(submitted by Margaret Roder)
Norman Roder and his wife Christina (Durling) came to Canada from Newark, New Jersey in 1923. They started the Rock Glen Hatchery in Arkona with Norman’s brother-in-law John Vidt. The hatchery had its own hybrid hens that produced eggs for the hatchery.
Norman and Christina had one daughter, Mary Lyle, and five sons: Norman Jr., Allan, Harry, John, and Edward. Norman Jr. joined the Navy in 1942 and went down aboard the HMCS St. Croix in 1943.
Allan (1923–2002) was the only son that settled in Warwick Twp. In 1944, at the age of 19, he decided to purchase the 50 acre farm at the southwest corner of Arkona Rd. and Birnam Line. There he raised a few pigs.
In 1946 Allan married Margaret Ridley. In 1947 they started to raise turkeys. The first year he raised 150 and dressed them on the farm. The numbers gradually increased over the years into the thousands. In the early 1950s he raised Bronze Breeder turkeys and produced eggs for the Stan Edwards Turkey Hatchery on Zion Line.
In 1953 a tornado wiped out the farm and they started over. Then, in 1962 a fire killed 1,200 turkeys, with loss estimated at $11,000.
The Roders purchased the Edlington-Silverwoods Cheese Factory and Cold Storage in Arkona from Pearl Butler and incorporated Roder Turkey Farms Ltd. in 1955. Allan started processing turkeys there under the Almar label. He started exhibiting dressed turkeys at the Royal Winter Fair in 1960 and won the Grand Championship for Boxed Poultry in 1964, 1965 and 1966. No one in Canada had won this championship three consecutive years before. Neither has anyone done so since.
In 1955 Roders purchased the Marshall Farm at the southeast corner of Arkona Rd. and Birnam Line. The house on this property, built circa 1845, has been preserved to date. The Bronze turkeys were replaced with Whites in the mid 1960s. Over the years various other farms were purchased and the operation continued to expand.
In 1965 Allan and Margaret’s son, Allan Jr., was killed in a car accident at the age of 14.
The operation now consists of 1,000 acres and produces 175,000 turkeys a year. It is owned by Allan’s son Art and Art’s son Jeremy.
Chapter 24 of 25 - Roder Family
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