|
W.
Murray Clark established the company that bears his name in
1950. Murray Clark was the son of Fred Clark who first became
involved in the poultry industry in 1925 with the establishment
of a chick hatchery in the basement of his home located west
of Caledonia, Ontario. Murray grew up in the business and
spent the early part of his career travelling extensively,
working for various hatcheries as a chick sexer. When poultry
and egg producers began a post war shift to mechanization,
Murray decided to focus his efforts on supplying farmers with
poultry production equipment.
The original
site of W. Murray Clark Limited was in Caledonia on Edinburgh
Square, a stones throw from the town hall. Murray operated
out of a small barn in his back yard. The business offered
the "Premier" line of poultry production equipment, which
included nests for layers, water troughs, floor feeding systems,
brooders, and the first pullet cages available in Canada.
The company moved to a larger facility in 1953, and again
in 1961 to a warehouse that housed the business until 1988,
at which time the company built a new 16000 sq. foot facility
on the outskirts of Caledonia where they are presently located.
Watering
troughs were eventually replaced by "Johnson Cups" and "Hart
Cups" which were distributed across Canada by W. Murray Clark.
By 1985 the industry had followed the European trend to nipple
style drinkers, and W. Murray Clark eventually became a major
distributor for the Ziggity brand.
During
the 70's, the company bought out National Ideal, makers of Premier cages,
and began manufacturing cages in Caledonia. In 1981, W. Murray Clark signed
an agreement to handle the Big Dutchman line of equipment which included
cages, and production of the Premier cage was discontinued.
The company
has grown into Ontario's leading supplier of cage systems
for layers and pullets, floor feeding and watering systems
for turkeys and broilers, ventilation equipment, and electronic
monitoring systems.
|