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Explore Local Regional Producer Profiles: Klein Farm | |
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| | Emery Klein operates Klein Farm near Delburne, Alberta on the land his grandparents farmed. Klein Farm is truly a family run farm with the full involvement of Emery's parents, his children and his uncle Pat. Together these three generations raise poultry, run a commercial grain operation and produce saskatoons, black currants and chokecherries in their growing orchard.
Klein Farm sells whole birds, half birds, select cuts and six different delicious poultry sausage varieties at farmers' markets in Innisfail, Red Deer, Delburne and Sylvan Lake as well as through farm gate sales. To learn more about Klein Farms and where you can purchase their products, follow them on Facebook.
How Klein Farm began:
When Emery's grandparents moved to Alberta, they originally ran the general store in Nevis while his great aunt and uncle farmed. However, unforeseen health conditions led the two brothers to swap career paths. Originally a commercial grain farm, over the generations Klein Farm needed to diversify their products to remain viable. Since he didn't have the land base to run cattle and wasn't interested in a hog operation, Emery decided to try out chickens.
The poultry side of Klein Farm began in the 1990s with just two re-purposed granaries.
Klein Farm poultry:
By most standards Emery's flock is small, processing only 2000 chickens and 300 turkeys a year.
Since his birds are free range, Emery supplements the bird's foraging diet with feed that he grinds from wheat grown on the commercial grain side of Klein Farm. Predation is an on-going challenge for free range poultry operators. Emery has to deal with lots of natural predators. Emery manages his flocks with electric fences and self-charging, flashing LED lights to keep predators at bay.
The chicken season begins in May. As it takes roughly eight weeks to finish a chicken and three months to finish a turkey, Emery typically runs two flocks at a time in order to process birds four times a season.
When the birds are finished Emery, with the help of his children, prepares the birds to be transported to a provincially inspected facility for processing. All of this is done at night since the cool and dark of the night make the transport process less stressful for the birds.
Their relationship with their customers and role in the community:
Being only one generation removed from the days where each neighbour had their own chickens and turkeys, Emery began to notice that there was a demand in the community for locally raised farm chicken and turkey. He understands that people are looking for an alternative to large operation agriculture and want to connect directly with the source of their food.
The future of Klein Farm:
Every year, Emery hosts a family day to keep the connection to the land and farming strong for his extended relatives. In the future Emery would love to see his family's love of farming continue into the next generation.
"Back to the basics, that's what we try to do. We're a family farm, plain and simple!" - Emery Klein
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For more information about the content of this document, contact Mimi Lee.
This document is maintained by Delores Serafin.
This information published to the web on February 22, 2017.
Last Reviewed/Revised on March 20, 2017.
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