Thursday, April 6, 1967

year. Considerable quantities of pullets and broiler chicks were imported to the Island and the overall poultry population has not decreased as much as statistics would indicate. However, changes are taking place in the industry away from the small farm flocks to more specialized units of production, which is also true in all phases of agriculture production. Formerly, the breeds approved and blood-tested during the 1966 season, and there are some names and numbers here for those of you that are interested in poultry and eating eggs that you might like to hear. I think you all had eggs for breakfast anyway. Leghorns, females—3,612; males 467. White rocks 11,580 females. Barred Rocks, 1,362; Light Sussex, 2,917. Flock owners in 1966 were 69. In 1966 there were 64 flock owners. The number of birds tested in 1965, 23,628; in 1966, 24,212. Officials at Ottawa are investigating a national board for poultry products. This is a very desirable thing and should, when developed, give all provinces the same treatment rather than ten different Boards with very different views. Our flocks here have been fortunate, for the most part, to be free from any serious disease problems during the year. Only a very small number of flocks experienced serious problems. Coccidiosis continues to be very widespread and poul- try people should be alerted for symptoms and a proper treatment used to prevent losses. A testing program at Mr. Ralph Rayner’s farm, Mount Herbert continues with three strains currently on the list. A total of 24 test-pens containing fifty-five birds each are on test for production, egg size, and quality. Mortality is also re- corded and the pens are jointly supervised by the Federal-Provincial Poultry Field- meu. All pens are tested regularly for management, parasites; disease problems are also checked. Records are compiled monthly and are available to other hatchery operators in the province. There were eight registered hatcheries operating in the province during the year, six commercial chick hatcheries, one turkey hatchery, two duck and goose hatcheries. There were 488,000 pounds eviscerated poultry pro- cessed through the registered processing stations. This was an increase over last year. 65,543—30 dozen cases of eggs—were marketed through the registered grad- ing stations. This is a two percent increase from 1966. Twenty nine registered stations were buying graded eggs in various centres acorss the Island in 1966. The four Atlantic Provinces accounted for only 3.8% of the poultry meat and 7.3% of the eggs produced in Canada. During the late summer and fall season poultry was judged at all local country fairs and assistance given to the Canada Department In- spectors. Judging of entries was also done at the Provincial Exhibition; the Pro-

ncial Show is by far the largest and it creates considerable interest among our Island poultrymen. The quality in general at all shows was quite good. A poultry promotion booth was again prepared in the main Coliseum at the Provincial Ex- hibition in Charlottetown. This is something that could be of a little interest to you people. A small glass incubator was on display and a number of eggs were kept hatching throughout the Fair week. This event drew a great number of people around the booth and we hope in some small way, at least, that this effort will

result in increased consumption of poultry products and general interest in the industry.

The following five Island poultrymen sent fourteen entries of Grade “A” shell eggs to the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto. Mr. Fulton Cousins, Baltic; Sunny Isle Farms, Charlottetown; Smith Brothers, Pownal; Arnold Vriends, Cove- head; B. B. Jones, Bunbury. Eight entries in first-prize group, 3 entries in second prise group, and 3 entries in third prize group. The P.E.I. poultrymen exhibited one hundred birds at the Atlantic Winter Fair in Halifax this year. The Department of Agriculture provided transportation assistance to all poultry exhibitors.

This assistance proved very helpful and encouraged large entries to be sent from the province. Albert Boswell, Marshfield, took top honours in the poultry show by winning two standard and judged the best overall birds in the entire poultry show. Congratulations are extended to all exhibitors and prize winners.

Now the Extension Division. The purpose of the Extension Division is to pro- vide the farm operator with the latest information on which he can base decisions on his own farm. The methods used to dissemenate information are through mass

newspaper, radio, television and newsletter, farm meetings and personal con- tacts. In the past year, sixty newspaper columns have been printed in the Guardian and Journal-Pioneer newspapers and are divided as follows: Record keeping, Agri- cultural Education, Agricultural Engineering, Livestock and Poultry, Crop Produc-

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