Fonds XA1 RHC A0450 - Donald McQueen Shaver fonds

Donald McQueen Shaver is a prominent figure in Canadian agriculture. Born in Galt on August 12th 1920, Donald Shaver’s interest in poultry breeding began at the age of 12 when he received two chicks as a gift. Soon after, he bought 15 more chickens that he bred, entered, and won a 350 day Canadian National Egg Laying contest. Donald then gained more chicken breeding experience through a government-sponsored Record of Performance project and a year later he began his first hatchery, Grand Valley Breeds. From 1940 to1945 Donald Shaver served with the Royal Canadian Armed Forces in Africa and Europe. Entering the war as a regimental commanding officer and emerging as a lieutenant-colonel, he gained a war-honed sense of endurance and hard work that would become characteristics of his management style. At home, however, his stock was destroyed by a fire in 1944. When he returned from war in 1946 he had to revive his hatchery and he used his war gratuities to buy stock from other breeders. To support his family and hatchery Donald Shaver ran a feed store in Galt. Shaver’s long term aim to produce a layer more prolific that any other was achieved in 1954. The Shaver Starcross 288 white leghorn layers surpassed other breeds by producing an average of 290 eggs per chicken per year. Upon this success, he entered into the export market with sales of chickens to the United States, South America, Europe and Asia. When he retired as CEO of Shaver Poultry Breeding Farms in 1985, his company was operating in 94 countries; Shaver Starcross 288 was producing a third of the world’s white and brown eggs, and producing 18 to 20 percent of the world’s poultry meat. Donald Shaver has also contributed to his local community by serving as a board member on various organizations such as the Galt Kiwanis Club (1955), University of Guelph (1986), and Cambridge Memorial Hospital (1986) to name a few [8]. Throughout his career he has also worked to help reduce world hunger by working as the volunteer chairman for the Developing Country Farm Radio Network, by offering his services and expertise to the United Nations on a voluntary basis, and by actively engaging Shaver Poultry Breeding farms in ethically sound business practices and philanthropic endeavours. Donald Shaver has received numerous awards and acclamations in breeding and agriculture: the Canadian Government Award for Export Excellence (1981); the Canadian Department of Agriculture Award for Excellence in Agri-Food industry (1984); and the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food Centennial Award (1988). He was appointed a member of the Order of Canada in 1978 and promoted to an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1990 in recognition of his breeding efforts and for his contributions to reduce world hunger. He has received two Honourary Doctor of Science Degrees, one from McGill University in 1983 and another from the University of Guelph in 1995. In 1985, Donald Shaver was the University of Guelph’s first Entrepreneur-in-Residence and he ran a series of lectures in economics at the university.