Jason
Well-known member
Canada
New beef plant to take 52,000 head a year
Tue June 14, 2005 5:29 PM GMT-04:00
WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) - A new beef processing plant in the province of Saskatchewan opened on Tuesday and will process 52,000 head of cattle per year, according its owners, who are primarily farmers.
Natural Valley Farms is part of a wave of expansion in Canada's cattle slaughter capacity, sparked by a U.S. ban on live cattle imports after Canada found its first case of mad cow disease two years ago.
The company is running a federally inspected beef processing plant at Wolseley, Saskatchewan, near the capital of Regina.
Livestock are currently being slaughtered outside the province, but the owners said in a news release that construction of a feedlot and slaughter plant in nearby Neudorf, Saskatchewan, will begin immediately.
The two plants will cost more than C$15 million ($12 million). The owners expect gross sales of more than C$50 million in the first year of operation.
Most of the cattle delivered to the new Saskatchewan plants will be raised without hormones and antibiotics, and the meat will be targeted to export markets, the owners said.
More than 1,200 farmers have committed cattle to the operation. A group of farmers in central Manitoba is also raising money to build a sister slaughter plant.
Canada used to ship about 1 million head of live cattle to U.S. slaughter plants each year. Prices have slumped since the U.S. import ban because there are not enough domestic plants to handle all the production.
New beef plant to take 52,000 head a year
Tue June 14, 2005 5:29 PM GMT-04:00
WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) - A new beef processing plant in the province of Saskatchewan opened on Tuesday and will process 52,000 head of cattle per year, according its owners, who are primarily farmers.
Natural Valley Farms is part of a wave of expansion in Canada's cattle slaughter capacity, sparked by a U.S. ban on live cattle imports after Canada found its first case of mad cow disease two years ago.
The company is running a federally inspected beef processing plant at Wolseley, Saskatchewan, near the capital of Regina.
Livestock are currently being slaughtered outside the province, but the owners said in a news release that construction of a feedlot and slaughter plant in nearby Neudorf, Saskatchewan, will begin immediately.
The two plants will cost more than C$15 million ($12 million). The owners expect gross sales of more than C$50 million in the first year of operation.
Most of the cattle delivered to the new Saskatchewan plants will be raised without hormones and antibiotics, and the meat will be targeted to export markets, the owners said.
More than 1,200 farmers have committed cattle to the operation. A group of farmers in central Manitoba is also raising money to build a sister slaughter plant.
Canada used to ship about 1 million head of live cattle to U.S. slaughter plants each year. Prices have slumped since the U.S. import ban because there are not enough domestic plants to handle all the production.