Duck Farm Tycoon

[dakers]

The Purdue Agriculture Connections http://www.agriculture.purdue.edu/connections/ current Spring, 2009 issue (http://www.agriculture.purdue.edu/co...09/index.shtml) reconnected with some graduates that they've featured over the past years. Here's one of interest for us poultry folks.

Terry Tucker, BS '63
Milford, Indiana

from: http://www.agriculture.purdue.edu/co...3_tucker.shtml

Duck farm tycoon - Maple Leaf Farms, Nations Largest Duck Producer

Maple Leaf Farms wasn’t even Maple Leaf Farms when Terry Tucker started with the company as a high school student in the late ’50s.

“I started working for my future father-in-law (Don Wentzel) before he officially started Maple Leaf Farms,” Tucker says. “At the time, he and some friends were raising ducks on their farms and then processing them at a plant in Michigan. When the plant closed, he decided to purchase a small poultry farm and processing plant just south of Milford, Ind. With this move, Maple Leaf Farms was born.”

Tucker could hardly have anticipated that Maple Leaf would become the nation’s largest producer of ducks, producing approximately 15 million ducks each year from 140 partner farms, and that he would be CEO and chairman of the company.

Or that Maple Leaf would eventually celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2008. Or that he could sit back with great pride and watch his sons, Scott and John, take the reins and direct the company as co-presidents.

“Although I considered joining his growing duck company while I was attending Purdue and even thought about serving in a leadership role, I don’t know that I ever anticipated the opportunities that it has afforded me,” Tucker says. “My Purdue degree has opened many doors for me, and the entire Purdue Agriculture network of alumni, professors and supporters has truly been invaluable.”

[KandBinMN]

I'm not sure what we're supposed to get out of that post. Years ago I read some info. on very inhumane practices and Maple Leaf Farms. I won't repeat them here since I cannot make a direct quote, but I do remember the source. I cannot say whether they were fact or not, but it was in a published magazine and made me sick. Let's hope they weren't true or are no longer true. It's nice to hear someone's made good for themselves, lets just hope it wasn't involving inhumane practices.

[Patrick]

Originally Posted by KandBinMN

I'm not sure what we're supposed to get out of that post. Years ago I read some info. on very inhumane practices and Maple Leaf Farms. I won't repeat them here since I cannot make a direct quote, but I do remember the source. I cannot say whether they were fact or not, but it was in a published magazine and made me sick. Let's hope they weren't true or are no longer true. It's nice to hear someone's made good for themselves, lets just hope it wasn't involving inhumane practices.

Blah, blah, blah. Every soccermom, city dweller and anthropomaniac thinks that they "know" the horrors of commercial farming. The reality is that you don't grow a bird to market size by keeping it however you think they're kept, even if things could be done a little "better" for the birds. Most commercial growers think that they "know" that most backyard flocks are disease infested. The reality is that many of us are very knowledgeable about how to prevent and treat diseases, and we go to great lengths to see that they stay healthy, despite those among us who are embarrassments to the fancy.

What I get out of that post is that someone was very successful in raising ducks. Note that he credits an education to that success. Good for him. I wish that I was making money raising ducks.

If you know firsthand some knowledge about inhumane practices, fine, but if not, stop spreading rumors and unconfirmed BS. Both sides have things to learn from each other, and that continued derisive gossip doesn't help our side one bit.

[dakers]

It's just an example of someone using his education and poultry work to become successful. It's entrepreneurship. Primarily due to his company, and one other in the state, we can proclaim at every Ag Day, State Fair, and other event promoting agriculture in the state, we can proclaim, "Indiana is #1 in Duck Production."

[Patrick]

No longer Long Island?

[Bob308]

Do they have their own designer ducks for production as the poultry people do with their broilers,egg layers, etc?

[KandBinMN]

You don't need to jump all over me, not a soccer mom either, we farm and I'm actually educated; since you went there. Poultry is my hobby, not looking to make any money there.
I purposely didn't go into specifics since you can find the info. yourself on google. Like I said, I don't know where the photos came from that were posted, and I don't belong to any of "those" organizations. I never said that I know for a fact that this guy is even practicing the "horrors". I simply read an article in a magazine at the library and his company was mentioned. All I know is if there are still any duck production facilities out there trimming beaks on ducks, that would be considered inhumane to most of us hobby people. It's all very touchy stuff these days for anyone raising livestock for commercial purposes.It's very easy to point a finger or think you know how someone else should do something. It doesn't hurt though to keep yourself informed and aware on both sides of the issues dealing with humane keeping and slaughter. I wasn't looking to argue or accuse, so I won't be responding to any more posts on this,as I'm sure someone could drag it out forever.

[Patrick]

Originally Posted by Bob308

Do they have their own designer ducks for production as the poultry people do with their broilers,egg layers, etc?

Yes:

http://www.grimaudfreres.com/en/http...s-/pekin-ducks

[dakers]

So, what are the advantages & disadvantages of Pekin Star 42 vs. Pekin Star 76? Just kidding.

Regarding Indiana's Duck Production Ranking in the US: Here's some info from
http://www.nass.usda.gov/Statistics_...a/hilite07.pdf
So, here goes my Indiana Agriculture Commercial:

INDIANA'S RANK IN U.S. AGRICULTURE - Smallest State west of Allegheny Mountains

RANK 2006 GENERAL QUANTITY OF U.S.
13th Number of Farms; 20th Acres of Land in Farms
2006 CROP PRODUCTION
2nd Popcorn 196,800,000 lbs. 23.3
2nd Tomatoes for Processing 225,500 tons 2.1
4th Soybeans 284,000,000 bu.
4th Peppermint 612,000 lbs.
4th Spearmint 90,000 lbs.
5th Corn for Grain 844,660,000 bu.
5th Cantaloupe 473,000 cwt.
6th Watermelon 2,738,000 cwt.
7th Snap Beans for Processing 16,860 tons
9th Blueberries 3,400,000 lbs.
9th Cucumbers for Processing 7,100 tons

LIVESTOCK INVENTORIES
1st Ducks 2002 1,143,160 29.9% of US Production
3rd Chickens Excl. Broilers Dec 2006 31,687,000
5th All Hogs Dec 2006 3,350,000
14th Milk Cows Jan 2007 158,000
18th Cattle on Feed Jan 2007 115,000
LIVESTOCK & LIVESTOCK PRODUCTS
2nd Ice Cream Production 2006 82,327,000 gal.
2nd Egg-Type Chicks Hatched 2006 60,894,000
4th Total Eggs Produced 2006 6,593,000,000
7th Turkeys Raised 2006 13,800,000
8th Pig Crop 2006 4,858,000
14th Milk Production 2006 3,299,000,000 lbs.

Info below from Indiana Business Journal:
Drive down any country road in Indiana and you'll see rows of corn and soybeans blowing in a Hoosier breeze. These two crops are the lifeblood of Indiana agriculture. But hogs, cattle and ducks, as well as popcorn, ice cream and wine also are important parts of Indiana's agricultural story.

Indiana holds a number of high rankings in livestock production and livestock products. A No. 1 ranking is found in Hoosier duck production. Maple Leaf Farms, head quartered in Milford, produces six and a half million of the state's nine million annual production in ducks. Culver Duck in Middlebury produces the rest.

"Our sales are national and international in scope," says Terry Tucker, Maple Leafs chairman, president and CEO. "Eighty-five percent of the production is consumed in the food-service industry--restaurants, hotels, country clubs and catering," he says. "Nothing goes to waste; feet, tongues, heads, gizzards and other parts go to the Asian trade, either domestically or in the export market."

Started in the mid-'50s, Maple Leaf captured the No. 1 spot in the early '80s and continues to expand its market through public-relations and advertising efforts designed to capture consumers' attention. "It is not well understood that a boneless, skinless duck has less fat and fewer calories than a boneless, skinless chicken," says Tucker.

Indiana also leads the nation in hatching egg-type chicks. And a lot of egg-layers live on Indiana farms. The state is the No. 5 egg producer and the home of the industry's third-largest player, Seymour-based Rose Acre Farms.

[Bob308]

Saw this on E-bay today and thought you might be interrested

This is a softcover copy of Livestock and Poultry in Frontier Indiana: Developments on Thomas Lincoln's Farm, 1816-1830, by Henry G. Waltmann, published in 1977 by The Association for Living Historical Farms and Agricultural Museums (it is a sequel to the author's Pioneer Farming in Indiana: Thomas Lincoln's Major Crops, 1816-1830, probably published in the same year by the same organization). The book is about 220 pages long, and has nine pages of b/w illustrations. The two volumes together probably comprised the author's Master's Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation while studying at Purdue. The book is in good condition, with general wear.

Bob

[Omega Blue Farms]

With the following quotes in mind:

It looks like Indiana is well positioned to be an avian/swine flu hotbed in the US. The Fraser Valley up here in BC has similar agricultural demographics and is Canada's most likely pandemic source. Many visiting vets at conferences have made similar observations. What this means for hobbyists? STAY away from Indiana! LOL.

Seriously though, I hope fanciers in Indiana, especially those living within a few miles of the factory farms have a biosecurity plan in place for when the outbreaks occur because it's not a question of if they occur, but when.

INDIANA'S RANK IN U.S. AGRICULTURE - Smallest State west of Allegheny Mountains
RANK 2006 GENERAL QUANTITY OF U.S.
13th Number of Farms; 20th Acres of Land in Farms

1st Ducks 2002 1,143,160 29.9% of US Production
3rd Chickens Excl. Broilers Dec 2006 31,687,000
5th All Hogs Dec 2006 3,350,000