After the BSE thing hit, Natural Prairie came to town with a grand plan to save us all. They came with intentions of starting a brand new state of the art plant right in our local town, and really got guys fired up over it.
We went to one meeting where there were literally a couple of hundred people there, and listened to the plan. Lots of people bought into it, and took out hook rental space at 50 dollars a pop, renewable every five years, and committed their cattle. The plan was to have the cattle processed in conjunction with the new Natural Valley plant in Saskatchewan until the local plant could be built. We all know how that turned out, since that particular plant is in the horse killing business now.
What scared us off was the term "hook rental". To us it was another way of saying "unsecured creditor", in case of disaster. Also the requirement to take a block of, I think it was 50 hooks at a time was a little daunting to us, considering the financial situation at the time. We had invested in Rancher's Choice in Dauphin, and it was not set up like that at all. (BTW, when Rancher's Choice went down we got back every penny we had put in.)
Well, anyway, the neighbours all got into the finishing business and sent their cattle off to the plant, and proceeded to wait for their cheques. A full year after the cattle were gone, there were still no cheques. These were not small cheques they were waiting for either. One in particular involved two semi's full of fat cattle.
Another neighbour, who had not sent his cattle yet called to set up a sale and was told not to bother, they couldn't take the cattle. There was also no offer of a refund on the hook rental. That was five thousand dollars down the drain for that particular deal. But at least he got his cattle sold and paid for elsewhere.
I haven't spoken to the neighbours, (there are at least ten that I can think of right off the top) lately to see how they fared, but did speak to one fellow last spring who said he got 10 cents on the dollar and was not hopefull that he would see the rest. Literally hundreds of thousands of dollars went out of here over this, never to be seen again.
To carry on the saga, the Manitoba government has decided that this enterprise is the best way to invest the additional checkoff they brought in last year, and are pouring millions into it. The shut down Maple Leaf pork plant in Winnipeg has been bought, and the plans for a plant in our area are finished, not that it's a popular idea here any more anyway.
I wish this could be one of those things that turn out in the long run, and that the next time I talk to the neighbours they will tell me they got their cheques, but that's being pretty optomistic. I just know we are so glad we didn't buy in that words can't describe it. I doubt if we would still be in the cattle business if we had. Some of our neighbours have gone straight grain farming over it, but we don't have the land base to take that option.
If the new enterprise works out, then that would be wonderful, but it really needs a lot more safeguards in place to protect the producers. The first person paid needs to be the guy who delivers the cattle. Hopefully they will set it up this time so that's what happens. Otherwise I know there won't be cattle from this part of the province heading to Winnipeg any time soon.
If anyone reads this who is directly involved, please comment and give an update on the situation. A little good news would be nice............
We went to one meeting where there were literally a couple of hundred people there, and listened to the plan. Lots of people bought into it, and took out hook rental space at 50 dollars a pop, renewable every five years, and committed their cattle. The plan was to have the cattle processed in conjunction with the new Natural Valley plant in Saskatchewan until the local plant could be built. We all know how that turned out, since that particular plant is in the horse killing business now.
What scared us off was the term "hook rental". To us it was another way of saying "unsecured creditor", in case of disaster. Also the requirement to take a block of, I think it was 50 hooks at a time was a little daunting to us, considering the financial situation at the time. We had invested in Rancher's Choice in Dauphin, and it was not set up like that at all. (BTW, when Rancher's Choice went down we got back every penny we had put in.)
Well, anyway, the neighbours all got into the finishing business and sent their cattle off to the plant, and proceeded to wait for their cheques. A full year after the cattle were gone, there were still no cheques. These were not small cheques they were waiting for either. One in particular involved two semi's full of fat cattle.
Another neighbour, who had not sent his cattle yet called to set up a sale and was told not to bother, they couldn't take the cattle. There was also no offer of a refund on the hook rental. That was five thousand dollars down the drain for that particular deal. But at least he got his cattle sold and paid for elsewhere.
I haven't spoken to the neighbours, (there are at least ten that I can think of right off the top) lately to see how they fared, but did speak to one fellow last spring who said he got 10 cents on the dollar and was not hopefull that he would see the rest. Literally hundreds of thousands of dollars went out of here over this, never to be seen again.
To carry on the saga, the Manitoba government has decided that this enterprise is the best way to invest the additional checkoff they brought in last year, and are pouring millions into it. The shut down Maple Leaf pork plant in Winnipeg has been bought, and the plans for a plant in our area are finished, not that it's a popular idea here any more anyway.
I wish this could be one of those things that turn out in the long run, and that the next time I talk to the neighbours they will tell me they got their cheques, but that's being pretty optomistic. I just know we are so glad we didn't buy in that words can't describe it. I doubt if we would still be in the cattle business if we had. Some of our neighbours have gone straight grain farming over it, but we don't have the land base to take that option.
If the new enterprise works out, then that would be wonderful, but it really needs a lot more safeguards in place to protect the producers. The first person paid needs to be the guy who delivers the cattle. Hopefully they will set it up this time so that's what happens. Otherwise I know there won't be cattle from this part of the province heading to Winnipeg any time soon.
If anyone reads this who is directly involved, please comment and give an update on the situation. A little good news would be nice............
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