Taking on opponents | Despite biosecurity risks, farm welcomes visitors to protect the industry’s reputation
NEW BOTHWELL, Man. — It was a busy day on the Wiebe farm as dozens of visitors from nearby towns and from Winnipeg trod through the broiler chicken operation.
“We won’t stop moving today,” said Lorraine Wiebe, who lives on the farm with her husband, Jake.
This was an unusual day because there aren’t normally off-farm, non-chicken people walking around the lawn and barns.
But this was Open Farm Day and this couple decided to open their farm to anyone from the public who wanted to pop by.
That created certain complications for an already busy livestock operation that focuses on high bio-security.
Every visitor had to put on plastic booties and undergo a short explanatory session on why chicken farmers care so much about controlling disease.
And a couple of dozen times that day, Jake, Lorraine and their son and daughter took groups of visitors out to the picture window built into the side of one of their barns to explain how a chick turns into a chicken and becomes a food product.
It also created some worries for the family, which is, like most operators of intensive livestock operations, hyper-aware of disease being tracked into their farm by an oblivious visitor.
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But Jake said he’s more worried about an even greater danger to this industry that has supported his parents, him and Lorraine, and their children.
“The other risk is political,” said Jake. People from the city “are listening to the activists, so we said let’s open our doors and show what we’re doing.”
It’s hard for a family that prides itself on animal care and running a farm to hear the attacks on poultry production. The stories being told about families like theirs aren’t true, he said.
So they challenged those stereotypes by putting themselves out there for the public to examine.
“We know we’re not doing anything wrong,” said Jake.
“So we said, let’s open our doors and show what we’re doing.”
This is one of the complexities of running a significant livestock operation near Winnipeg. Some families feel compelled to reach out to urbanites to ensure that there are positive images about farming among cityfolk.
But that doesn’t reduce any of the daily round of chores and activities that a bustling farm requires.
That’s why Jake is thrilled with one bit of modern technology that is making his life easier: online app-based monitoring of barns.
He pulls out his Blackberry, taps on an icon and up pops a program that reveals the water consumption, humidity, temperature and a number of other features of the barn he’s watching.
This isn’t a big deal for him with his barns in his own farmyard, since he regularly checks them in person, but it makes him feel better about his son’s barn.
“The birds today are 157 grams, four miles away in another barn,” he said, looking at the mobile.
Modern technology has made some things on the farms easier, but it isn’t cheap.
“For that one barn, we spent $8,000 just to have this information,.”
This family farm started with Jake’s parents in 1952. The 1964 barn his father built is “now my shop,” said Jake.
The barns look in good condition, regardless of age, but that’s due to regular upgrades of such things as insulation and power.
Jake and Lorraine are proud of the farm they operate and the clean, healthy food it provides. That pride helps them not only endure, but celebrate the scrutiny they face from activists, the public and even their own industry, which tries to ensure farmers aren’t endangering animals’ health, food safety or chicken farmers’ reputations.
They get a scheduled audit every year but also face the permanent prospect of snap inspections, in which inspectors arrive and require immediate access to the barns.
“One day, they’re here,” said Jake.
With steadily increasing complexity in chicken production and food safety, and steadily increasing scrutiny from consumers and the public, and the challenges of living near a growing city, farming in the Wiebe’s area can seem fraught with challenges.
But they’re able to enjoy the farm life regardless, even on a busy Open Farm Day when there are even more demands than on an ordinary day.
This day, granddaughter Brianna was enjoying attention from Lorraine and her mom, daughter-in-law Robynn.
There’s always something to do on the Wiebe farm, but there’s often time to enjoy it too.
