When Bruce Van Der Molen of Talbot Road Poultry finished building a new broiler barn on his Jarvis-area farm this summer, he filled it with people before putting in birds.
This open house – or open barn – doubled as a public education event in addition to expanding his Highway 3 broiler operation, which has two pre-existing barn. Neighbours, poultry farmers and the public toured the spotless new edifice, which has the latest technology necessary for providing a comfortable life for broilers -- that is, meat birds raised to a weight of two to five kilograms.
Highlighting the day was a BBQ hosted by the Jarvis Lions’ Club, along with games and a sample square dance lesson for the children.
“It’s a casual education opportunity for the general public,” explained Van Der Molen, who serves as secretary of the Chicken Farmers of Ontario’s District 4 (Norfolk, Haldimand and Niagara), with 94 registered members.
The opportunity enabled visitors to discuss poultry practices, such as housing conditions, means of enabling the birds to express natural behaviour, feeding, watering, and biosecurity measures against pathogens such as highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI).
The barn that visitors toured was a single-tier, open floor structure, like 48 percent of Ontario’s 1,300 chicken barns are. It comfortably accommodates 20,000 chickens, expanding Talbot Road Poultry’s total production to 50,000 birds per shipment.
Visitors saw that the birds can freely roam about, although the chicks establish their own space, said Van Der Molen. They learned that when the doors are closed, the barn’s lights stay on 18 hours daily when poultry is present. The heating-cooling system keeps the chicks comfortable at 32.2C; it drops to 20C as they mature.
Van Der Molen previously suspended the automated rows of feeders, heat lamps and water troughs above the room for the event, in order that visitors could roam freely.
“It (the automated feed systems) facilitates easier cleaning,” said Van Der Molen. “The barn is completely sterilized each time between flocks. We add new bedding each time for comfort and to encourage natural behaviours.”
Van Der Molen uses an all-in-all-out schedule for the three barns; the chicks – who are of the Cobb broiler breed -- arrive from Thames River Hatchery when they are two hours old. They stay for approximately 45 days upon which a Niagara-area poultry processor sends in a catching crew to collect them.
The farm has six-and-one-half broiler harvests annually, the “half” carrying into the New Year, said Van Der Molen. This methodology enables him to run the system with minimal effort.
The new barn uses one control panel to operate the feed and mechanical systems, compared with the original structures, which need separate systems for each function. Van Der Molen said that the new build is also more energy efficient, using approximately 50 percent less electricity than the pre-existing barns. Alarms signal malfunctions directly to his mobile phone to ensure quicker responses.
The “open barn” was Van Der Molen’s first public hosting; his brother, who manages the family’s nearby dairy barn located on “the home farm” held a similar event last autumn.
“It just happens when there’s a newly-built barn to do it,” explained Van Der Molen. “It’s important for the public to know about farming.”
Kathryn Goodish, the Ontario Chicken Farmers’ spokesperson, said, “Bruce is a CFO District Committee Representative. He is a very active and engaged member of our district team and an excellent advocate for farmers in our community.”
The Van Der Molen farm story began when parents Minne and Anne emigrated from Holland in their childhood. The family lived near Strathroy before buying a farm on Walpole Concession 8 road east of Jarvis. Minne worked in the broiler hen business before marrying Anne. The couple alternated between raising pullets, laying hens and broilers before embracing dairy farming.
As the third of Minne and Anne’s four children, Van Der Molen learned about both the dairy and chicken businesses on the home farm without any additional post secondary agricultural training. He studied at George Brown College and married Kelly in 2003.
By 2014, Van Der Molen opted to farm as well, choosing poultry over dairy as he could operate the farm more efficiently due to being visually impaired.
But that meant starting from scratch. The couple purchased a 50-acre site on Highway 3 which lacked any structures. “It was just open fields --there was no house, no barns. We built everything new at the time.”
Talbot Road Poultry became established, despite being marred with Kelly’s death in 2018. Van Der Molen now farms with son, Ben, with their dog Houston in tow.
They also cash crop wheat, corn and soybeans with Ben handling most of that work. They plant cover crops such as oats and peas to enhance the clay soil, as well as spreading manure on their fields at appropriate times. Their corn is processed into their custom feed.
The pair lives comfortably from their farm income, although Van Der Molen works off-farm as a piano tuner while Ben does local custom farming work.
A member of the Jarvis Lions’ Club, Van Der Molen plays the organ at several area churches and plays the saxophone with the Haldimand-Norfolk Concert Band.
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