Reading Time: < 1 minute Three champions of farm animal care in Alberta were recognized with Awards of Distinction at the recent Livestock Care Conference. The awards, given by Alberta Farm Animal Care, recognize individuals or groups who have made exceptional contributions in the field of livestock welfare. The recipients were Barbara Duckworth (communications), Rich Vesta (industry leadership), and Gateway […] Read more
Three livestock care champions receive awards
New Harmony Beef plant ramping up
Reading Time: < 1 minute Nearly a year after Harmony Beef slaughtered its first cow, the plant is now processing 360 head a day, says the company’s director of marketing. Canada is its primary market at present, and Costco is the packer’s largest customer, said Cam Daniels. It has also started selling to the U.S., made its first shipment to […] Read more
Harmony Beef announces opening date
Refurbished plant will feature state-of-the-art processing technology, not seen before in Canada
Reading Time: 3 minutes The opening date has been pushed back multiple times, but Harmony Beef is slated to open Feb. 22 and has cattle booked for the first couple of months. “When we start out, we’ll start very slowly,” said owner Rich Vesta. The American meat-packing industry veteran bought the shuttered Rancher’s Beef plant just north of Calgary […] Read more
Harmony Beef slaughter plant opening pushed back
Rich Vesta says plans to open last summer were ‘totally unrealistic’ but the venture continues to move forward
Reading Time: 2 minutes It was supposed to open last summer, but the owner of Harmony Beef says it will be a while yet before his plant starts slaughtering cattle. “Quite honestly, when we started, we were overaggressive in our time frame,” said Rich Vesta, an American businessman and former top executive in the U.S. meat-packing industry. Vesta completed […] Read more
Rancher’s Beef plant set to reopen under new management
Industry leaders say they are optimistic the new Harmony Beef plant will not just increase kill capacity but offer access to premium niche market
Reading Time: 2 minutes Rich Vesta is about to buy himself another beef plant. The former president of JBS’s U.S. beef division spent the ’90s buying slaughterhouses to grow capacity at his company, Packerland Packing, and now he’s set his sights on the deserted Rancher’s Beef plant east of Balzac. “It’s an excellent plant,” he said of the $40-million […] Read more
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