Moosomin's Feed Mill is shutting down this fall, as laid out by Federated Co-op Limited.
"The decision to close the Mill follows a thorough review, which determined that operating the facility is no longer economically viable," said the company. "Moosomin Feed Mill employees have been notified and we will closely support them through the closure. We want to thank our Moosomin Feed Mill employees for their commitment and dedication to producing high-quality feed products for customers across Western Canada."
The official date for the shutdown is October 11, 2024.
Moosomin Mayor Larry Tomlinson says that it's always hard to lose a business in the southeast.
"Well, you always hate to lose the business and that was a major one that's been there for a lot of years and employed quite a few people so it's going to be missed. With any luck, maybe we can find somebody to take it over, but at this point, there's nothing in sight for that either."
The Moosomin area has a lot of farmers who work on their feed themselves, so a resurgence of the mill may not be possible.
"We could start looking and see if there's any way that may take it over, " said Tomlinson. "But that seems to be depending on the number of cattle in the area and people, a lot of them grind a lot of their own feed and all too so it may be tough."
Tomlinson says that with the closure of the mill, producers will likely have to travel farther if they need their feed worked on.
"There's nothing real close I don't think anymore. This was one of the last ones around that was supplying feed like that, and they did bagging there as well, so. I'm not sure they'll have to go farther, that's for sure. I think Weyburn might be the closest at this point that I'm aware of."
The Moos0min area will just have to adapt to the new change in the economy, says Tomlinson.
"We're disappointed that they closed it, but the reasons they gave are legit, so there's not much we can do about it. We'll do the best we can and see what we can come up with in the future."