Many of the old historic barns of Bradford West Gwillimbury are being lost to demolition or neglect – but there are new barns being built, as part of the changing face of agriculture.
On Dec. 16, the Baker family held an open house to celebrate the opening of their nearly 1,860 square metre state-of-the-art chicken barn on County Road 27, at Bakeridge Farms.
“It’s a great addition to the community,” said Bradford West Gwillimbury Mayor Rob Keffer, a dairy farmer, at the open house. “Agriculture has always been the most important industry in BWG.”
The investment by the Bakers demonstrated that agriculture is still an important part of the local economy, he said.
Danny Baker has farmed all his life, but raising chickens is something new.
“We have a handful of laying hens. We’d grow meat birds for ourselves,” but nothing on the scale of the family’s new venture, he said. Once the barn is at capacity, it will be able to house and raise 30,000 chickens at a time, over a 38 day period.
Baker described the move into chicken farming as a natural progression.
“We already cash crop, we have beef cows, we have sheep,” he said, but chickens make more sense, in terms of a changing market.
With today’s health concerns over red meat and the environment, there has been a shift. “Everybody eats chicken…. That was my thinking, on why we jumped in.”
Still, it was a big investment, and not an easy sell for Baker's wife, Karen.
“My wife wasn’t that convinced,” he said.
Is she convinced now? “I’ll tell you in a little bit,” he said, noting the open house coincided with the couple’s 29th wedding anniversary.
The barn, which has its own secure power source in case of outages, will be fully monitored, computerized, and controlled. Sensors embedded in the floor will check temperature and carbon monoxide levels. Water and feed are computerized.
“These guys have it down to a science,” Baker said.
The planning extends to marketing. “We’re already contracted for birds, in and out” – with the first batch of chicks arriving in a week.
Keffer presented the family with a certificate of achievement at the open house.
“Just to see the facility, to see the technology involved – thank you for investing in agriculture in the Town of Bradford West Gwillimbury,” the mayor said. “We sometimes forget agriculture is the backbone of Bradford West Gwillimbury.”
Karen thanked the more than 100 people who came out to the open house, and especially those who helped build the new barn. She noted it will take a while to get up to full production. Initially, the Bakers will raise 17,000 birds.
“I think that’ll be enough for the first time,” she said.
The property, located near Dunkerron, was at one time proposed for an organic waste processing site by the previous owner. When local residents protested against an industrial use for prime agricultural land, and the proposed heavy truck traffic on a two-lane road, the proposal fell through and the Bakers purchased the land.
“This is much better" as a use, said Baker, noting the chicken industry is expanding.
“There have been 90 new chicken barns built in Ontario,” he said.
