Cyril Leonard "Andy" Anderson was born June 28, 1904, one
of five children in the Armstrong's Point district in Winnipeg. He
graduated in 1920, moved to Chicago to work with the Western Electric Company,
returning to Winnipeg in 1927.
In the late 1920's Andy joined Canada Packers' Feed Division where
he helped develop and introduce modern nutrition via the addition of bone
meal, tankage, fish meal and alfalfa to farm grown grains. He advocated
sound feeding and management practices to achieve optimum production in
poultry and livestock operations. In 1939 Andy formed his own company,
Feed Rite Mills, to pursue his profound interest in advanced feeding practices.
His first major accomplishment was the improvement of poultry breeder rations
which markedly increased production and hatchability.
Andy was one of the first feed manufacturers to employ a professional
animal nutritionist and agricultural graduates trained in animal and poultry
science. He was the first fed manufacturer in Western Canada to use
canola meal; one of the first to bring in soybean meal and to use supplemental
phosphate. He began a newsletter and spent much time with his customers
constantly striving to give Manitoba producers the knowledge and products
to keep them in the forefront. In the process he make many lifelong
friends across Manitoba and Canada.
In 1977 Andy was honored by the Canadian Feed Industry Association
for 50 years of dedicated service. The Manitoba Hatchery Association
affectionately bestowed on him the Buffalo Rooster award. He was
a long-time member of the Griffins Service Club, the Feed Manufacturers'
Association, and the St. Charles Country Club.
His life spanned a period of great change. With his energy,
his appetite for new ideas and his itch to put them into practice, it was
inevitable that once he entered the feed industry he was destined to make
a difference. He was one of those rare, forward thinking persons
who through their energy and vision lead and changed things to such a degree
that others are forced to follow. He sold Manitoba's livestock and
poultry producers on modern feeding and management program and undoubtedly
made a contribution to Manitoba's economic growth while helping our poultry
and hog producers to be second to none in Canada.
"Andy" Anderson was a dynamic man who made a difference and he will
be long remembered.
