Manitoba hog producers urged the province last week to abandon efforts to convert the Best Brand Meats plant in Winnipeg to a cattle slaughter facility.
The Manitoba government has said it supports an effort by cattle producers to have the plant converted. The facility, located in the St. Boniface area of Winnipeg, now slaughters hogs.
Marcel Hacault, a hog producer and chair of the Manitoba Pork Council, said there needs to be increased slaughter capacity for both hogs and cattle in the province.
While hog producers are sympathetic to the plight of the cattle industry, he said conversion of the Best Brand plant would leave hog producers with fewer marketing opportunities at a time when many are losing money.
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Conversion of the plant also could leave hog producers more reliant on the United States market, Hacault said. They want to avoid that situation, partly because of the difficulties that would arise if the U.S. border were to close to exports of Manitoba hogs.
“It is in the best interest of all Manitobans to maximize local processing capacity for both beef and pork, and not to increase one at the expense of the other,” Hacault said in a statement.
“The last thing any of us want is to turn a beef crisis into a meat industry crisis.”
A group of cattle producers is raising money to study the feasibility of converting the plant. The province has pledged support for the study, as long as there is also support from cattle producers.
Advocates of the conversion project say a revamped facility could slaughter as many as 300 cattle a day, primarily cull cows and bulls, and market the meat in eastern Canadian centres such as Montreal and Toronto.
Marshall Freed, owner of the Best Brand plant, offered few comments when interviewed Oct. 1.
Only one meeting had been held to discuss the conversion. He would not say who was at the meeting nor did he share details of what was discussed. He said one of the main questions to be answered is whether there are enough cull cattle in the province to justify the plant’s conversion.
He was not convinced the idea would fly.
“I’m very close-lipped over this because at this point in time there is no indication that this is going forward,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Springhill Farms hog slaughter plant at Neepawa, Man., began to return to production Sept. 29 after a summer shutdown.
At full capacity, the Springhill plant can process 18,000 hogs per week. Manager Bill Teichrow said the goal is to reach full production, but it’s too early to predict when that will happen. Several factors come into play, including the ability to re-establish a trained workforce.
“The hog supplies are there and the market is significantly better than it was in June when we took our break,” he said.
