Our Heritage -

 

The history of Mae-Mart Farms complicated - to tell the story, you could start with the year 1956, when Arthur and Norma Wiedrick, as newlyweds, moved into the house on Concession 8 that would become know as Mae-Mart Farms, but to fully understand its history, you must go back to around 1868 and tell whole story – the story of family.

 

Around 1868, Jacob Wiedrick moved from Haldimand County to a farm on Lot 24 Concession 7.  His farm was prosperous and he developed a good herd of Holstein dairy cattle.

 

It was at this farm that his son, Mahlon Wiedrick was born and raised, and around 1912, moved to the farm next to his father.  Mahlon worked hard on his farm and saw it prosper greatly.  He was known for raising Silver Foxes that were shipped to Quebec for their fur.  He, like his father, also had Holstein cows and later diversified into pigs and then chickens.

 

Having 3 sons that he wished to pass his farm onto, Mahlon purchased the farms to the west and south of his farm to provide one farm to each of his sons.

 

It was the farm to the south, Lots 23 & 24 Conc. 8, that Arthur and Norma Wiedrick moved into in 1956 and it was here that they raised their two children, Marvin and Marline. Needing a name to represent their family farm, Norma came up with the name Mae-Mart Farms - Mae for her middle name, and Mar for Marvin and Marline with the Art for Arthur.

 

Starting as a small, family farm, Mae-Mart Farms has had a number of diverse and varied enterprises – from Charolais cattle to dairy goats, with a the odd horse or sheep thrown in from time to time.

 

In 1997, Mae-Mart Farms expanded by building a large pig barn which was in addition to their chicken crop at that time.

 

When Marvin’s son, Philip graduated from University in 2004 and was able to work full-time on the farm, it was time to grow again.  In 2005, Mae-Mart Farms was able to purchase the original family farm which had been passed on to Mahlon’s second son, Norman Wiedrick and in 2007 started a Feed Mill on this location.

 

In 2010, Mae-Mart Farms purchased land on Concession 11 and the seed cleaning business that came with it and in 2014 purchased land and a 1500 head sow barn on Concession 12.

 

Today with all the land purchases and land rentals, Mae-Mart Farms has seven hundred acres and raise two hundred thousand chickens and thirty thousand pigs each year.