Did you know that the majority of the eggs you buy from the stores in Nova Scotia, are locally produced, and always fresh?
With the need for local support being at an all-time high, egg farmers like Blake Jennings – whose family owns and operates Bayview Poultry Farm in Masstown, Nova Scotia – want people to know that, even when they’re shopping for eggs at large chain stores, they are still supporting local egg farmers. As one of 25 licensed egg farms across Nova Scotia, Bayview Poultry supplies fresh eggs to stores ranging in size from corner stores to the biggest stores in the province.
“A lot of people say they don’t want to buy their eggs from Walmart and Costco,” says Jennings. But, stores across our province, from small shops, to big box stores, to grocery stores and pharmacies, have fresh and local eggs from Egg Farmers of Nova Scotia. “Canada has some of the best food safety laws and regulations in the world.”
There is a great deal of hard work that goes into production on an egg farm. There are 15,000 laying hens on the Bayview Poultry Farm and, in a single week, 8-10 pallets of eggs are sent to Maritime Pride, an egg grading facility, who washes, inspects, and delivers the eggs to the stores. This works out to approximately 100,000 eggs per week out in circulation.
Though there is a lot that goes into production, the journey from the farm to the store, to your table is actually quite short. “The average time for the eggs to get from the farm to the grocery store is between four and seven days,” says Blake. “Stores order from us on a weekly basis, so none of the eggs are in the store for more than a week.”
This is all part of the lifestyle that Blake has been a part of his whole life and plans to continue. Since the late 1940’s, Bayview Poultry Farm has been passed down through five generations of Jennings men; from Blake’s great-great grandfather Stephen, to his great-grandfather Earl, to his grandfather Cecil, and now to his father Glen.
“I grew up working on the farm with my father and my grandfather and it has always been my dream to take it over some day as my own,” says Blake. “It is a blessing to be able to work with my family for 26 years of my life and I can’t imagine doing anything else.”
To be a farmer of any kind, you have to have a passion for the industry and what you’re producing. The Jennings family and the 24 other families of egg producers across the province have that passion. They want to help you create your next meal using the eggs that their hard work brought to your table.
To read more about the Jennings family and Bayview Poultry Farms, visit: Bayview Farms.
And to find out everything you’d like to know about fresh, local Nova Scotia eggs from friendly Nova Scotian farmers – including recipes, farmer profiles and so much more – visit: nsegg.ca.