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Macdonald Farm welcomes thousands
Award-winning facility open to the public
Alycia Ambroziak
The Gazette
Thursday, June 25, 2009
More than 3,000 West Island children visited a farm last year, learning all about crops, chickens, cows, pigs and goats.
And they didn’t even have to leave the island of Montreal to do it.
They went to the award-winning farm at the Macdonald campus of McGill University in Ste. Anne de Bellevue which has re-established tours of the site, after an eight-year break.
“There are many children removed from any connection to farm life whatsoever, no grandparents or uncles and aunts who have a farm. For them, milk comes in a carton and meat as a slab on a piece of styrofoam,” said Paul Meldrum, director of the Macdonald Farm as a group of preschool children toured the century-old stone barn showcasing calves, chickens, ducks and goats for the children to see up close.
This year, because of a perceived danger due to the H1N1 virus, piglets are not included in the showcase.
“Because of a general misunderstanding about the virus, we just wanted to avoid any worry from parents,” Meldrum said.
After a tractor-pulled hayride, the children were introduced to the farm’s latest acquisition, a life-sized fibreglass cow, dubbed Magik, that is equipped with rubber teats and a bellyful of water.
“By sitting on a stool and milking Magik, children get the idea of the size and motion of milking, without the danger of getting kicked,” Meldrum said as some of the children climbed a play tractor and cart next to the garden and picnic tables.
Like many of the things for children at the farm, the play equipment was built by an employee.
The award-winning farm, which is the only working dairy farm left on the island of Montreal, shows the children – adults are also welcome to visit in groups of at least 10 people – that milk comes from cows and that farm animals are not pets, but rather food-producing animals.
“This farm is a treasure. And it is nice to be able to share it,” Meldrum said.
The farm was closed to visitors in 2000 when foot and mouth disease hit hard in England.
“It was highly contagious and carried by humans. Closing the farm to visitors was a precautionary measure because we didn’t want to run the risk of the animals getting infected from someone who came from or had been in England.”
Last year, the farm opened its doors to visitors once again, with guided tours for elementary and preschool and daycare children from May to the end of August. Besides the farm itself, visitors may also visit the Macdonald College museum, with artifacts dating back to 1907 when the college that taught agriculture, teaching and home sciences.
The farm has more than 3,000 laying hens as well as 40 pigs which are sent to market in Ontario, and 75 milking cows and, counting calves, a total herd of 150, including Holsteins, Ayrshire, Jersey, Brown Swiss and the rare Canadienne.
The Macdonald herd consistently ranks in the top one per cent of all herds for overall management, Meldrum proudly pointed out.
The milk, which has won awards for its purity, is sold to market, as are the eggs and pigs.
Meldrum said the path to great milk is to have good feed, clean stalls and equipment and, very importantly, comfortable cows, free of stress.
The 500-acre farm grows alfalfa, hay, wheat and corn, some of which go to the animals for feed, the rest to cash crops.
Entrance fee is $5. For more information on the farm and the guided tours, call 514-398-7701.