Jan 2000
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Flintshire Farms: the Flinton pheasant farm success storyBy David Brison
Ken Hook raised pheasants as a hobby when he was a kid in Cloyne. He
now, along with his wife Cathy, owns Flintshire Farms, just outside of
the Village of Flinton. Although raising pheasants might have started
out as a backyard operation for Ken, it has turned out to be a showcase
commercial operation. They produce 70-80,000 of their distinctive white
pheasants in a year and market them throughout the world.
In the 23 years they have been in operation, they have: * Developed, through selective breeding, one of the two breeds of white pheasants in North America; * Devised a way to raise the pheasants so they can range freely in large covered fields; * Built their own processing plant - a plant which meets the highest standards of accreditation for food safety in their field; * Marketed their pheasants through trade shows, promotional literature, video presentations, and their website on the Internet. * Managed to sell their pheasants worldwide (and in Canada to have them served at Prime Minister Cretiens residence); * Employ 25-30 people during their six-month harvesting season (from July to Christmas).
Flintshire Farms is located west of Road #41, just off the road that leads into Flinton, in an area that has many large pines that were reforested there on flat, and sandy soil.
The Hooks live, with their teen-aged daughter Sarah, in a ranch style house which serves both as their home and the office for Flintshire Farms.
Ken Hook met me at his home and took me on a tour of the operation.
(click on thumbnails for larger view)
The first question I asked was how they got started. Ken's reply was, "Cathy and I had both graduated from Guelph and were working at Bon Echo Park. (They met there and were married in the Park) The work at the Park was on contract and we were looking for something that would provide some long-term stability. The idea of owning my own business appealed to me. Raising pheasants for the market seemed to be something that might work - Cathy is a wildlife biologist and I had some experience in university with commercial chicken operations."
Ken's answer illustrates the kind of practical problem-solving approach they have applied to the wide range of problems they've encountered as their business has developed.
In the beginning the problem was how to create jobs for themselves - jobs that would take advantage of their training and experience. The solution was to start their own business - one that enabled them to stay in the area.
Over the years, they have come up with creative solutions to a lot of other problems: * They started with ring-necked pheasants - a dark bird. When the feathers were plucked, it left dark bruised spots. This doesn't happen with white birds so the Hooks developed, through selective breeding, over a 15-year period, their own breed of pure white pheasants which have a broader appeal to the market.
* They could have raised their birds in cages like those used in commercial chicken operations. However, it seemed like a high-end costly product might have more market appeal if they were allowed to range freely. The result is an ingenious system of fields covered with nets (nets that have to keep out hawks, racoons, and foxes). The birds can fly around and the Hooks believe that this creates larger breasts - one of the most important market considerations.
* Free-ranging allows the pheasants to graze on the natural grains grown in the large covered fields. This dense cover consists of sunflower, sorghum, oats, barley, and rapeseed. Insects on these plants serve as feed and impart a wild flavour.
* Marketing their product was a major problem for the Hooks. They would never have survived if they were dependent on local Eastern Ontario markets. Many small businesses flounder because they fail to address marketing concerns. With the self-sufficiency that seems to mark the entire operation of the farm, Ken represented himself at international trade shows. More recently, he has used the Internet to expand his markets. He designed his own website (www.flintshire.com). A site so successful that it has received close to 200,000 hits since starting in March of 1999. This has led to an expansion of sales in Korea, China, the United States, and Japan.
* Anticipating consumer concerns about food safety, they have sought, and recently received, HACCP (Hazzard Analysis and Critical Control Point) accreditation for their processing plant. Their Plant Manager, Phyllis Johnson, a chemical engineer, has headed the HACCP team. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CIFA) has adapted the HAACP system (originally developed by NASA to ensure food safety for astronauts) for use by processors on a voluntary basis. Flintshire Farms is the only pheasant operation in North America to have this level of accreditation.
Other examples of the ingenuity, and self-sufficiency, of the Hooks,
abound. For instance, the pheasants have to be rounded up and removed
from the large enclosed fields at harvesting time. They purchased a
sheep dog and a book on how to train the dog. Phyllis Johnson, who
collects eggs, when she isn't supervising the processing plant, trained
the dog to herd the pheasants.
Also Cathy Hook handles all of the office payroll and accounting operation. In addition, she also uses her special expertise as a wildlife biologist in many of the technical aspects of the farm.
Although their lives are closely entwined with their business, it would be a mistake to assume that the Hooks are so intensely involved with their pheasants that they don't have outside interests. Not true, Cathy and Ken both are runners. I first met them at a race sponsored by the Kingston Road Runners (a picture of them, with their daughter Sarah, at the 1999 Twosome Run is on the NewsWeb. Ken recently was elected to the Addington Highlands Council - with the highest number of votes even though he was running for the first time. He now joins his father Dick Hook as a Councillor (different Councils however). Ken is a member of the Lennox and Addington Economic Development Committee and also serves on the Addington Highlands Economic Development Committee.
Does daughter Sarah share her parents' obsession with the farm? Now what do you expect would be the answer to that question? She is however a runner.
