Family, farming and community: McLellan family honoured with Brant Farm of the Year award

Article content

Jay McLellan loves to tell the story about the day his granddaughter, Kingsley, came to visit the family farm.

Article content

“She was 10 at the time and when she got here she wanted to know how come I had two jobs,” said McLellan, whose family was recently named winner of the 2026 Brant Farm of the Year award presented by the Brant County Federation of Agriculture.

Article content

Recommended Videos

Article content

“I asked her, what do you mean and she pointed out that I was both a farmer and a firefighter.”

McLellan, a long-time Onondaga volunteer firefighter didn’t need to give her an explanation. He and his son Alex, also a volunteer firefighter, got a notification of a collision.

“We dropped what we were doing, got in the trucks and headed to the fire station,” McLellan said. “We had Kingsley with us and had to arrange for someone to pick her up at the station.

“She got a pretty good idea of how it all worked that day.”

Article content

McLellan has been a volunteer firefighter for more than 35 years and is now the Onondaga district chief. His son Alex has been a volunteer firefighter for 10 years.

But their contributions and indeed the family’s contributions to the community don’t stop there. Jay’s list of community involvement include serving as a director on District 6 Grain Farmers, past chair of Brant Dairy Producers committee and the Brant Milk Cooperatives.

Jay has also presented the wheat station for Grade 5 students at Bite of Brant for 30 years. His wife Sara is a member of the Brantford Rotary Club and various committees.

Alex meanwhile, has volunteered at Bite of Brant for 10 years and, in his spare time, he and his wife Madison are coaches with Brant Youth Volleyball.

Article content

Now the McLellan clan have something else they can add to their resume – the Brant Farm of the Year award. They’l be recognized for their contributions to both agriculture and the community at the federation’s annual banquet at Blessed Sacrament Hall in Burford on March 7.

The family represents excellence in farm management, environmental stewardship and extraordinary community involvement, the federation said in a statement.

“It’s quite an honour and I think what makes it special for us is that the recognition is coming from people we have known for many years,” Sara said. “It’s people in our community acknowledging our contributions to the community.”

Alex is the fifth generation of family farming in the Onondaga area and Sara, who has an off-farm job as general manager of Enterprise Brant, said much has changed over the years.

Article content

“Well, we didn’t use these things,” Sara said pointing to a laptop computer.

Farming has become much more automated. Feeding and milking are automated and just about every aspect of the operation can be monitored by computer or event by phone.

The automation, Alex said, brings more precision to the entire operation and enables them to identify and address issues right away. Before technology was introduced, problems would be identified after the fact.

Farms have also become bigger in recent years as well as more diversified.

Meanwhile, Jay and Alex have another unique way of contributing to the community.

In their role as volunteer firefighters, they and their Onondaga firefighting colleagues play in the annual wheelchair basketball tournament. The tournament is a fund-raising initiative in support of Brantwood Community Services and Participation Support Services.

“It’s a great way to bring everyone together and it’s something we all look forward to every year,” Jay said. “We’re supporting a great cause and having a lot of fun.”

This year’s tournament raised more than $7,800 which will be split between the two agencies and the Onondaga firefighters this year received a plaque for their efforts.

“Wow, look at that, 2026 tournament consolation champion,” a visitor said after looking at the plaque.

“Read the fine print,” Jay said with a chuckle. “We were the consolation champion runners-up.

“But hey, we had a lot of fun.”

Vball@postmedia.com

@EXPVBall

Article content