it as something new at the time," he
says. "It was expensive to get into and it was
a bit of a challenge - a new line, as I saw it.
There was a future in it."
Within the next eight years he added 120
feet tdre,original bam and built three other
banns to house the boiler chickens. In 1968,
he decided to go into laying hens and built a
barn on his property on County Road 1 and in
1972, he expanded the laying hen operation
with another bam at the same location.
Fbr the first sewn to eight years he was
raising broilers, Burgsma worked on jobs in
the construction business because of the poor
market for thickens at the time. He said the
introduction of the marketing, boards for
broilers and eggs has helped eliminate moat
of the "ups and downs" in commodity, prices
for The farm has one barn which has a
completely automated system of egg collec-
tions while the egg 'collection in the other_
barn is done by hand. The automated system
uses a conveyer belt which nuns underneath
the cages taking the eggs to the end of the
barn. In all six thideen hams, an automatic
feeding system allows feed to filter into the.
bins, controlled by a time dock
Dying hens are shipped into the barns at
26 weeks old and shipped out after one year
as the quality of the eggs- deteriorates after a
year. The broiler thickens are raised for six, to
seven weels until their weight is four pounds
or better.
Research into medical and breeding habits
has provided the market with bigger,
healthier broiler thickens, says Burgsma.
When he first started in the broiler business,
it took 10 weeks to raise a three pound
thicken.
Disease in chickens was once a real
problem but medication mixed in with the
feed has decreased the chicken mortality rate
to a low level.
Hogs are another branch of farming which
ho great interest for Bugsma. In 1975 he
:..I a swine operation on the fourth
concession of Ashfield, near Fbht Albert. The
faun which contains 440 farrow to finish hogs
is run by his eldest son, Ron. Bergsma says
hog farming is "definitely an exiting type of
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