The Wingham Advance-Times, 1985-03-20, Page 81• Secondi S.e:fion
Ashfield township broiler farmer creating farm sanctuary
Harry Burgsma
By Alan Rivett
Although chickens 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 second
concession, south of Dungannon, is a pond
filled with a variety of ducks 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 sunnier time.
"No farm is a farm without animals," says
Burgers. "I love animals and as a kid I had
rabbits and duds. It's just a childhood dream
which you bring about."
On the opposite side of the concession road
is another newly fenced Off section of land.
According to Burgsma, the seven acre
property will be used as an animal statuary 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 Burgsma.
"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
Burgsma operation. Bade in 1958, when
Burgsma first bought the farm, the thickens
on the farm numbered 9,600. lbday, 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 winced on a
construction crew for three years. During this
time a person with whom he worked moved to
the Clinton area and started raising broilers.
Harry Burgsma owns an extensive poultry operation on the second
concession of Ashfield lbwnship. At present he raises 22,000 laying
hens and 65,000 broilers. No farm is a farm without anhrwls, says Hany
who is creating a seven arae sanctuary on his farm to include water fowl;
deer and sheep. (Photo by Alan Rivett)
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 farms in Holland.
Soon after, looking *lama in the Goderidi
area with a Goderith real estate agent, he
came upon his present farm which he
promptly dnanged 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 ranch money," says
Burgsma.
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 to the original barn and built three other
barns to house the boiler chickens. In 1968,
he decided to, go into laying hears and built a
barn on his property on County Road 1 and in
1972, he expanded the laying hen operation
with another barn at the same location.
Fbr the first seven to eight years he was
raising broilers, Burgers worked on jobs in
the construction business because of the poor •
market for chickens at the time. He said the
introduction ofJ,the marketing boards for
broilers and eggs has helped eliminate most
of the "ups and downs" in a mrnodity prices
for producers.
The farm has one barn whidm has a
completely automated system of egg collec-
tions
olle -tions while the egg collection in the other
barn is done by hand. The automated system
uses a conveyer belt which runs underneath
the cages taking the eggs to the end of the
barn. In all six dnidaen barns, an automatic
feeding system allows feed to filter into the
bins, controlled by a time dodk.
Laying hens are shipped into the barns at
20 weeks old and shipped out after one year
as the quality of the eggs -deteriorates after a
year. The broiler chickens are raised for six to
seven weeks until their weight is four pounds
or better.
Research into medical and breeding habits
has provided the market with bigger,
healthier broiler chickens, says Burgsma.
When he"first started in the broiler business,
it took 10 weeks to raise a three, pound
chidden.
Disease in thickens was dice a real
problem but medication mixed in with the
feed has dec=eased the dnidoen mortality rate
to a low level:
Hogs are another brandy of farming which
holds great interest for Burgsma. In 1975 he
purchased a swine operation on the fourth
Concession of Ashfield, near Port Albert. The
farm which contains 440 farrow to finish hogs
is run by his eldest son, Ron. Burgsma says
hog farming is "definitely an exiting type of
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