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A Supplement Suppleme en ntt to to the the Star Shopper th
Focusing on Today’s Rural Environment
Friday, August 17, 17 2018 • Edition 11
Thoroughbreds
of the sky PHOTOS BY DIANE LEUKAM
Brad Peterson explains the system of hauling racing pigeons to their starting points using crates on a trailer while his grandson, Dominic Bulcher, 3, looks on Aug. 6 in Swanville. This trailer is used for training purposes.
Peterson’s love of pigeon racing By DIANE LEUKAM Staff Writer SWANVILLE – Loft, tripping, YPM, fanciers, young bird, old bird … these are unfamiliar terms for most, but for pigeon racers, they are part of everyday conversation.
“It sort of gets in your blood; it’s addictive,” said Brad Peterson, who is in his sixth year as president of the Mid Minnesota Racing Pigeon Club (MMRPC). “Every year is a new year. Our club is very spread out. We have about 25 members who live in an area from Hutchinson, Richville, Brainerd, Fergus Falls, Cambridge, Glenwood, Sauk Centre, St.
Cloud, Wadena and Long Prairie.” When it comes to pigeon racing, Peterson is all in, and he loves nothing more than to talk about the sport with anyone who will listen. As a voice for the MMRPC, he encourages young people to get involved in something most of them know nothing about. But, he is willing to change that. Pigeon racing is known as a sport with a single starting gate and a thousand finishes. For each race, birds from MMRPC club members are brought to a starting point anywhere from 100700 miles away. They are released just after dawn, and return to their own lofts at the end of the race on the same day. A chip on their leg band records their return, along with the time of their race. Times
PETERSON continued on page 3
WHERE DO TURKEYS COME FROM? Oakdale Farm supplies eggs for hatcheries By KATELYN ASFELD Staff Writer KENSINGTON - There are many farms out there that are century farms and a few that are sesquicentennial. These farms may specialize in beef, dairy or pork or have a diverse operation. But, there are not very many farms that are over 150 years old and specialize in turkeys. Although Oakdale Farm started out small, with a variety of crops and livestock, like many y farms were in the past, turkeys urkeys soon became the he farm’s specialty. Oakdale Farm, a 152-yearold farm located near the town of Kensington, op-erates a commercial cial turkey breeder operation. eration. At any given time, 8,000 hens lay 16,000-32,000 eggs a week, which are then sold to hatcheries to be incubated. Once hatched, the poults (young turkeys) are taken to finishing barns to grow out for meat. Erica (Nelson) Sawatzke is the sixth generation of the family to farm. After college and a few different work experiences and get-
ting married, Erica came back to farm with her father, Dana Nelson, and her uncle, Paul Nelson, in April 2017. “It’s been really good and fulfilling since I’ve been back,” Erica said. “I think to work side-by-side with your family is rewarding.” The trio completes chores and day-to-day operations of the farm with help from their spouses and 12 full- and part-time employees. “Every morning after we’ve finished our chores, we meet and have coffee to discuss what needs to be done that day, or in the week,” Erica said. “Communication is “ a big piece in managing the farm.” Dana agreed. “We figure out who’s going to do w what,” he said. “Eriwh ca w works a lot with the employees, Paul is in charge of inseminating the laying hens and I work with the feed mill, but we all pitch in in all of the areas to get things done.” The structure of the operation consists of five barns – a brooder barn, where newly-hatched poults are kept until they are six weeks old; two grower barns where poults
are raised as replacer hens and two barns where the laying hens are housed. Other structures include an egg room, where the fertilized eggs are stored until they are transported to a hatchery, and a feed mill. When replacer poults are 28 weeks old, they are moved to the laying barns. There, they receive two weeks of increased lighting and at 30 weeks of age, they begin to lay eggs. “Any hen, with the right amount of light, will lay an egg,” Erica said. “They will lay an egg regardless if they are inseminated. The semen is what keeps the egg fertile and builds the embryo.” Hens are artificially inseminated once a week with semen that is collected from a stud farm elsewhere and delivered to the farm. “Semen is delivered three days a week,” Erica said. “It doesn’t store very well, so it needs to be used as soon as possible.” In the laying hen barns, nests border the enclosure where most of the turkeys go to lay their eggs. An employee walks through the enclosure to pick up eggs on the floor because some turkeys do not lay eggs in the nests.
OAKDALE FARM continued on page 6
PHOTOS BY KATELYN ASFELD
Erica Sawatzke checks nests for eggs that may not have been pushed onto the conveyor belt with the lever in one of the laying hen barns at Oakdale Farm Aug. 3 near Kensington. Turkey eggs are larger than chicken eggs and are cream-colored with brown specks.