The goal is to provide a nutritious diet for hens and be rewarded with large eggs, stable markets
HAGUE, Sask. — For some married couples, living and working together would be too much.
That’s not the case for Kaylin and Tyler Wiens, who spend every waking hour with one another on their egg farm located north of Sask-atoon.
“It’s a pretty good life,” said Kaylin.
“We feel very blessed to be able to work together and to work closely with our family. A lot of people don’t get to experience that.”
Everybody has their own job on the farm, so they’re not stepping on each other’s toes.
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“For the most part, it works pretty good,” said Tyler. “There are some days we have to work on it.”
Kaylin grew up on the farm they now own jointly with her parents, Stan and Marie Fehr, her brother, Vince, and his wife, Mary, and her other brother, Gerard, and his wife, Anne.
Tyler spent his childhood on a farm near Regina. His father managed the layer hen operation for O & T Farms.
The family moved to Hague when Tyler was in high school and he began working on the Fehr farm, where he met his future wife. The couple was married in 2010.
Stan and Marie are still actively involved in the business but are slowly stepping back and turning it over to the next generation.
Each couple owns a portion of the quota. They currently have 62,500 laying hens in two barns, which makes it the third or fourth largest egg operation in the province.
They also raise approximately 140,000 pullets in two other barns. Once the pullets reach 19 weeks old, they can replace the laying hens, which have a work lifespan of one year before heading to the rendering plant.
“We grow half for ourselves and the other cycle is for another producer,” said Tyler.
The operation produces 60,000 eggs per day, which are picked up twice a week by Star Egg Company, which grades the eggs and distributes them to retailers such as Costco, Walmart and Loblaws.
The eggs are the primary source of income for the farm but the family also grows crops on 3,000 acres and owns 80 head of cattle.
Kaylin said the grain and cattle business is prone to ups and downs.
“The egg layers, they’ve just offered us a lot of stability,” she said.
The business has grown steadily over the years. Kaylin said it was a 20,000 layer hen operation when she was a girl.
In addition to employing the three couples that own the business, the operation provides jobs for Kaylin’s nine nieces and nephews and one non-family employee.
Kaylin’s job revolves around the two layer hen barns, where she collects eggs and runs the on-farm feed mill.
The hens are fed a diet largely consisting of wheat, canola, peas, vegetable oil and micronutrients. The grain is sourced from local farmers and grain brokers.
The goal is to provide the birds with the right mix of food they need to produce a large egg.
“You’re always aiming for that 60 gram egg,” said Kaylin.
“That’s what everyone buys.”
Tyler’s role is the mechanic on a farm that is full of all sorts of machinery and equipment.
“I try to keep everything running mechanically in the barns and on the yard,” he said.
One of his biggest challenges is to keep the egg collection systems operating.
“There’s a lot of moving parts in there. There’s often bearings and things that need work,” he said.
He also keeps the fans, packing machines, feeding and water systems and anything else with a motor in good working order.
Vince manages the pullet barns and works in the shop while Gerard grows the crops, raises the cattle and helps out where needed.
With four couples running the operation, it is possible for each couple to have some time off.
Kaylin and Tyler used that freedom to attend a couple of events this year as the Saskatchewan representatives of Egg Farmers of Canada’s Young Farmer Program.
In February, they were at the Canadian Young Farmers’ Forum in Vancouver, a gathering of young farmers from all sectors of the agricultural economy.
In July, they attended the Egg Farmers of Canada summer meeting in Mont-Tremblant, Que., where they met other young egg farmers.
“That was really neat getting to know farmers across Canada,” said Kaylin.
Tyler said he learned a lot and gained new perspectives by talking to fellow farmers from other provinces.
“Even just talking to each other about how to do things, you get insight,” he said.
They plan to incorporate some of those lessons into the business so it can continue to flourish and provide employment opportunities for the next generation of farmers.
