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Thursday, 02 November 2006 |
Pondera County’s Economic Development Corporation (EDC) sponsored a feasibility study for a beef and pork packing plant located in the county. About 20 including ranchers, farmers, local government representatives and Hutterite colonies were on hand for a presentation Monday evening.
Food and Livestock Planning, Inc. from Kansas City, Mo., was engaged to conduct the study. Keith DeHaan, PhD, managing principal consultant put on a power point presentation.
The study uncovered a number of branded Montana beef and lamb companies in the state; most are small in size and are not vested in a packing plant.
According to USDA reports, there were 23,300 beef cattle (not counting cows) in Pondera County in 2005. “This can be a successful plant,” DeHaan said, adding, “nothing is carved in concrete, everything is driven by the market.”
Five cattle feeders that are within two hour’s drive of Conrad have 25,500 head of cattle feeding capacity and have expressed interest in a plant.
Three Hutterite colonies in the county have also expressed an interest and collectively sell 26,800 market hogs per year.
Eight USDA inspected meatpacking plants in Montana were interviewed as to their capacity. Two of these plants are located within one hour’s drive of Conrad.
All the plants are old and relatively small. According to the study, less that one percent of the state’s cattle inventory and less than 10 percent of the hog inventory is slaughtered in Montana.
Most of the hogs, cattle and sheep are exported great distances to be slaughtered.
The livestock numbers in Northcentral Montana are adequate to service a plant. The EDC has 287 acres of land east of Conrad that would good (for the proposed plant).
But what about the end market? A market survey was conducted as part of this study and based on the results of the survey and other factors; the following would be targets for a new meat company:
Locally produced and processed meat in Montana. Artisan-produce, specialty-processed meats. Customer-service oriented freezer meats, and customer-service oriented custom processing.
To meet these local and regional markets, a plant capable of processing an average of 6,000 beef and 7,000 hogs annually, which also has the capability of cooking, sausage manufacture, and other further processes, was designed in concept and is predicted to cost $3.5 million. The plant size would be about 12,000 square feet at a projected cost of $250 per square foot. Approximately $300,000 would be needed for equipment.
This is conceptual, there are no drawings yet.
A business financial model predicts that this new plant and meat business would lose money for the first 12 months, but will recover in the second year and could produce over $1 million in net earnings by the end of the third year, providing the company is aggressively servicing local and regional customers.
An introductory meeting was held in May before the study was completed and some local interest was generated.
Producer involvement is being sought to assist the development corporation in furthering the project. “This has to be quarterbacked from here,” DeHaan said.
A business plan that addresses capital requirements and investments, along with engineering drawings for the plant and wastewater system needs to be completed.
A minimum of $2 million in cash has to be raised to get the project started. Also banking institutions need to work with you, he said.
“Is this sexy enough to be motivated, to get behind and move forward?” he asked. “You need to organize and work to raise funds and build support. You need a steering committee, design a plant and wastewater system, do a business and marketing plan.”
DeHaan went on to say, “Without a good marketing plan, it’s crazy to go much further.”
If you would be interested in being on a steering committee or want more information, contact Gale Gustafson at 278-7521.
Editor’s note: Keith DeHaan provided information for part of this story. I-O Editor Buck Traxler covered the Monday night meeting and put it all together.
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Friday, 03 November 2006 |
 LOTS OF TABS -- After seeing a story about the collection of aluminum can tabs in the I-O Rita and Richard ?Curly? Denning of Columbia Falls in conjunction with the Whitefish Moose Lodge and others brought over 300 pounds of tabs for the Four Leaf Clover 4-H Club to add to their collection for the Ronald McDonald House in Billings. From the left is Jerrica and Colt Harris, the Dennings and Jay Harris. You may recall that the I-O recently had a photo of two members of the 4-Leaf Clover 4-H Club whose project was to collect pull-tabs from aluminum cans and recycle them for the Ronald McDonald House in Billings.
Last year the 4-Leaf Clovers collected 31,277 pull-tabs and this year they very nearly doubled that effort with 62,400 tabs.
Come to find out, Rita and Richard ”Curly” Denning of Columbia Falls saw the photo of Colt and Jay Harris in the I-O with pull tabs the 4-Leaf Clover Club had gathered.
Spearheaded by their efforts at the Whitefish Moose Lodge #642 and the Whitefish Iguanas, a community service group, not just thousands, but hundreds of thousands of pull tabs have come to the local 4-H club to recycle for Billings.
Saturday morning the couple drove into Conrad with 439,776 tabs. Along with the 62,400 the 4-H Club already had, plus another 2,400 from other people who also saw the previous story, the 4-Hers now have over 502,000 tabs to put on a semi truck and take to Billings for the Ronald McDonald House.
The McDonald Houses, located in 25 countries around the world, provide home-like temporary residences for families of children being treated at hospitals.
Besides the local 4-H club, Ed’s Tavern, the Hiway, Ray Denney and Darlene Matheson helped to collect tabs as well as JD’s Wildlife Sanctuary, Kelly’s Pub and Casino in Columbia Falls and the Snow Slip Inn at the Summit.
Dennings also came loaded with bags of aluminum cans for the 4-Hers, which will be recycled, and funds from that donated to the local Food Pantry.
“We saw that story in the paper,” said Curly Denning, “and had all these tabs and just thought it would be a good idea to add to their effort and up the total a tad bit.”
Ruby Bouma said that next year, after receiving this collection, the club will want to shoot for a million tabs.
She was also really pleased with the extra donation of tabs noting, “If this hadn’t been in the I-O, it never would have happened, it’s just amazing.”
Keeping this in mind, there are 90 tabs to an ounce. We’ll let you do the math to figure out how much a million pull tabs would weigh. |
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