Farmers get a reprieve

Ken Johnston

Farmers in the region got a one year reprieve from new meat inspection laws set to take effect Sept. 1, 2004.
The new law would not have allowed farmers to kill an animal and have it butchered and custom wrapped at a food service premise unless it was inspected by the government.
After extensive lobbying by local cattlemen, the government granted a one year moratorium on the law taking effect in Northwestern Ontario due to the lack of kill plants in the region.
“Now we need to get a kill plant here within the next year,” said Russell Richards, manager of the Stratton Sales Barn. “If we have a kill plant in place we can continue doing business and help our local producers out.”