Farm Tours

Shania Twain Tour - Monday, November 5th, 2012

VISIT #1: HOLSTEIN CANADA FAFARD SCULPTURES
To commemorate the 125th anniversary of Holstein Canada, two statues were commissioned in 2008 for the front lawn of the newly built Holstein Canada offices in Brantford, Ontario. The sculptures, known to many as Kanata and Kanata Bella Futura, portray the commitment of Canadian dairy breeds to excellence and serve as symbols of pride and accomplishment for the Canadian dairy industry. The sculptures, which were unveiled on July 21, 2009, weigh a combined weight of 815 kg. The cow, Kanata, received her name in reference to the Mohawk word for village or settlement and is linked to the origin of Canada’s name. Kanata Bella Futura, is named after her dam and stands for “beautiful future” in Latin. Remember to bring your camera along on this tour so you can take photos with the life-size bronze sculptures by the world renowned artist from Saskatchewan, Joe Fafard.

VISIT #2: STANTONS
The large-scale operation of Stanton Farms is the success of Laurie Stanton, and sons, Jim, Jeff, and Greg. Stanton’s have a state-of-the-art, environmentally-sustainable operation which consists of a 650 milking-cow herd in a Double-30 Westfalia Surge Herringbone Parlour, and includes an additional 2,000 acres of farm land. Embryo transfer has helped to improve the genetic base of the Stanton herd and the use of genomics has helped to breed valuable high-genomic animals. Stanton’s innovation has helped to introduce new technology including an instant milk chilling system using well-water, and co-generation of heat and electricity from an on-farm anaerobic digester. The digester produces 300 kilowatts of green energy and is expanding capacity to 1.3 megawatts - enough to power 800 homes. They were named a regional award winner of the Premier’s Award for Agri-Food Innovation Excellence for the Province of Ontario in 2009.

VISIT #3: WIKKERINK
Roger and Julie Wikkerink own Wikkerink Farms Ltd in Norwich, Ontario. This passionate couple along with their young family, milk 60 cows in a sand-bedded free-stall barn with a Lely A4 Robot. After moving from Vancouver Island, British Columbia in 2002, the Wikkerink’s moved to Ontario and built their new barn in the same year. The herd consists of 7 Excellent, 30 Very Good, 30 Good Plus and 3 Good with BCAs of 235 for milk, 246 for fat, and 245 for protein. They farm 135 acres of land, 20 of which is corn silage and the remaining 115 is hay and pasture. Wikkerink Farm’s Ltd., is proud to be named Oxford County’s top DHI managed herd in 2009 and 2010 and remain among the Top 10 in Ontario for three years running. Roger and Julie received their Master Breeder shield in 2010—the second of two shields after receiving their first Master Breeder shield in 1994.

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