One of Canada’s largest feeding operations has a new owner.
The Price family of Acme, Alta., has purchased Western Feedlots at High River, Alta., which shut down in 2016.
Work is underway to renovate the 35,000 head facility, which will be renamed Rimrock Feeders, said Doug Price. The name comes from the original ranch owned by Price’s grandfather. The Price family also operates Sunterra Farms and Korova Feeders at Acme.
Wooden corrals are being removed and replaced with steel, and compacted concrete will be added in the renovated pens.
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“We’re hoping to have some pen space open in September,” Price said.
The plan is to feed all classes of cattle, depending on current market conditions. Finished cattle will be mainly directed into the Alberta market: Cargill Meats at High River, JBS at Brooks and Harmony Beef at Balzac.
Re-establishing the High River facility opens up 40 jobs as well as a new market for feed barley and another bidder for cattle. Plans also include work with Okotoks-based Feedlot Health Management Solutions to do production research.
Western Feedlots had three locations at High River, Mossleigh and Strathmore, Alta., and closed citing a poor market environment. Western was the first commercial feedlot in Alberta, and started in 1958 with money from a group of rancher-investors to develop a state-of-art facility.
