Old facilities, changing times, catch up to three western livestock feed plants

May 15, 2019

SASKATOON - Aging facilities and business consolidation are being cited by Federated Co-operative Limited as reasons for its decision to close three of its six livestock feed production plants on the Prairies.

FCL says its Co-op Feeds operations in Melfort, Sask., and Brandon, Man., will shut down in August and October respectively, while production at a facility in Edmonton will be moved south to Wetaskiwin.

Manufacturing will continue at plants in Calgary , Saskatoon and Moosomin, Sask.

The plants produce cattle, horse, sheep and poultry feed in bags and bulk orders.

Ten jobs will be lost through the Brandon and Melfort closures, but FCL associate vice-president Patrick Bergermann hopes the employees can find work in the company's retailing system.

He says the company will do its best to ensure that livestock producers affected by the closures will continue to get the products they need from the three remaining plants.

Bergermann said there has been consolidation on both the producer side and manufacturing side of the feed business. He also said the plants slated for closure have "a lot of age."

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Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.