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This article was published 6/7/2018 (1461 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
An economic boon to Killarney, HyLife Foods celebrated the grand opening of its new feed mill on Thursday alongside the community.
Mayor Rick Pauls was at the event, and said afterward that it was well worth the celebration.
"It’s huge," he said of the facility, which is employing 20 people directly to produce 250,000 tons of feed per year, five days a week, 24 hours per day.
"That’s 20 new houses or rental units that are now filled," Pauls said.
It’s not only these direct jobs, but also the economic spinoffs and their accompanying jobs, he said.
Construction began in January 2017, during which as many as 100 people were working on the site, which Pauls said filled local hotels and also contributed to Killarney businesses.
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HyLife’s new feed mill is pictured at Killarney this week, around the time of its grand opening.
This isn’t the end of HyLife’s expansion into the area, company president Claude Vielfaure said, adding that they have four permits in the Killarney area to build finishing barns of 10,000 pigs per site.
Construction has already begun on some of them, with animals expected to move in some time next year.
The expansion is part of a $176-million investment in Westman, which has also included the approximately $100-million expansion of their hog processing plant in Neepawa.
Vielfaure said the expansion was necessitated by their breaking through into the international marketplace, particularly Japan, and improved marketing of their product.
"Japan wants high quality, which is what we try to produce," Vielfaure said. "If you meet their specs, they pay well for your product."
Vielfaure said their Killarney feed mill has produced minimal feed so far in order to work out some of the kinks, but will begin producing in earnest next week and reach capacity by the end of August.
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