Newfoundland - Memorial University's Digital Archives Initiative

44 - OECKS AWA SH
ar ound Bay St. George is starved
lor limesto ne and a large herd of
beef ca ttle is just not feasible.
.Mixed farm ing is a far me r's
livelihood here and it' s at its
lowest ebb in history . Until something's
done you're just not going
to see a revival at a time when
ywng people a re crying out for
employment."
Fred does not accept the idea
that farmers in Newfoundland
The quota's the problem
F
rank Bartlett, st. has a layer
operat ion at Goose Cove,
Trinity Bay. His 5,000 chickens
produce about 360 dozen eggs
da.~%y fath er started' with 100
birds 30years ago and gradu all y
built it up," says Frank . " We
replace all 5,000birds every year.
Ideally , we would replace them
aUat one time but because ] mar ­
ket my own eggs, tha t would
leave me without a ny eggs to sell
for a few weeks , an d those would
all be small. People want larg e
eggs , so we only repla ce a third
of the birds at a time. It would be
Frank Bartlett wIth " Patsy" and son Stephen
cannot compete with those on the
ma inland.
"Newfoundland farmers could
compete in every root crop except
potatoes," he contends.
" What's needed is a policy that
prevents the kind of dumping
that 's going on at the moment.
We can 't continue to allow
second-grade produce to come
her e and undercut local produce
th at is better and fresher.
all right if I lived near 81. John's
an d could put the eggs into a
grading station. Then they would
have the headache of marketing,
but around here if I were to stop
producing for a few weeks somebody
else would step in and I
wwld lose my market."
Fr ank' s farm is a family opera
tion. His father died 15 years
ago but he has help from his wife,
his mother, a cousin, and occasional
part-time labor in the summer.
Fortunately, the layer
opera tion is mostly mechanized.
The birds are housed in a 32 by
100 tt. building, six to a cage.
However you look at it, we can 't
exist without food and there's no
industry tha t provides the
benef its agriculture does. For every
$1invested there's a return of
$9, not to mention the number of
jobs that could be cr eated along
the way. The ma jor urban areas
could easily be supplied by rural
Newfoundla nd and many of the
housing an d socia l problems we
have would be solved." ~
Feeding them is a matter of push.
ing a butto n, the eggs roll out
(rom under the ca ges but haveto
be collected and graded by hand .
"We had brown eggs last year,
but by rights you need 15-201' a
dozen more for them . They are
more expensive birds , heavier
eaters, and there 's extra sorting.
It wouldn't be so had if they were
all brown, but then you are in
competition with the fellow who
has all white eggs and his are
cheaper. Usually brown hens lay
brown eggs and white hens lay
white .
"We hav e our customers built
up over the years, a lot of smalJ
stores from here to Bonavista.
I'm on the road one full day a coupieof
part days a week. The economy
a ffects us, like last year the
fishing st rike and the draggers
not sa iling made a difference of
15or 20cases of eggs which for a
sma ll opera tion is a nice bit.
"The egg marketing board controls
the farm-gate price, but on
top of that is the cost of cartons
and delivery. We pay a subsidy
for those little sta mps they pUton
the cartons and the board is supposed
to take surp lus eggs off the
market. [ try to get rid of my sur ­
plus eggs to another producer
who's short because I get a better
price.
"One of our big problems is the
part-time farmer. Anyone, if they
want to, ca n put in 499 birds
tomorrow an d do what they like
with the eggs. Over 500birds and
they have to get a quota . The 499
limit is too high. If (our or five
people ca me into my area with