Harmony Beef officially opened on February 27

Mar 07, 2017

Located near Balzac, AB, just north of Calgary, the plant opens with the creation of about 175 new jobs, with total employment targeted at 375 jobs once processing ramps up to a planned 750 head per day.

The opening of Harmony Beef marks a new era in beef processing. The innovative and environmentally progressive processing facility has undergone a complete redesign and buildout on the former Rancher’s Beef site, a producer-owned plant built more than a decade earlier and which operated for just 14 months before being shuttered. Today, the Harmony Beef facility is a demonstration of leading edge innovative approaches to harvest, fabrication, environmental leadership, food safety, animal welfare and sustainability.

“Good things take time and that is certainly the case with Harmony Beef”

Harmony Beef opened with the most advanced, and likely most unique, water system in the industry, enabling the plant, once at peak processing capacity, to use approximately one million fewer gallons of fresh water per week than a facility of similar processing capacity, said Rich Vesta, who owns and operates Harmony Beef with his sons Christopher and Jeremy.

The system, at the leading edge of water reuse purification technologies in North America, was developed in Alberta. It will likely lead to a new era of industrial water reuse in the province, said Vesta, an industry veteran with a proven track record of leading operational and financial turnarounds at some of the largest and best known U.S. beef production facilities.

Good things take time and that is certainly the case with Harmony Beef. With the facility now open, Vesta said the focus will be on slowly building capacity to stay true to his family’s unwavering commitment to excellence as they seek to set new standards for beef processing in North America.

Over time Harmony Beef intends to showcase the unmatched quality of Alberta beef cattle as it opens new markets, especially in Europe and Asia, Vesta said. Once certified, it will be the only plant of its size in Canada certified for distribution to the European Union.

Source: Meatbusiness

Video: WARNING! Rough Start To Breeding Season!!

WARNING! Sheep Breeding Season Begins With A Bang! Breeding season is officially underway at Ewetopia Farms, but it didn’t exactly start the way we planned!

This vlog begins with us sorting through our rams to find the perfect match for a customer’s breeding program. What should have been routine quickly turned dangerous when one of our more nervous rams panicked. In seconds, Arnie’s knee was injured, and then I was slammed hard onto the concrete floor — both of us taken down by one ram!

Thankfully, it was just bruises, but it’s a reminder of how unpredictable and powerful mature rams can be. Once we recovered, it was time to get back to the real work — the start of breeding season.

We sorted the ewes into four breeding groups (two Suffolk and two Dorset), checking parentage as they ran through the chute, deworming those that needed it, and setting aside thinner ewes for session two of breeding season in a month’s time.This staggered approach keeps lambing organized and prevents overcrowding in the barns.

From rogue rams to the excitement of new breeding groups, this episode is full of action. Stay tuned for the next vlog, where we’ll share how we chose the rams for each group!