Beyond the Barn: Hatcheries, Plants, and the Making of a Meal

For this year’s BC Heritage Week theme, “Stir the Pot,” We keep thinking about the invisible steps between a farm and a meal. In Chilliwack, livestock history isn’t only barns and pastures—it’s also the hatcheries, packing plants, and processors that quietly shaped what families could buy, cook, preserve, and share.

For generations, many Chilliwack-area farms were mixed operations—raising animals alongside field crops and gardens—so the work was constant and seasonal in a different way than planting alone: feeding and watering, fencing, bedding, collecting eggs, tending flocks, and managing herds through wet winters and hot spells.

A group of cattle in the field, with the farm and farmhouse in the distance. The farm is identified as possibly being the Sache farm at the corner of Prest and Prairie Central looking north east, ca. 1890 to 1900. Photograph courtesy of the Chilliwack Museum and Archives 1982.051.151.

But what really changed the pace of life (and the local economy) was the growth of processing—the places where livestock became food people could actually take home.

A key part of Chilliwack’s livestock story is the tradition of custom processing—local producers bringing animals in, and leaving with carefully cut, wrapped meat for family freezers (and later, value-added products like cured meats and sausages). Johnston's Packers traces its roots in Chilliwack to the early days of custom processing and is still known for that work today.

William A. Nevard Butcher Shop on Yale Road East. Mr. Nevard operated a butcher shop at various locations in downtown Chilliwack from the 1890's through to the 1930's. Ernie Hunt (pictured left), is carrying a large chunk of beef. William Barritt (pictured right) along with Bob Banford, also ran a local butcher shop in the area. ca. early 1900's? Photograph courtesy of the Chilliwack Museum and Archives 977.006.007

That kind of operation matters in a heritage sense because it tells us something about everyday life: not everyone raised livestock, but many families still had a relationship to local farms through buying shares, ordering freezer packs, trading favours, or teaming up at butchering time. Processing plants became a practical hinge between rural production and town life.

And then there’s poultry and eggs—the quieter workhorses of the table. Chicken dinners, Sunday soups, egg baking, lunches packed for school and shift work… all of it depends on systems that are easy to overlook.

Chilliwack had significant poultry infrastructure too—like Pringle Electric Hatcheries, built in 1941 and remembered locally as part of the community’s agricultural landscape.

Pringle Electric Hatcheries located on Yale Road East / the old Trans-Canada Highway corridor, at the base of Little Mountain, opened in Chilliwack in December 1941, bringing large-scale chick production to the Fraser Valley. Early reports the following year suggested output could reach 500,000 chicks, a clue to how ambitious (and modern) this operation was right from the start. Image Credit: Chilliwack Progress Archives, Dec 3, 1941.

Today, Chilliwack remains connected to poultry production and processing through companies like Fraser Valley Specialty Poultry, showing how food traditions and food businesses keep evolving while staying rooted in place.

Livestock history also shows up in the community spaces where knowledge is shared and pride is displayed—especially through Chilliwack & District Agricultural Society and the Chilliwack Fair tradition, which traces back to 1873.

Advertisement in the newspaper celebrating the 60th Anniversary of the Agricultural Fair. Image credit: Chilliwack Progress Archives, Sep 21, 1933.

The fair helped turn “animals on farms” into community-recognized quality—rewarding good breeding, careful feeding, and practical skills, while also creating a social marketplace where knowledge, reputations, and local networks formed around barns and show rings. And as youth agricultural clubs emerged (including a Jersey calf club in 1921), the fairgrounds became a place where the next generation learned that livestock success was equal parts care, skill, and pride.

So when we “stir the pot” this week, maybe we can stir up the whole chain behind the meal:

• Who raised the animals?

• Who did the processing and packaging?

• What local workplaces kept food moving—often without much public attention?

If you’ve got a memory—farm family stories, freezer-order traditions, hatchery or plant work, fair photos, 4-H moments, or a “this is how we always did it” recipe—drop it in the comments. Let’s build a little living archive together.