Mr. Max Burt This is Me

 Web References

1. 1. Manitoulin Expositor

   www.manitoulin.ca/Expositor/ol - [Cached]

   Published on: 1/17/2007   Last Visited: 2/4/2007

   Max Burt of Ice Lake feels the same way.
   
   Mr. Burt has a double concern as a member of the MCA and as Manitoulin's largest turkey producer. Avian influenza is first and foremost on his list of concerns.
   
   "Turkeys are a social animal," he says. "If one decided to land in my fields, it would be no time before they were over to my turkeys."
   
   "Everytime we introduce something new, new problems always arise," says Mr. Burt, who operates The Burt Farm at Ice Lake where he raises, butchers and retails organic beef, pork and fowl.
   
   He wonders what the ecosystem would look like in 10-15 years' time.
   
   "We're already faced with the deer; there's no retribution for the farmers who sustain them," he adds, referring to the large amount of acreage owned by Manitoulin farmers, whose land provides habitat and feed for the wild creatures.
   
   Mr. Burt says he would like to see a way money from the turkey licences would benefit everyone on Manitoulin, if a hunt ever occurred.
   
   He estimates farmers could lose up to $130 per acre in seed costs, both grass and grain, from damage from turkeys. What Mr. Burt would really like to see is farmer restitution.
   
   "I fed over 5,000 people their Christmas dinners this year, 250 turkeys," he says, thinking about the safety of his flock.