The Rural Voice, 1999-07, Page 30had never become a major source of
income for the family. That has come
from Mill Creek bird seed, the line of
bird feeds they began developing
when they owned a farm feed store in
Kincardine.
Having fed birds themselves for
close to 30 years, they were unable to
get the quality of bird feed they felt
the birds really wanted so they
started to mix it themselves.
"People we showed it to liked it so
we sold it in the store. We sold more
and more," Paul says. They got so
busy they couldn't continue to run
the store, make the seed and run the
nut grove so they sold the retail store
and concentrated on making bird
feed.
"We've been quite happy with the
way things have gone."
"We're not low-end, supermarket
seed. We've gone the other route.
We've looked at what the birds need
and want and we're trying to work
with that rather than use what's left-
over out of my bin or what I screened
off my wheat."
The Bennetts have done a great
deal of research into bird behavior
and have found out that birds want
and need different feeds at different
times of the year, even at different
times of the day. That has led them to
market different feeds at different
times of the year.
They've also created special
products that people can give as gifts
to bird lovers.
The bird feed is marketed
primarily in Ontario but through the
marketing efforts of Paul's brother
and sister-in-law in Newmarket, their
sales have expanded to 10 countries,
throughout North America, Australia,
Japan, Ireland, England, Belgium,
France."
Exporting is hard to do because
bird feed is a product that is heavy
and expensive to ship.
Locally produced crops like corn,
oats and barley are included. A
neighbour has taken an interest in
growing specialty crops especially
for them like millet, sunflowers and
canary seed, grains formerly shipped
in from western Canada.
They're also experimenting with a
replacement for niger seed, the most
expensive of bird seeds because it
must all be imported from India,
Burma or Ethiopia.0
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JULY 1999 27