Pork producer's power restored

Monday, October 19, 2009

by BETTER FARMING STAFF

A Haldimand County hog operation has regained power but with the future depending on a government loan program not yet fully up and running, its future remains tenuous.

Wayne Bartels says power was restored on Friday at 6 p.m. to the two barns that he operates with his brother Geoff on their Cayuga area farm. Haldimand County Hydro cut the hog farmers’ power on Oct. 14 because the brothers were more than two months behind in payments and owed the utility $11,000. The cancellation placed the lives of 4,500 animals in jeopardy.

The Bartels used two diesel generators to power the barns’ ventilation systems after the power was cut. The power supply to the farm’s house was unaffected. “They (the animals) are fine, the generators ran so they didn’t notice anything,” Wayne Bartels says.

He says Hydro restored the power after the brothers met with representatives from Farm Credit Canada to discuss loans.

The representatives found a way the brothers could access cash from an existing advance loan to pay the hydro debt. Bartels says he is planning to apply for support under a new federal loan program but the FCC has not yet received the application forms.

“We are one of the top-producing farms so we will apply for the loan and at this point I’m just assuming that it will work,” he says.

Meanwhile, the end of October “will be crunch time again.” They are planning to reduce their inventory “so that helps a little bit.” Bartels says the community has been very supportive and he’s fielded calls “from all over the place, people sending us $100-$200 although that is not why we ended up on the media, that we want other peoples’ money.” BF