The Rural Voice, 1980-02, Page 6The Egg and
Which comes first - the chicken or the
egg? The old conundrum really doesn't
worry egg producers who are dealing with
the more complex issues of how much
automation to put into their system, of
whether or not to purchase 10 per cent
more basic quota for their operation and
whether or not to add their own pullet barn
on the farm.
Huron and Perth counties have long
been major egg producing areas. Huron
County ranks second in the province, right
behind Middlesex county, and Perth is in
fourth place, behind Lambton.
Bill Scott, Huron County director of the
Ontario Egg Producers' Marketing Board,
said there are 87 quota producers in
Huron, with approximately 650,000 birds,
and 85 registered producers in Perth, with
flocks of 550,000 birds. To become a
registered producer, the farmer must have
a flock of at (east 500 birds.
The largest egg producer in the province
is from eastern Ontario, and he has a basic
quota of 300,000 birds in his family
operation. Huron and Perth producers
can't quite match this number - the largest
producer in Huron has a production quota
of 31,400 birds and in Perth, the largest
operation has 24,600 birds.
Pieter Westerhout, who lives at Whel-
PG. 4THE RURAL VOICE/FEBRUARY 1,980
Frank Vanhevel of R.R.1, Bornholm had a flock of about
9,000 chickens when this photo was taken. Here he
poses with some of his hens.
(Photo by Ranney)
Featuring egg producers in our area
by ALICE GIBB AND DEBBIE RANNEY
an's Corners in the southwest of the county,
is one of the newer producers in the
county. Two years ago he bought 10 acres
of land and an existing egg production
operation from Bill Morley.
Mr. Westerhout's family - including his
father and brothers, own a large broiler
operation between Clinton and Auburn,
but he was the first in the family to go into
egg production in a big way.
The producer now has a production
quota of roughly 20,000 birds, has leased
5,000 more birds in quota and is
negotiating for more. Mr. Westerhout said
since he has to be around the operation
anyway, he might as well expand and be
around it all day. The producer does most
of the labour himself. hut a neighbour
comes in for two days weekly to assist in
egg collection.
Why did Pieter Westerhout choose to go
with a smaller acreage operation? The
main factor was cost - the producer said he
didn't feel he could buy land at $1,000 -
$2,000 per acre and make any money at it.
He added even if he owned more land, he
feels he wouldn't farm it himself, since it
would take too much time away from his
barns.
Like most larger egg producers, Pieter
Westerhout works with an automated
system which collects the eggs on a belt
and moves them down to gathering trays at
the end of the row of cages. He uses steel
cages in his two layer barns, and houses
four birds in a cage. The cages are
arranged in a stairstep formation and the
manure drops down into a pit underneath,
where it's collected daily.
Mr. Westerhout also raises his own
pullets, another trend among today's
producers. The pullets are used to replace
his hen flocks every 12 months and the
barns are washed down when a flock is
shipped out.
Mr. Westerhout decided to work with a '
12 -month cycle since egg quality programs
have persuaded him shells are getting
thinner after that length of time.
One innovation Mr. Westerhout has
introduced since taking over two years ago
is an automatic standby generator. The
110 -kilowatt power source switches on a
backup unit for the barns within four
minutes of the power going off. Mr.
Westerhout said he used the backup
system six or seven times in the first years,
so considers it a valuable addition to the
operation.
When asked about a common criticism
levelled by researchers and some farm
writers that housing systems for the hens