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Originally published:

June 2019
Vol. 105 Issue 6

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Stories In This Edition

First Cut

Hog farm won’t face charges

Okanagan drives land values

Where’s the beef?

Minister defends Bill 15 changes

Back Forty: Farmers, not just farmland, need revitalization

Editorial: No peace, no order

ALR restrictions make commuting a fact of life

Johnston’s Packers targeted by activists

Child labour

Sidebar: When is a crime not a crime?

Berry growers get long-awaited funding boost

Proteobiotics reduce poultry, swine infections

Greenhouse growth stymied by gas prices

Bloom

Increase farm productivity with cover crops

Ag Briefs: Water fees not evenly distributed among users

Ag Briefs: BC Tree Fruits prepares to relocate

Farmland trust explored for Island

New owner, same faces

Fruitful experience

Fruit growers cautiously optimistic on bloom set

Honeycrisp key to success for Golden Apple winners

Changes to slaughter rules taking too long

Going! Going! Gone

Local meat deamnd creating opportunities

Sidebar: Compost in 14 days

Ranch takes pasture to plate at face value

Market Musings: Technology has its challenges

Oliver veggie grower prefers wholesale

Grocer offers tips to get a foot in the door

Greenhouse veggie days a hit with school

Haskap research may help berry go mainstream

Grow up!

Research: Bee sensitivity linked to neonic pesticides

Fraser Valley orchardist calling it a day

Rally cry

Worming his way to the top of the heap

Mushrooms a viable crop for small growers

Island 4-H beef show celebrates 25 years

Woodshed: Deborah starts her vacation a golf widow

Brewery’s food program spawns farm project

Jude’s Kitchen: Celebrate dads!

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3 days ago

A turkey farm in West Abbotsford is the second commercial poultry flock to tested positive for avian influenza since the initial case was reported in Enderby on April 13. CFIA announced the case May 19, but has yet to define the control zone. Ray Nickel of the BC Poultry Association says more than 50 farms are in the vicinity of the infected premises, meaning control measures — including movement controls — will have a significant impact on the industry. The supply of birds moving into the country from US hatcheries will also be affected, compounding the host of supply chain issues growers have been dealing with over the past year. A story in our June issue will provide further details. ... See MoreSee Less

A turkey farm in West Abbotsford is the second commercial poultry flock to tested positive for avian influenza since the initial case was reported in Enderby on April 13. CFIA announced the case May 19, but has yet to define the control zone. Ray Nickel of the BC Poultry Association says more than 50 farms are in the vicinity of the infected premises, meaning control measures — including movement controls — will have a significant impact on the industry. The supply of birds moving into the country from US hatcheries will also be affected, compounding the host of supply chain issues growers have been dealing with over the past year. A story in our June issue will provide further details.
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2 weeks ago

The province has extended the order requiring regulated commercial poultry operations to keep their birds indoors through June 13. Originally set to expire this Friday, the order was extended after a careful review by the province's deputy chief veterinarian. Poultry at seven premises, all but one of them backyard flocks, have tested positive for the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of avian influenza since April 13. The order allows small-scale producers to continue pasturing their birds outdoors provided biosecurity protocols developed by the Small-Scale Meat producers Association are followed. ... See MoreSee Less

The province has extended the order requiring regulated commercial poultry operations to keep their birds indoors through June 13. Originally set to expire this Friday, the order was extended after a careful review by the provinces deputy chief veterinarian. Poultry at seven premises, all but one of them backyard flocks, have tested positive for the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of avian influenza since April 13. The order allows small-scale producers to continue pasturing their birds outdoors provided biosecurity protocols developed by the Small-Scale Meat producers Association are followed.
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Sounds like 2 weeks to flatten the curve turning into 2 years.

USDA doing avian vax research, May 11 bio-docs to UN incl section on H5N8 w/wild bird spread. Found link to apparent pre-release on May 11 Geller Report. Good luck farmers.

3 weeks ago

Two more small flocks in BC have tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza. The latest cases are in Richmond and Kelowna. CFIA is in the process of determining a control zone around the property in Richmond, the first report in the Fraser Valley of the H5N1 strain of the virus among poultry. Speaking to Country Life in BC this week, federal agriculture minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said CFIA staff are working diligently to address outbreaks, and she encourages small flock owners to do the same. While commercial farms have tightened biosecurity measures, owners of small flocks have greater freedom. “Some smaller ones don’t necessarily have these measures in place,” Bibeau says. “They should also be extremely careful, because if we have a case in a backyard flock ... it could have an impact on bigger commercial installations.” ... See MoreSee Less

Two more small flocks in BC have tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza. The latest cases are in Richmond and Kelowna. CFIA is in the process of determining a control zone around the property in Richmond, the first report in the Fraser Valley of the H5N1 strain of the virus among poultry. Speaking to Country Life in BC this week, federal agriculture minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said CFIA staff are working diligently to address outbreaks, and she encourages small flock owners to do the same. While commercial farms have tightened biosecurity measures, owners of small flocks have greater freedom. “Some smaller ones don’t necessarily have these measures in place,” Bibeau says. “They should also be extremely careful, because if we have a case in a backyard flock ... it could have an impact on bigger commercial installations.”
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Killing our food chain. How do we know they are actually carrying a virus, look what's taking place with covid, is it real.

Ik kan niet zo goed Engels maar als ik het goed begrijp is bij jullie ook vogelgriep maar nog niet bij jullie

Any idea when this episode or bird flu might be over?

3 weeks ago

Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC welcomed its first new members in 20 years at its AGM on April 27. The BC Blueberry Council, BC Cherry Association, BC Cranberry Marketing Commission, BC Food & Beverage Association, BC Meats and Organic BC were approved as members, bringing the IAFBC’s membership to 15 farm and food organizations. IAFBC is also growing in responsibility, managing a record $8.3 million in funding from six funding agencies and developing new programs to support the agriculture sector including Farmland Advantage and Agricultural Climate Solutions. ... See MoreSee Less

Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC welcomed its first new members in 20 years at its AGM on April 27. The BC Blueberry Council, BC Cherry Association, BC Cranberry Marketing Commission, BC Food & Beverage Association, BC Meats and Organic BC were approved as members, bringing the IAFBC’s membership to 15 farm and food organizations. IAFBC is also growing in responsibility, managing a record $8.3 million in funding from six funding agencies and developing new programs to support the agriculture sector including Farmland Advantage and Agricultural Climate Solutions.
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4 weeks ago

A second BC flock has tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and the province reported this evening, April 25. The small backyard flock of chicken and ducks near Kelowna has fewer than 100 birds and is relatively isolated. This is the second backyard flock to be suspected of high-path avian influenza in the past week. The other, on Vancouver Island, was found to be AI-free. Amanda Brittain, chief information officer with the BC Poultry Association’s emergency operations centre, says the latest case is of minimal concern to industry because there are no commercial flocks within 12km of the premises. ... See MoreSee Less

A second BC flock has tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and the province reported this evening, April 25. The small backyard flock of chicken and ducks near Kelowna has fewer than 100 birds and is relatively isolated. This is the second backyard flock to be suspected of high-path avian influenza in the past week. The other, on Vancouver Island, was found to be AI-free. Amanda Brittain, chief information officer with the BC Poultry Association’s emergency operations centre, says the latest case is of minimal concern to industry because there are no commercial flocks within 12km of the premises.
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Ranch takes pasture to plate at face value

Devick Ranch builds Class A abattoir to meet consumer demand

PROBLEM SOLVING Frustrated by how the lack of meat processing capacity in the province was preventing expansion of direct meat sales to their customers, the Devick family built a Class A abattoir on their ranch near Kamloops. [ANITA DEVICK PHOTO]

May 28, 2019 byTom Walker

by TOM WALKER

HEFFLEY CREEK – Taking the bull by the horns is something the Devick family has been doing since 1906. That’s when it first built a ranch and began running cattle in the Heffley-Louis Creek area north of Kamloops.

It often takes an independent business person to step up and fill a need in the market. While the lack of meat processing capacity has been a topic of concern in BC for a number of years, the Devick brothers and five of their sons have quietly gone ahead and built a Class A abattoir at their ranch.

“We have been doing beef sales for the last 15 to 20 years,” says Paul Devick, who gave a presentation on building a Class A abattoir at the annual general meeting of the BC Association of Abattoirs in April. “We run about 850 cow-calf pairs a year and we also have a feedlot and have been fattening our own cattle.”

A family meeting in February 2017 calved the idea for the slaughterhouse.

“The meat business has been pretty good for us selling to neighbours and friends,” notes Devick. “With our own plant, we would have everything in-house from gate to plate, eliminate the middleman and improve our bottom line along the way. We decided to move forward with the abattoir.”

Although the family wasn’t experienced in abattoir construction, it contracted Dave Charchuck and Sandra Vanderbyl to guide them and talked a lot with veteran Kamloops butcher Ron Keeley.

The first step was to work with BC Ministry of Agriculture staff and develop strategies related to marketing, business development, risk management and labour management.

“This was a very helpful exercise to see if we should carry forward,” says Devick. “We spent a lot of time talking and considering the ups and downs, and it still looked positive.”

They determined that half the plant would be for their own cattle. It would need to process about 12 to 15 animals daily for an annual capacity of 1,500 to 1,600 animals. The coolers would be able to hold about 70 whole beef carcasses, or 140 sides.

“We made a floor plan,” says Devick. “We had a limit of 6,000 square feet and it took probably 10 different plans before we got the [processing] flows right.”

He says they also developed HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points) and standard operating procedures.

Deciding what type of building to construct was where the fun began, continues Devick.

“We looked at a stick-frame and we looked at concrete,” he recalls. “In the end we went with SIP [structural insulated panels].”

Permits and licences were required before a shovel could be put in the ground.

“This is a very important step to be taken care of first,” he emphasizes.

The licences included one for water extractions, a water treatment permit, zoning and building permits, an abattoir licence, a licence to construct a compost system for waste disposal, a sewage disposal permit and, of course, a business licence.

The family acted as their own general contractor and picked trades they could work alongside, which saved money.

“Challenging but worth it,” says Devick. “But check out your contractors. We had a range from very good to one guy who was smoking a joint on his lunch break.”

Ranch equipment was used to move earth and prep the site.

“Make sure you get a geotech survey for your site,” cautions Devick, who said the one he got flagged the need to remove truckloads of clay before construction began.

Other challenges included starting construction in September 2017 and having to work through the winter, something he doesn’t advise. A mix of old and new equipment means that not everything works with the same ease.

On the plus side, labour has not been an issue.

“We feel we are quite lucky with the Kamloops labour base; we have been able to find good help,” he says. “We have one worker who has completed the Thompson Rivers University meat-cutting program and we have another one coming from the program next month.”

Devick says the ranch is now able to manage animals all the way from breeding to the butcher’s block, making them better able to satisfy customers. This hasn’t stopped them from buying animals to meet demand, however.

“It is a challenge having animals available all year round and we do buy some in the summer months,” he says.

A 900-pound calf going into their feedlot takes about three months to reach a 1,200 to 1,300 lb. slaughter weight. The animals are usually spoken for when they enter the yard, part of the ranch’s marketing program.

After their first kill in August last year, they were right into the fall run.

“It’s been a big learning curve but I think it is working well,” Devick says. “For the future, we are planning to move towards more value-added when we get the smoker and the sausage kitchen up and running. We have also looked at the possibility of doing a pet food line to try to reduce our waste and improve our bottom line.”

Devick says one of the keys to the successful start was being able to talk to other plant operators in the province about how to make things work.

“It’s great to have the support of your business associates and this association. They sure helped us a lot,” he said, gratefully.

 

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