Bradner Farms in British Columbia: History, What It Raises, How It Makes Money and Where to Learn More
Profile updated November 2026
Bradner Farms is a fourth-generation family farm in Bradner, near Abbotsford in British Columbia's Fraser Valley, that received a provincial Century Farm Award for more than 100 years of operation. A local newspaper report describes a robotic milking dairy, a poultry hatchery and B.C.'s first certified organic feed mill, alongside daffodils, beef and specialty livestock.
| Location | Bradner, Abbotsford, Fraser Valley, British Columbia |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1912, by Caleb and Winifred Manuel |
| Sectors | dairy; poultry; beef; daffodils; organic feed milling |
| Scale | Robotic milking dairy, poultry hatchery and a certified organic feed mill; expanding organic beef and dairy near Ashcroft (as reported) |
| Why it is elite | Provincial Century Farm Award; diversified organic and specialty producer |
| Ownership | Donaldson family, fourth generation of the farm |
| Official website | BC government Century Farm and Ranch Award release (no official farm site found) |
History of Bradner Farms
The Abbotsford newspaper report says Caleb and Winifred Manuel arrived in Vancouver from Lewisport, Newfoundland and Labrador, in 1912 and settled in Bradner. They cleared the land with horses, built a farmhouse and began growing daffodils and raising poultry and dairy cattle. The current generation still lives in that farmhouse.
Buller Manuel took over in 1953. After his death in 1976 the farm passed to Robert Flett and Muriel Joy Donaldson, who kept daffodils, poultry and dairy and added beef cattle. Their son Robert Allan Donaldson bought the farm in 1984 and expanded into organic and specialty poultry. The province's agriculture minister at the time praised the family's commitment to regenerative farming when presenting the Century Farm Award.
What Bradner Farms Grows and Raises
The report describes a diversified farm: dairy cattle milked by robots, a poultry hatchery, beef cattle and daffodils, with a focus on organic and specialty products. It also names B.C.'s first certified organic feed mill as part of the operation.
The family is expanding organic beef and dairy operations in the Ashcroft area, according to the same report. Water buffalo are mentioned among the livestock. The farm's published scale is described by its facilities rather than by acreage or head counts, which the sources do not give.
How Bradner Farms Makes Money
Dairy and beef
Milk from the robotic dairy and beef cattle sold in the Fraser Valley are long-standing revenue lines at the farm, with the beef business added in the 1970s.
Poultry and organic feed
The hatchery and the organic feed mill serve organic and specialty poultry production. A feed mill can also supply other organic producers, although the sources reviewed do not describe outside sales.
Daffodils and specialty products
Daffodils have been grown since the 1912 founding and sit beside specialty livestock such as water buffalo as niche products with a different customer base from commodity milk.
Farm Insight: What Other Operators Can Learn from Bradner Farms
Vertical integration suits organic. Owning the feed mill and hatchery lets a farm control input quality and supply in a market where certified organic feed is hard to source. Operators weighing organic should price feed access first.
Add enterprises slowly across generations. Each generation at Bradner added a line, from poultry and dairy to beef to organic specialty. Spreading risk across several products, and automating the labour-heavy dairy work, is a useful model for a family farm under pressure.
A farm that has been growing daffodils since 1912 has been quietly collecting standing ovations every spring for over a century. Visitors who like their agriculture with a laugh can find farm satire, farm humor, ranch humor and farm jokes about water buffalo and robot milkers at farm.FM. The Donaldson family, for their part, run a hatchery and a feed mill with plenty of seriousness.
If the name is new to you, farm.FM is the nation's first satirical farm site, with Tractor Tunes country music for farmers on the side. One of its regular writers keeps a whole archive of stories like that.
How to Contact Bradner Farms
Website: https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2022AF0033-000773
No address, phone or email was verified from an official farm website. The press release and newspaper coverage are public pages about the farm. Details checked November 2026.
Bradner Farms Sources and Agriculture Authority Links
- BC government Century Farm release - Provincial announcement of the Century Farm Award
- Farms.com: Abbotsford family celebrates 100 years - Coverage of the family and the award
- Abbotsford family honoured for 100 years - Local newspaper report on the farm's operations
- BC Ag in Brief 2021 - Provincial ministry census summary
- Statistics Canada 2021 Census of Agriculture - National release on Canadian farms
Bradner Farms FAQ
Where is Bradner Farms?
It is in Bradner, part of Abbotsford in the Fraser Valley of British Columbia.
When was Bradner Farms founded?
The Manuel family settled the farm in 1912.
What does Bradner Farms produce?
Dairy, poultry, beef, daffodils and organic feed, as reported in local coverage.
Did the farm win an award?
Yes, it received a Century Farm Award from the provincial government.
Bradner Farms shows how a 1912 Fraser Valley farm stays relevant through diversification and organic feed. Read the British Columbia farms guide for the dairy, poultry and land context behind operations like this one.