Our Farmers Make the Difference.
At JD Farms we are proud to raise Certified Specialty Turkeys with no antibiotics & no animal by products in their feed which is also Non-Genetically engineered.
We also believe who raises them makes a difference as well, so we would like you to meet our partners. Our Farmers.
Yes, we raise turkeys here on the farm, but we also have 5 other farms that grow to our exacting specifications.
Coppertone Farms
Patrick & Karen Huestis & the Huestis family have grown turkeys for us for almost 20 years.
Karen & Patrick were married in 1985 and have 4 children. Carl, Cameron, Cole & Caitlin. They live in Abbotsford, BC.
They continue to have Herefords on their family farm as they have for 51 years. In 1987 they entered the hog business and continued that for 21 years, back grounding breeding stock & replacement females for the largest pig farm in BC.
In 1997, Karen & Patrick bought the farming operations from his mother, which included the Herefords & the Hogs. They then diversified again getting into the Turkey business. They raised mainstream commercial turkeys for 5 years until JD Farms came calling.
They are now in their 18th year of growing JD Farms Certified Specialty Turkeys and it is the backbone of their business. These birds are grown on an all vegetable feed with no animal by-products and no antibiotics. In 2012 they achieved Whole Foods – Global Animal Partnership – Step 1 Certification.
Double D Farms
Double D Farms is also in Abbotsford, BC and is named after Dan & his wife Danielle.
Dan is a second generation farmer. He has been farming since he was old enough to go into the barns with his mother. She collected chicken eggs with him when he was small enough to fit in a small cardboard box on the wagons that they used to hand collect the eggs. He says he would reach over the sides to help out.
The turkey portion of the business was purchased in 1997. Dan helped to manage the turkeys until he purchased the business from his parents in 2000.
Dan has been growing turkeys for JD Farms since 2004.
All of Dan’s family help him out in the barns. This is especially true for the first few days when the babies are so small & cute. Dan’s girls help him hand feed the turkeys and make sure that any smaller birds find the water and the feed that they need to stay healthy.
Dan says that turkeys are a special animal & he really enjoys how much they love to gather around him when he is in the barn. He says they are very curious and are not shy like the chickens.
Dan: “When they are small they peck at anything shiny including my wedding band and my boots. This doesn’t change much as they age, but it does startle me a bit more!”
Dan agrees that every flock is different, so this makes it challenging as well as interesting. He quotes his Father in saying “You never know what you are going to get until you walk into the barns and check on your birds.”
Edwards Turkey Farm
Derek Edwards and his family have been farming turkeys in Richmond, BC for over 100 years.
He joined the JD Farms family 2 years ago, with his Dad, Brian. With their long history of raising turkeys, we knew they would be a great addition to our team of Growers.
Derek spends a lot of time in the barns with his birds and says he enjoys seeing them happy and comfortable.
Since Derek and his family have grown turkeys for so many years, he doesn’t find too many challenges any more, but thoroughly enjoys being a farmer.
Mayfield Farms
Scott May & his family run Mayfield Farms from Richmond, BC. His family has been in the farming business since the early 1900s. Their largest crop is cranberries. They joined the JD Farms turkey farmer family in 2009.
It is a full family affair, as he & his sister, Natalie, as well as their parents Bruce & Bonnie all pitch in to help raise the turkeys.
The challenge of continually learning more about growing Specialty Turkeys results in genuine satisfaction in raising healthy turkeys.
Nicson Farms
Ray Nickel is a third generation Fraser Valley farmer. He is currently owner/operator involved in commercial Broiler, Egg layer and turkey operations.
Together with his wife Linda they have 3 children; Luke, Lexi and Noah and live on one of the local farms. He is a graduate from UBC with a bachelor of Animal Science degree. Much of his early work life was in sales and marketing, working with a local feed company as the sales manager. He has also had experience working with procurement on the chicken and turkey side of the processor business.
Other things that Ray enjoys are the experience of sports and coaching, fly fishing and taking holidays with Linda.
Ray is currently a director on the BC Chicken Marketing Board. With more than 20 years experience as a producer, director on many different committees and boards, mostly in the agriculture arena but also diversifying into church and community. He strongly believe in grass roots involvement because primary production is where it all starts and it symbolizes a life style and investment that is worth keeping and growing.
Ray says “I am passionate about our Supply Management System and know that we have a very special and unique agricultural system which is worth preserving and sharing with other countries that could benefit from our success.”