Bidalosy Farms Ltd. – Andrew McCurdy
Bidalosy Farms Limited is located along the shore of the Cobequid Bay in rural Old Barns, Nova Scotia. Origins of the farm can be traced back to 1876, with Andrew McCurdy being the 6th generation owner/operator. This family operation has 400 head of dairy and beef livestock, with the cattle being born and raised in open, spacious barns and farm fields.
The animal feed requirements are all grown on 900 acres of cultivated lands. All feeds fed to the cattle are grown on the farm, such as native and improved forages, barley, corn, and soybeans. Bidalosy’s milk and meat products are processed and sold locally. Andrew says he “takes prides in the fact we are a Nova Scotian family farm that is innovative with animal care, as our primary focus”.
A neighboring property was acquired in 2018 which provided an opportunity to increase livestock numbers. Andrew started breeding dairy cattle with beef genetics to meet consumer demands. Knowing there would be plenty of space and feed available, he diversified the farm by adding a dairy beef enterprise. Since then, the business has grown to 400 animals with 60% of the dairy herd bred to Angus, Hereford, Limousin and Speckled Park breeds. Andrew says he has diversified with dairy and beef offspring to meet two distinct market areas, which has created synergies for animal care, feed production and efficient usage of the farm’s resources.
Bidalosy Farms Ltd. has, on average, 12 newborn cattle every month. All cattle are kept on site until they are ready to be sold. To date, sales have been made to Atlantic Beef Products Inc. in PEI and to local meat markets in Nova Scotia.
“We are constantly learning from our mistakes and successes” says Andrew, in a 2018 interview with the Environment Farm Plan staff at the Nova Scotia Federation of Agriculture. He continues with adding “at Bidalosy Farms Ltd. we have been fortunate in being able to develop our business by adopting best practices and new technologies”.