Risk & Business Magazine Miller Insurance Fall 2017 | Page 28

T.J. ENTERPRISES
T.J. Enterprises:
A Family Operation
F
or husband-and-wife team
Terry Curran and Lucy
D’Arcey, farm life and family
life are all but synonymous.
These 50-somethings own
T.J. Enterprises Canada, a swine-raising
business based just outside Teeswater,
Ontario, that can accommodate up to two
thousand hogs simultaneously. They also
own a menagerie of calves, chickens, cats,
and a dog, which their three children—
Alexis (17), Garrett (16), and Jesse (12)—
help manage, with specific chores to
perform on a daily basis.
Young female pigs come to them from the
farm’s regular supplier at 10–12 weeks old,
or thirty kilograms, and the family cares
for them until they are about sixteen weeks
old. The care for their young charges is
complex, ranging from feeding them the
right diet to monitoring and addressing
health issues to keeping them and their
environment free of disease. When
they reach their ideal weight, which is
determined by each individual customer,
they are vaccinated by Curran and shipped
off to various other farms for breeding.
Curran and D’Arcey’s designated supply
representative visits and inspect their pigs
several times per month, coming to collect
mature ones and deliver new ones for
nurturing.
28
The pig operation has myriad rules and
regulations, mainly to keep their porcine
tenants healthy. Visitors to the farm are
strictly limited, and those who are allowed
in must shower before and after their
visit and wear protective clothing and
shoe coverings. Even the feed trucks and
the vehicles transporting the animals are
washed and disinfected before entering
the premises to avoid contamination. After
one pig leaves and before another takes its
place, the large stall is thoroughly washed
and disinfected.
With such a large operation, the proper
insurance is paramount, and for that,
they turn to veteran broker, Lorraine
Reinhardt of Miller Insurance Brokers. The
brokerage has been serving mid-western
Ontario for over one hundred years, and
Reinhardt herself is a twenty-year-plus
“WITH SUCH A LARGE
OPERATION, THE PROPER
INSURANCE IS PARAMOUNT,
AND FOR THAT, THEY TURN
TO VETERAN BROKER,
LORRAINE REINHARDT OF
MILLER INSURANCE BROKERS.”
veteran. Reinhardt works collaboratively
with the couple to fulfill a wide range of
insurance needs, far beyond their swine
operations. With Reinhardt in constant
communication with insurance companies
and industry experts, she stays well-
informed about potential new products
or policies that might work better for
the couple. Curran and D’Arcey, in turn,
stay on top of any concerns or changes
at the farm that may affect their policies.
Together, they have successfully kept the
farm up-and-running without incurring
significant claims since 1998.
Over the years, Reinhardt and her swine-
farming clients have formed a tight bond,
informed considerably through her own
experience running a farm with her
husband for decades. She is a key link in
keeping their business running smoothly,
and they trust her unconditionally.
Curran and D’Arcey are quick to point
out that they have grown to enjoy their
responsibilities on their farming enterprise
and look forward to the future farming
evolution involving their children. +