DALMENY, Sask. – Garry and Tina Vanderveen’s farm yard is full of pickup trucks and their poultry barn is full of people and chicks.
It is a good day for a tour of the couple’s new high-technology broiler barn near this central Saskatchewan town because the uncomfortably hot 30 C outside should put the barn’s new temperature and ventilation controls through their paces.
When the Vanderveens expanded their chicken operation, they did it with some of the most advanced technology available.
Computer controls, designed and built by SKOV in Denmark, measure the feed, water and temperature, humidity, ventilation rates and average bird weight. Fluorescent lights rise and fall automatically, replicating the rise and fall of a sun these birds will never see.
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A single scale mounted on the barn floor uses the birds’ natural perching inclination to gather data. The little broilers randomly jump on and off the scale, where the computer records their weight and averages the records.
“This is a real change for us,” said Garry Vanderveen.
“In our older barns if we want to know what the average bird weighs we have to put a bunch in a pail and hang it from a scale. With this new barn we just check the computer.”
To demonstrate air circulation and ventilation, Nick Woodhouse, of Mackay Equipment in Saskatoon, lights a smoke bomb. Soon the whole barn has an evenly spread haze. The crowd inside the 13 by 67 metre building, along with 11,500, three-week old chicks, begin to disappear in a white cloud.
But the haze quickly dissipates as wall-mounted vents swirl the air inside the barn and then centre-mounted vents force it out of the peaked ceiling.
The feeding system is another special feature.
It contains a computerized controller and feed scale so whole wheat can be included in the ration.
“We don’t know what the right ration is going to be yet – 15 percent or 25 percent. We’ll learn that as we go,” said Vanderveen. “Wheat is cheap and being able to feed it directly will lower our costs.”
The computer controls the birds’ feed and water supply. If any problems occur, alarms will notify the producer.
The effect of advanced computer controls and barn design is supposed to mean less stress for the birds, faster maturity and higher profits.
“The less stress the birds are under, the better gains they will make. We know that about them and barns like these are easier on the chickens,” said Woodhouse.
Vanderveen said the lighting system uses only 25 percent of the electricity used in other barns. That saving, plus the other controls, should help pay for the new unit.
The technology might also provide competitive advantages.
“This is cutting edge technology for North America. Saskatchewan producers are going to need technology like this if they are going to compete in the future with some of those folks down south and even those from Alberta and Manitoba,” said Roy White, of Saskatchewan Agriculture.
Vanderveen said he is not intimidated by the new technology. The equipment dealer can dial directly into the system for troubleshooting, upgrading or repairs and support is also available from the European manufacturer of the equipment in Denmark.
