BALZAC, Alta. – At the height of the BSE crisis three years ago, a group of friends tossed around the idea of building a beef plant in Calgary.
The idea grew into Rancher’s Beef with 48 investors from every sector in the cattle business. It is among the few plants from many proposals to actually see the light of day. It should soon be up to full capacity, killing 800 head per day, said company president Tony Martinez.
The original plan was to build on the northeastern outskirts of the city, but community opposition forced the owners to strike a deal with the Municipal District of Rocky View and move the plant 300 metres onto rural land.
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The 7,272 sq. metre operation uses the most modern technology available, as well as handling facilities influenced by animal behaviourist Temple Grandin.
Holding pens are all indoors with translucent lighting and grooved cement floors. Chutes have closed sides and are curved so cattle move forward in an orderly fashion.
Each animal can be traced using the Canadian Cattle Identification Agency electronic tags and numbers. Each hook has an electronic number correlated to the ear tag number so beef can be traced throughout the process from carcass to primal cuts.
The company was among the first to enter the newly opened Japanese market. Cattle younger than 20 months of age are being killed at Sunterra Meats at Innisfail, Alta.
The federally inspected plant, owned by the Price family of Acme, already processes lamb and pork and an additional wing was added to handle beef, bison and other large species starting in February 2005.
From that plant, Rancher’s Beef was able to start building a Japanese customer base, selling to one retail customer as well as the food service sector.
“They are just going to grow with us into the new facility,” said Martinez.
The Balzac plant is not yet certified by Japan and needs to be running for two months with active records before that certification can be granted.
A hazard analysis critical control points plan for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency will also be filed once the plant is fully operational.
The plant entrances and work areas have been split so there is no cross contamination from workers. There are separate change rooms for those working with cattle before the hide comes off and those working on clean carcasses. Two washers using steam and lactic acid washes have also been installed to remove fecal matter from the outside of the carcass as it moves down the rails.
There is a tertiary waste water treatment system. That water is pumped to a municipal waste station and piped to the nearby town of Langdon for disposal.
A major difference between this plant and the larger operations is customer service and attention to detail on smaller orders.
Individual animal identification is a requirement for the European Union market and talks are under way to ship beef to Italy next year. The Europeans want inspection and certification of the animals from the time they don’t receive growth hormones.
Besides Canadian, Asian and European customers, the company is also establishing a presence in the United States and Mexico.
