HAZENMORE, Sask. – Bob Switzer and John Williamson smile with satisfaction as large machines rumble over the ground, tearing it up and sending dust flying through the air.
Williamson points out where the pens, the office and the feed mill will be.
Red Coat Cattle Feeders is finally under construction.
The community-owned custom feedlot was two years in the planning and it took several attempts before this construction site was finally selected.
The half-section of land slopes gently downhill. The feedlot will be on one quarter, and feed will be grown on the other.
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A few kilometres to the west is the community of Aneroid, its grain elevators poking through the dust. To the east is Hazenmore, famous for the steak served in its Red Coat Inn.
Fewer than 100 people live in each of these communities. The elevators are closed and the rail line was slated to close as well, until its recent purchase by a short-line company.
“Our cattle go and our grain goes and our kids all go,” says Williamson, who is from Mankota.
He, the other board members and the investors all hope the feedlot can change that situation.
Community support for the project has been amazing, said Switzer, of Aneroid.
There is no large company or major feedlot player involved in Red Coat.
There are 185 investors, who purchased shares at $5,000 each.
“They come from every walk of life,” Switzer said. “The hotels, contractors, grocery stores, farmers, ranchers.”
They also come from many different communities – Glentworth, Fir Mountain, Val Marie, Vanguard, Kincaid, Meyronne and others.
The share offering raised $1.1 million of the $2.8 million cost of the project. The Royal Bank in Swift Current and Ponteix provided financing and the federal government contributed toward research and the prospectus through its Canadian Adaptation and Rural Development fund.
Red Coat will initially be able to feed 10,000 head, but is being built so that number could double by 2003. There is a possibility an ethanol plant could be established in conjunction with the feedlot.
Eventually, the operation could include a finishing lot.
“We’ve got to prove ourselves to a lot of people before we can expand,” Williamson said.
In the meantime, they are concentrating on construction. The feedlot is similar in design to an Alberta feedlot operated by Cor Van Raay, near Picture Butte.
Both Williamson and Switzer said other operators, including Brad Wildeman of Saskatchewan’s largest feedlot, Pound-maker Agventures at Lanigan, offered invaluable advice, even pointing out mistakes they made that Red Coat could avoid.
Environmental considerations took the longest to work through.
The proponents needed a site close to a highway, with three-phase power, a good water source and access to feed. But finding a site that met those qualifications and environmental regulations took longer than expected.
“Every site takes six months before you decide it’s no good,” Williamson said.
There was little opposition at the required public meetings. Switzer said a few people were concerned about noise and smell.
“There was one concern about water, and that’s a very valid concern,” he said.
But most people saw the merit in adding value to their product.
“This is going to have a mill,” Switzer said. “They will sell their barley right here at home. That’s a very big key.”
The operation is expected to use between 4,000 and 4,500 bushels of barley each day, plus 50 tonnes of silage.
Switzer said investors hope to buy silage from within 12 to 16 kilometres of the site. How far they venture for grain will depend on freight costs.
There are also spinoff jobs and opportunities: removing manure, hauling bales and fixing equipment. Traffic in local stores and coffee shops will follow.
“We’re trying to create some industry here,” Switzer said.
The feedlot will employ about 10 people full-time, plus an unknown number part-time.
