HyLife’s New Mill Energizing Company and Region

HyLife’s recent feed mill expansion in Killarney has not only helped the company reach new heights in their production ability, but it has also rejuvenated the economy in rural southwestern Manitoba. The new feed mill showcases HyLife’s commitment to growth, innovation and integration as the company continues to strive to be the world’s best food producer.

“It is really exciting,” said Dave Penner, HyLife’s Chief Operating Officer Foods Division about the grand opening of the mill, which now gives the company a total of five feed mills with four in Manitoba and one in North Dakota. “The team at HyLife has done a tremendous job at pulling this all together. Not only on budget but ahead of schedule.”

It has been an exciting couple of months for HyLife as the company is starting to see the fruit from all the planning in its major expansion plan that started with the completion of the Neepawa processing plant in April and now a new feed mill three months later.

“This is a component of our project 3750,” Penner adds. “A lot of people think about the project in Neepawa, but in addition to that, there is this feed mill, finishing barns in Killarney and a new sow barn in Kola. We are continuing to expand our live production base to fuel our expansion at HyLife Foods (Neepawa’s processing plant).”

HyLife’s continued growth in southwestern Manitoba to meet the demands for high-quality pork in Japan has been welcomed and greatly appreciated by Mayor Rick Pauls of the RM of Killarney-Turtle Mountain.

“We are very excited with the opening of this new feed mill,” said Pauls who has been in local government as mayor for the past 12 years and will be seeking a 4^th term. “This is a huge investment in our community. “

For those that have seen HyLife’s mill on Highway 52 West of Steinbach will have seen what the residents of Killarney now have on their horizon. The mill is identical with a few new tweaks.

The biggest difference between the two new state-of-the-art mills in Western Canada and traditional mills like the one HyLife uses in La Broquerie is that they produce a pellet based feed compared to a mash based feed. Despite more complexity in creating pellet feed, the new mills are rated for 250,000 tonnes of throughput annually. That is roughly 9,000 semi loads of input with another 9,000 loads delivered. HyLife’s feed production in southwestern Manitoba will now transition to Killarney from Kola’s mill which was able to produce 45,000 tonnes of pellet feed annually.

It is questionable who is more excited about the new construction. The local region seems to be just as enthusiastic if not more about what has transpired and what is yet to come in the future.

“In the last 15 years HyLife has brought 80 new jobs to our community,” said Pauls. “On the last federal census, we saw our population grow by 5.4%. That put us into the top 10 fastest growing communities in Manitoba. We can contribute that directly to HyLife. We don’t know where we would be without HyLife. We love our partnership, and we love moving forward with them.”