NOVEMBER 2018 • COUNTRY LIFE IN BC


Tour features multi-generation farms


Chilliwack spotlights diversity of agriculture in region by RONDA PAYNE


CHILLIWACK – The Chilliwack Agricultural Commission has been hosting tours of local farms for 17 years but the constant need for innovation always provides fresh material, whether it’s at a broiler chicken breeding operation, a dairy farm or floral greenhouse. Tunnel ventilation with cooling pads lets Paul Janzen of Poplar Farms Ltd. sleep at night instead of worrying about how the spring and summer heat will impact his broiler breeders. He and wife Gina own one of 52 breeding operations in BC. “It’s fantastic technology,”


he says of the ventilation system. “Air comes in through the front doors, then it’s sucked through the cooling pads which circulate water. The fans at the back of the barn blow it out. It’s less than a minute that the air is in the barn.”


This system ensures less dust and a significant reduction of ammonia in the air. Computerized environmental controls guarantee the three rearing barns and three egg-laying barns remain at an ideal temperature to produce approximately 12,500 eggs a day. Roosters and hens live together in the barns at a ratio of 10 hens per rooster in a free-run environment. Hens lay for 60 weeks before being sent for processing. “It’s totally customizable,”


Janzen says of the computerization. “You can control it on your phone. You can see the feeders and all the barns. If something is not working – like there’s too much water consumption – it tells me.” Eggs are collected and put into storage at 20° Celsius and 77% humidity, which Janzen explains is a neutral position for the eggs. The Janzens have about an 80% hatch rate on their eggs and they’ve been operating their farm for about 25 years.


Sixth-generation dairy Chilliwack is also home to


Toop Farms, the only active sixth-generation dairy farm in BC. Devan Toop notes the family came to Chilliwack in 1873 and he is managing 700 cows on about 230 acres


purchased in 1942. Toop has worked the farm


for about 16 years. He’s taken the number of cows milked from 130 to 310 and has 442 kilograms of quota. The cows produce about 10,000 litres of milk a day on a robotic system which was retro-fit to the barn in June. The three two-stall and one single-stall walk-ins are rear milkers. Toop says cows come to the robots three times a day rather than the previous twice a day, increasing productivity without adding employees. The Toop cows are also the


first in Canada to have GPS tracking systems that help indicate rumination through heat, movement and other indicators and provide an increased amount of


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Paul Janzen explains the technology Poplar Farms uses to keep his laying broilers healthy. RONDA PAYNE PHOTOS


information on cow habits to enhance health. Toop is also a fan of the ProAction program from the Dairy Farmers of Canada which he believes helps with the public’s awareness and perception of


how the dairy industry operates. “We have cows calving


every single day,” Toop says. “I bred 15 cows this morning. My arm is tired.” The farm makes use of


sexed semen that provides a “genetic head start” on quality. A few days after birth, calves are put into in groups of five to socialize and help with progress and growth. “They learn to drink


together, they learn to eat together,” he notes. “It just takes one brave calf and they all learn.”


Ensuring a healthy herd has


prompted Toop to make nutritional changes like incorporating a higher protein milk replacement in calf diets. He sees this as an investment in the future. “It’s a more scientifically balanced approach,” he notes, adding it isn’t only the cows benefiting from this science. “There’s about five different blends we feed. All our feeds are sampled, tested, then ration-determined per cow,” Toop says. “Our cows are living


END OF SEASON!


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Devan Toop prefers a higher protein milk replacer for his calves.


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