Hi-Pro buying, shutting Lethbridge feed mill

The livestock feed business in southern Alberta is set for consolidation as feed miller Hi-Pro Feeds moves to buy, then close, a fellow feed mill.

Hi-Pro, the former feed milling business of grain handler Viterra, announced Wednesday it’s bought New-Life Mills’ Lethbridge feed plant for an undisclosed sum, will hire three New-Life employees and will shut the plant effective Dec. 1.

In business since 1964, New-Life, the feed milling arm of agrifood firm Parrish and Heimbecker, also operates mills in Ontario and Saskatchewan, mainly serving the poultry feed market but also producing cattle and hog feed.

Hi-Pro senior vice-president Daren Kennett said the company has invested over $4 million in its own Lethbridge mill over the past three years, processing feed for “all species” of animals.

After the New-Life mill closes next month, its feed business will be transferred to the Hi-Pro plant. “We are dedicated to making this a seamless transition for New Life’s customers,” Larry Penner, Hi-Pro’s regional sales manager for southern Alberta, said in the same release.

New-Life’s mill site in the middle of Lethbridge, just off the Crowsnest Highway, while the Hi-Pro plant is on the city’s northeastern outskirts.

New-Life staff Doug Holt, Sherry Zarowny and plant manager Jassen Jackman will join Hi-Pro, Kennett said, noting the three “have built a strong reputation and client base in the area focusing on delivering good service and expertise to livestock and poultry producers.”

The new staff “look forward to utilizing the resources that the Hi-Pro network has to offer,” Jackman said in Hi-Pro’s release.

Kennett, previously vice-president for Viterra’s feed products group, was one of the partners who, with backing from Birch Hill Equity Partners, bought Okotoks-based Hi-Pro’s mills across Western Canada and the southern U.S. in 2012. [Related story]

The company, he said Wednesday, has since “focused on implementing state-of-the-art nutrient delivery systems, manufacturing capabilities and customer support to improve our offer to customers. With better systems and processes in place, we are now ready to take the next step in our growth strategy.” — AGCanada.com Network