Churchbridge, SK - Jan & Jony Roos from Brownsville,ON were named Ontario’s Outstanding Young Farmers for 2019. The Roos operate Roos Dairy Goats, one of the largest milking goat operations in Ontario. The winners were announced at the Ontario regional event held September 10, 2019 in conjunction with Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show in Woodstock, Ontario.
Jan and Jony Roos both grew up on farms in the Netherlands. After moving to Canada Jan started custom farming at an early age of 13. When he met Jony they decided to diversify. After considering various options they purchased a herd of dairy goats as they felt that industry offered the best potential - there are no quota requirements, and they were a small animal to work with.
The Roos built a barn in 2007 to accommodate 500 milking goats, and they quickly out grew the space. The farm grew by leaps and bounds over the next few years. By the summer of 2018, Jon and Jony were milking 2500 dairy goats. Their goats are milked in a new state of the art, 100- stall rotary parlour, which is more efficient than their previous system. All of the crops grown on the farm are used for goat feed. With the potential for thousands of kid goats being born each year the Roos have devised their own app so they can manage the kid herd more effectively.
Christina Pyke, Ontario regional chair of Canada’s Outstanding Young Farmers Program, commented “The passion, dedication and willingness to pursue their farming dream is part of what makes the 2019 OYF finalists so special.”. The nominees recognized were:
Kendra and Steve Bloomfield of Bloomers Family Farm in Ilderton,
Jan and Jony Roos of Roos Dairy Goats in Brownsville,
Ben Tomory of Pefferlaw Creek Farms in Uxbridge
Celebrating 39 years, Canada’s Outstanding Young Farmers’ program is an annual competition to recognize farmers that exemplify excellence in their profession and promote the tremendous contribution of agriculture. Open to participants 18 to 39 years of age, making the majority of income from on-farm sources, participants are selected from seven regions across Canada, with two national winners chosen each year. The program is sponsored nationally by CIBC, John Deere, Bayer, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and Sollio Agriculture. The program is supported nationally by, BDO and Farm Management Canada.
Source : COYF