Who are We?

The Talen Family

it all started with a 1m^3 box...

Harrie Talen and Geesje Nienhuis got married in 1980 within a week of getting married in the Netherlands they emigrated to Canada with all of their earthly possessions in a 1m^3 box and a dream to farm in Canada.

They started off in BC working on their sponsor's farm. Followed by a work on a couple of other farms as well while Geesje taught at an elementary school. They had their first child, Wilbert while Harrie was employed at a grain elevator.

The search for their own farm on a budget was on. They set out looking for a farm they could afford and that search led them farther and farther east until they found this farm on Prince Edward Island.

They moved to PEI in 1986 and bought this dairy and hog farm. Their family grew to add 3 more children Jander, Emil, and Reina. Harrie decided to build a new hog barn in 1993 and expand that portion of the operation while Geesje stayed home working to raise their 4 children. The Holstein Canada prefix of Talnie (Talen-Nienhuis) was established and would eventually become the farm name when it was incorporated.

The children grew up and started moving away from home. Wilbert graduated from Dordt University in Iowa where he met his wife Denise. They married in 2006 then taught for 4 years in Minnesota.

in 2010 Wilbert and his wife Denise moved back to PEI to Farm as Harrie was ready to slow down and the other siblings were still figuring out their schooling and careers.

Wilbert and Denise have 3 Children: Joash, Mataya and Gideon and in 2020-2021 a new free-stall dairy barn was built with a Lely A5 milking robot. The cows moved from the Tie-stall barn to the Free-stall and began being milked robotically on Sept 27th 2021.