04/15/2026
This was published in the Inverness Oran of this week -- 15 April, 26.
Remembering Danny Mike
By Eileen Coady
Many in the county, and beyond, will remember when small farms dotted the landscape in our communities, and when families lived their lives by the seasonal rhythms of the farm, their livestock and their plantings. Gone are many of these farms and those that remain are often larger, and by their nature, more mechanised and attuned to the realities of agribusiness. Still, within our communities, there are memories of those who helped with the daily lives and the harsh realities of farming in years gone by.
One such individual whose name is still remembered from Margaree to Cheticamp is Danny Mike Chiasson of Belle Cote. Though untrained in veterinary medicine, he was a local ‘animal doctor’ through the latter part of the last century and when old farm stories are told, his name is often recalled with fondness.
In an interview with Ron Caplan in the June 1990 issue of Cape Breton’s Magazine, Danny Mike explained that it was his father, Marcellin Chiasson, who taught him much of what he learned about treating animals. Raised in St. Joseph du Moine, Marcellin had worked in Glace Bay with a veterinarian who looked after the pit ponies in the mines in the early 1900s. When he later returned to the county, he farmed and worked as a stone mason but he was also often called on to look after sick animals, since there was no professional veterinary care near at hand.
“He used to travel from Cheticamp as far as North East Margaree, all by horse and wagon or sleigh,” he noted. “Being a veterinarian would be in the evening. He spent half his nights on the road. You know, in those days he didn’t dare charge anything. He had no license, number one. And he was good-hearted, number two.”
As a young man, Danny Mike had taught school briefly and worked in the mines and in construction before returning home to the family farm in Belle Cote. When Marcellin died in the 1940s, Danny Mike said that there was an expectation that he would replace his father as the animal doctor for the area. “So I did for a few years. Wasn’t a qualified vet but I had learned from him and I read,” he added.
He spoke in the interview of treating mainly cattle, horses and sheep. He noted assisting with difficult births, the skin sores from insects and the dangers of ragwort w**d to cattle. He provided his homespun wisdom when asked about the value of prayer in his work with animals. “I never believed that it would hurt an animal to pray. But if you don’t feed an animal, you can pray all you want, and it’s going to starve. If the animal’s sick and you don’t do anything about it…. Prayer might help but you’ve got to do your part of it. You’ve got to carry part of the load.”
Like his father, he also farmed and worked as a stone mason, a trade he continued into the 1950s. One senses that there was not much money in farming at that time and that this rural way of life was changing. Danny Mike also explained that the onset of cars on country roads took its toll on farm operations. When animals jumped fences or roamed onto the highways, it was the owner of the animal who was liable if there was an accident involving a car. “No matter what was wrong with the driver. Your animal wasn’t supposed to be on the road…You paid the expenses and many’s the one that got rid of their cow on that account.”
Bulls were particularly known to wander on the roads and where most farmers had once kept a bull for breeding, they were often the first animal to be gotten rid of. Danny Mike spoke of the ‘society bull’ in many local districts, one that was kept penned on one farm and cows were brought there to be bred. Still, small farms had fewer cows and families were beginning to question the cost of raising cattle for milk, butter and beef.
Around this time, Danny Mike became involved with the artificial insemination of cattle through the Department of Agriculture for the area of North Inverness County. After taking a training course at the Agricultural College in Truro, he began to provide service to farmers from Petit Etang through the Margarees to St. Rose in what was then a new program. With the semen delivered by mail, Danny Mike provided the breeding service on a daily basis, year-round and averaged close to 1,000 cattle each year. The fee set by the Artificial Breeding Association at that time was five dollars.
One of his stories, relayed to Ron Caplan in the article, speaks of his preparations for a first trip as an artificial inseminator to a farm ‘down north’ and how he wanted to make a good impression with a clean pair of overalls. “This farmer was expecting to have his cow bred. But he had no idea what it was or what was going on with it. Anyway, when he called me and I arrived, he told me, ‘It’s the first time I ever saw a bull with overalls on!’”
In later years, Danny Mike stepped away from farming and his role as an artificial inseminator. He began to sell real estate and continued in this work into his old age. As he commented on his career transition, “You’d sell a property. You didn’t have to sell too many that you’d make ….ah, more money than I ever saw in my life.”
He was also involved as a municipal councillor and served on the county school board. His nephew, Daniel Doucet recalls, in a family memoir, that his uncle was a marvelous storyteller and one who could be counted on to sing the old Acadian songs at kitchen rackets. Danny Mike Chiasson died in August 1991 at the age of 83.
A man of his time, his life serves as a reflection on the changing face of family farming in our county through the 20th century.
I wish to acknowledge Cape Breton’s Magazine, issue # 54, for much of the background to this article Thanks also to Danny Mike’s son, Marcellin Chiasson and his granddaughter, Denise Olson, for assisting with photos and family history.
Cape Breton’s Magazine is available online through the Beaton Institute, Cape Breton University.
