Ontario Broiler Hatching Egg and Chick Commission Annual

Early 2005 saw the wind-up of Ontario’s assistance to the hatching egg industry in British Columbia. 

Early 2005 saw the wind-up of Ontario’s assistance to the hatching egg industry in British Columbia. 

Ontario Broiler Hatching Egg and Chick Commission (OBHECC) Chairman Jim Rickard said in his annual report that during the first two months of 2005, one Ontario hatchery continued to supply B.C. hatcheries through the transfer of import paper.  Due to reduced import flow to Ontario, domestic production increased to meet Ontario market demands.

In 2004 and 2005, a total of 12,609,720 eggs were produced in Ontario to replace the transferred imports, said Rickard. 

2005 Highlights
OBHECC is working with the Chicken Farmers of Ontario (CFO) to introduce a new reporting form that will allow easier tracking of chicken flow from small lot sales (300 or less chicks).  This new form will be developed with the cooperation of license Broker Dealers and their customers as well, said Rickard.  He said that each small lot purchaser will be required to provide details on the location of the farm where the chicks will be grown, and the form will be completed at the time of processing and returned to CFO.  This new form will work to improve the tracking capability and help capture the true chicken meat consumption in the province for CFO, said Rickard.

He also revealed that ongoing discussions have been taking place with the Egg Farmers of Ontario to get non-hatching eggs into the regular market channel.  He said that representatives from Egg Farmers of Ontario and OBHECC toured operations in Quebec, where a program is already in existence to collect market eggs at a central point. 

General Manager Bob Guy told producers in his report that developing proper procedures and contingency plans for disease preparedness for Ontario was a key focus of the organization in 2005.

He said one of the most important steps taken in 2005 was the development of the Ontario Livestock and Poultry Council (OLPC).  The newly formed Council had four mandates: to appoint a Chief Veterinarian for Ontario; to increase government spending to improve Ontario Animal Health Lab facilities; to encourage government action to pass a health act for the province; and to bring the livestock and poultry sectors together to improve disease preparedness through shared knowledge and a livestock disease simulation.

Guy noted that the report card to date for the Council is very good.  Dr. Deborah Stark was named Chief Veterinarian in May 2005, and that she and her staff have been working hard to understand the needs of industry and to communicate the actions of government in order to achieve a unified and calming message to product consumers and the general public.

He noted that although an Animal Health Act has not yet come to fruition, the provincial government has begun the process of approving an Emergency Act.  Guy said that no improvements to the Animal Health Lab have been made, but that the government has agreed to review the present conditions and its current capacity and ability to handle increased testing volumes should a disease situation present itself.

C.H.E.Q.TM Program Implementation
2005 also saw the implementation of the Canadian Hatching Egg Quality (C.H.E.Q™) program across Canada, said Guy.  He said that OBHECC now has two fully certified On-Farm Food Safety auditors and that an inspector has completed the product-specific training.  By the end of the year, three producers in Ontario had been certified in the C.H.E.Q™ program.  Guy said the goal of OBHECC in 2006 is to have all producers certified by the end of the year.

Regarding biosecurity, Guy said that this has improved greatly, noting that only 14 Form 48’s were issued for minor deficiencies after 231 barn inspections.

Guy welcomed five new broiler hatching egg farms to the organization:

Renview Poultry Ltd. – Ralph and Shirley Renkema
Hank and Anja Bertens
Douglas and Annette Vrolyk
John and Marja Zuidema
1648303 Ontario Inc. – Gerald, Paul and Theresa Renkema