The Citizen, 2006-03-16, Page 29Some new friends
Muriel Van Schaik sits in the pen with some baby goats on her parents' farm in Blyth. (Heather
Crawford photo)
Carol Mitchell
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PAGE A8. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, MARCH 16, 2006.
Agriculture 2006
It's all about the kids on family farm
By Heather Crawford
Citizen staff
Being able to have a job where the
office is several acres wide and the
kids can pitch in at any time, is one
of the reasons Henk and Ellen Van
Schaik love being goat farmers.
"It's great because I'M not away
from my family a lot," Henk said.
"It's nice to be able to see them and
we can have breakfast together and
supper. If I had another job I would
have to be gone in the morning and
not come home until about six at
night. The day would be gone."
The Van Schaiks started their goat
farm about seven years ago when
they moved to their property in
Blyth.
"At tirst we had chickens," Ellen
explained. "But then we wanted
something different and we had a lot
more room [at the new property] so
we thought we would get into goats."
Henk said the barns at the new
place had been empty for 18 years
before he moved in with his family.
In Holland, where the couple are
from originally, he worked as a relief
farmer. If a farmer had to go away
daughters and all girls like to help
out on the farm.
"They are working towards getting
a horse:' Ellen said. "If they work
enough hours then they will get one
so they are keeping track of how
man), hours they work."
"Goats are very friendly towards
children and an easy animal to work
with," Henk said.
He has 750 goats in total, 500 for
milking and 250 young goats for
meat..
A couple of years ago, they started
a co-op in the area called the Ontario
Dairy Co-op.
"When we first started the co-op
we 'had 13 members and now we
have 60," Henk said.
A few years ago there was a
surplus in milk which made it
difficult for farmers to sell. "It
wasn't so bad for us because of the
co-op," he said. "We were able to
make powder with the excess and we
sold that for less," he said.
There wasn't a surplus last year
and Henk expects the year ahead to
be a good one for goat farming.
This year the Van Schaiks went to
the Royal fair in Toronto and gave
samples of chocolate goat milk. "I
think it's the first chocolate milk
product in Canada," Ellen said.
The reception was very positive
and they are currently working to get
the product out on the market.
"There's a lot of work left to do
with getting the cartons and
marketing," Ellen said.
The couple makes it look like goat
farming comes naturally to them but
they admit there were a few
challenges when they first started
out in the business.
"It's difficult to start out with a
completely disease-free herd. There
are a lot of diseases that goats can
get," Henk said.
It takes a few years before all of
the herd is healthy and a lot of work.
Henk recommends new farmers start
with young goats.
"It's nice to have a healthy herd,"
he said.
Goat milk and products such as
cheese and butter are their biggest
market. Goat milk has many
benefits, they say.
"People who are allergic to cow
milk can drink goat milk because it
is easier to digest," Ellen said.
Another advantage of goat milk is
the higher amount of shorter-chain
fatty acids in the milk fat of goats.
This year the Van Schaiks were
able to take the whole family skiing
in early February for the weekend.
This was their only planned vacation
this year.
The couple said they are not
having any problems finding
something to do on the farm.
Continued on A9
for a while then they would hire a
relief farmer to come in and work
the land. "It was nice. I actually wish
they had something like that here,"
he said.
The Van Schaiks have' four