Holistic Farmers Ron and Sheila Hamilton
Guest Speakers at R.M. of Emerald Supper

Joan Eyolfson Cadham
   
 


 
 

“Customers ... want connection with the farm. They want to know who is raising their meat. One of our best investments was a toll free number,” said Sheila Hamilton who, with her husband, Ron, described their Alberta-based holistic farming approach at the R.M. of Emerald Ratepayers’ Supper Wednesday evening.

The Hamiltons, with their daughters Shae and Erin, raise certified organic pasture-raised meats – poultry, pigs, lambs and cattle. Although Ron spent 27 years away from home as an oilfield surveyor, the Hamiltons now manage comfortably on a quarter section of land. However, they say, one of the keys to their success is the personal contact they have with customers at farmers’ markets in Edmonton and Calgary.

Direct marketing is a lot of work, the Hamiltons said. It also involves lots of education consumers. So, they have created a newsletter that goes out to 1,000 customers, reconnecting with them every spring. They also have their own logo, Sunworks Farm, for product recognition. Their packaging and signage has an absolutely professional look. “Very few words on the signs,” they say. “Keep the words for the brochures.”

In 2001, the Hamiltons sold about 25 pigs, 60 lambs, 10,000 broilers, 300 turkeys, 300 ducks, 50 geese and ungraded, uncandled eggs from their 300 laying hens, mostly through the two farmers’ markets. They also have a small cow/calf herd. They have given up raising Muskovy ducks because they said the return on labour was only $5 an hour, not worth the time and effort. All their products are organic.

Ninety percent of their produce is sold directly to customers, who, they say, want to look them in the eye, want to feel like a part of their extended family. The regulars have watched the girls, now 19 and 17, grow up.

The Hamiltons, who started their operation in an attempt to find a way as an alternative to Ron’s job away from home, have some concrete advice for anyone considering the possibility of living off a quarter section. “You don’t have to start out pretty, and please, don’t start out big,” they say. The Hamiltons had two quarters but one was mortgaged and when they realized it wasn’t making enough money to make the payments, they sold it.
     
“A well-managed farm should be able to provide a doctor’s income,” they said. However, while they farm and live in the rural community of Armena, they think about the farm in business terms. They know exactly what it costs them to produce each bird and each animal, and they know exactly how much profit they want.

Erin and Shae are working partners in the venture and intend to be the next generation on the land. Erin’s boyfriend will be the hired farm hand this summer. However, they also know that they are now almost at the limit of production increase with their available “people-power,” so they intend to focus on marketing and getting full value out of their products. To this end, they are building a government inspected kitchen on the farm where they can make soup and turn otherwise unusable bits of poultry into raw dog food.

Although their chicks come in 4000 at a time, they have to follow as strict a regime as the bigger barns for delivery and slaughter dates. They are also penalized if the birds come in over or under optimum weight. “There’s lots of record keeping in the certified organic poultry process.” They load birds at dusk or at night so that they can be processed first thing in the morning, necessary to maintain the organic rating.

All the chicks are started in barns but by three weeks are out in the fields, living in specially made shelters which are moved onto fresh grass regularly. Turkeys and geese are free range, protected with electrified mesh fences to keep out predators. Before the fences, the Hamiltons lost birds to foxes, coyotes and skunks. The laying hens are also free ranged, with a portable hen house.

It’s work-intensive, but that is why the Hamiltons keep such close watch on statistics, and do not intend to try to manage more livestock than reasonable. They talk about contracting out some birds and they have found someone who will raise ducks for them. Erin, meanwhile, intends to grow organic strawberries, and eventually, vegetables for market.

“We are looking at quality of life,” the Hamiltons said. That includes not working unreasonable hours. They will be reorganizing the farmers’ markets. Calgary is three hours away. Edmonton is much closer and they might concentrate more on that market. vision of future generations who are looking forward to staying on the farm.

“This is one of the most exciting times in agriculture. People are looking for alternatives in food. There’s room for everybody. The idea is to keep as many people as possible making a living on the farm and to keep the rural community intact,” they say.