The Lucknow Sentinel, 1985-03-20, Page 49f/
Ashfield township broiler farmer creating farm sanctuary
Harry Burgsma
By Alan Rivett
Although chickens are king at Harry
Burgsma's farm, there are a host of other
animals that give the 100 acre property an •
honest-tagoodness farm feet.
In front of the large, finely landscaped
Biugsma home, located on the second
concession, south of Dungannon, is a pond
filled with a variety of chicks and geese, whidi
swim an the pond year round. On the other
side of_the driveway, a stream winds its way
though a spacious field where goats' are
allowed to roam_ in the summoner time.
"No farm is a farm without animals," says
Burgsma. "I love animals and as a lid I had
rabbits and ducks. It's just a 'childhood dream
whidn • you bring about."
On the opposite side of the concession road
is another newly. fenced off section of land.
According to--&agsma;. the seven acre
property will be used as an animal saatraiy 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. Back in 1958, when
Burgsma fust bought the farm, the dudrens
on the farm numibered 9,600. Tbday, he raises
65,000 broilers (chickens used for meat) at the
four barns on the premises and 22,000 laying
hens in two bams 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 fewopportunities.Wages were ow
at the time," he says.
"A lot of people erne to Canada. • I thought
greenly city in Canada was Chatham Every-
body was going to Chatham, but, I wound up
in Sarnia."
While in Sarnia, Burgsma *rated on a
construction crew for three years. During this
time a person withwhamhe worked roved to
the Clinton area and •started raising broilers.
While visiting his friend for a weekend, he"
was asked if he wanted to buy .a farm.
Burgsma said he had grew up on fame, as his
father was a hired hand on farms in Holland.
Soon after, looking at fan ns1n the Goderid►
area with a Goderid) real estateagent, he
came upon his present farm which he
promptly changed to a broiler operation.
"I wasn't really knovdedgeable about
farm. I saw a farm on a hill. It was really
dreap.and I didn't have much money," says
, Burgsma.
He entered broiler raising because he
thought its was a largely untried field of
agriculture with a lot of potential.
"Isaw it as something new at the time, he
says. "It was expensive to get into and it was
a bit of n challenge - a new line, as I saw it.
That was a future in it." •
Within the next eight -years he. added 120
feet' to the original barn and buiftthiee other
barns 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 ham at the same location.
For the fast seven to eight years he was
raising broilers, Bergsma worked on jobs in
the construction business because of the poor
market for chickens at the time. He said the
introduction of the )marketing boards for
broilers and eggs has helped eliminate most
of the "ups and downs" in commodity prices
for producers.
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 runs underneath
the cages taking the eggs to the end of the
barn. In all six chicken barns, an automatic
feeding system allows feed to filter into the
bins, controll y a time dock
Laying hens shipped into the banns at
20 weeks old and shipped out after one year
as the quality of the eggs -deteriorates after a
year. Thebroiler dnidkens 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 thickens, says Burgsma.
When he fust started in the broiler business,
it took 10 wells to raise a three pound
chic n.
Disease in chickens was once a real
problemrbut medication mixed in with the
feed has decreased the d)idean modality rate
to a low level.
Hogs are another brand) 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
fare whit)] contains 440 farrow to finish hogs
is run .by his eldest son, Ron. Bungsrna says
hog fanning is "definitely an exciting type of
turn to page Ira
Harry Bergsma owns an eadensive poultry operation on/ the second who is creating a seven ace sanctuary an his farm to indUde water fowl,
concession of Ashfield Township. At present he res 22,000 im,kg deer andl sheep. (Photo by Ala Rivett)
hens and 65,000 broilers. No farm is a farm without animals, says Harry