Modular loading favoured for Ontario chicken farms

Monday, October 5, 2009

Ontario is looking at the cost of catching up to other jurisdictions when it comes to chicken catching.

Ontario and Quebec, the largest chicken-producing provinces in Canada, don't use "modular systems" for catching chickens. Yet they have been widely used in Western Canada for some time and in Nova Scotia, not to mention in the southern United States, where they have been accepted for 30-40 years. An industry-wide committee studying the feasibility of implementing a modular loading and handling system is examining the costs for Ontario farms and processing plants.

The module is a metal frame with drawers. "It looks like your dresser drawer," says John Neil, farm audit supervisor with Chicken Farmers of Ontario (CFO). The module is placed near the birds in the barn and chicken catchers load birds into the drawers. A forklift moves the loaded module onto a tractor trailer.

CFO chair Murray Booy says a committee is studying five different systems to determine which would best apply to Ontario.

The committee includes representatives from farmers, processors, transporters and catchers along with the agriculture ministry and the Poultry Industry Council. The committee is working with consultants A.C. Lane Consulting Inc.

Edmonton-area chicken farmer Scott Wiens, chair of Alberta Chicken Producers, has used modular loading on his farm since 1998. He says farmers with single-storey structures must ensure that there is seven to 10 feet of clearance so the fork lift can operate. Doors must be added to the side of a multi-storey facility so the module can be brought in.

Wiens figures it cost him $5,000-$10,000 to modify his two-storey barn.

The feasibility study is funded partly by the federal and provincial governments.

Kevin Thompson, executive director of the Association of Ontario Chicken Processors, says processors want to see modular loading in Ontario because it cuts labour costs at the farm and at the plant. However, he notes, "these systems are very expensive" and, processors will have to modify their plants. Trucks will also need changes.

The majority of processors will adopt modular loading, he notes, but it's not practical for small companies to install the new system because of the capital expenditure. Booy says that modular loading will be good for farmers because it "will be good for the overall industry." BF