Agri Leader

Springbank Dehydrators Co Ltd
The farm name Springbank originated
as Springbank Dehydrators
Co Ltd, the company that owned the
farm land from 1947 into the late
1970’s. In the early years, Springbank
Dehydrators farmed up to 1200
acres of orchardgrass including the
land now the site of the Cottonwood
and Chilliwack malls. The owner and
general manager through the 50’s,
60’s and into the 70’s was Wally (Wallace)
Johnston. Peter Klassen was
the long-term operations manager.
An avid pilot, Wally maintained an
air-strip on the farm. After the dehydration
operations ended, it served
as a flight and parachute jump centre
for many years.
The grass was harvested direct-cut
with early models of self-propelled
Field Queen harvesters. The freshcut
grass was dehydrated with sophisticated
drying drums to produce
a nutritious grass product as an
ingredient for dairy and poultry rations.
The plant was one of the most
advanced such operations in North
America. Two significant features
were a natural gas fired ‘flash-drying’
process and inert gas storage
of the meal and pellets to preserve
nutrients. A nitrogen generator produced
the gas pumped into the large
product storage tanks, eliminating
all oxygen in the tanks.
Grass was cut at a very young
stage, up to 10 times a season, ensuring
a then high protein content of
over 23%. Up to 25,000 tons of grass
were processed annually.
The dehydrated grass product was
initially a meal, primarily for poultry
rations. In 1958 pelleting equipment
was installed to produce a pelleted
product that was not dusty, ideal for
dairy rations. Sales were to Fraser
Valley producers and feed mills, and
shipped across Canada as far as the
Maritimes. In addition to the protein
source, an important value of the
grass product was the natural Vitamin
A content, as well as other vitamins
and minerals.
With the development and common
usage of synthetic Vitamin A,
and the increasing cost of natural
gas to fire the dehydrators, the economics
of the operations could not
be sustained. In the mid 70’s when
operations ceased, about 750 acres
were farmed. Land was sold to various
owners for crop production and
other development uses.
Today, Springbank Holsteins
Ltd owns 180 acres of the original
Springbank Dehydrators operation
including the residence, office building
and farm yard site.
The Springbank Dehydration Co Ltd plant
in the 1960’s
Information source W Goerzen and The
Chilliwack Progress September 10,1958
from the Archives. Photo credit Chilliwack
Museum & Archives
“However at $1800 per month for
sand, we have to evaluate the cost
effectiveness of a sand recovery system.
Payback is at least 10 years so
for now we hire a long-reach excavator
once a year to clean out the
manure pit.”
The manure system is a hydraulic
alley-shuttle by Mid-Valley and
Houle pumps. An in-ground concrete
pit adjacent to the main cow
barn is 80ft by 160ft and 14ft deep.
The Westeringhs recently purchased
an additional 80 acres located
about 10 minutes away. This
allows for more forage production
and therefore less purchase of corn
silage. This former dairy farm provides
adequate facilities for their
heifer raising, currently housing
about 150 heifers from weaning to
first calving, with capacity for double
this number of replacements.
The milking parlour is a Westfalia-
Surge 32-stall rotary. “The choice
and size of milking parlour and tank
was designed around long-term expansion,”
says Adriel, “The milking
system has capacity for double the
present herd. Currently [November
2015] we are milking 200 cows three
times per day.
“We began 3X in March 2015 with
good results. Our milk yield increased
by 12%,” Adriel explains.
“Although 3X milking is largely a labour
issue, we have good farm help
available in the family and many local
farm-background teenagers.
“Although 3X
milking is
largely a labour
issue,
we have good
farm help …”
AGRI LEADER » 2016
39