Manitoba cattle producers have a new, permanent big-name buyer in JGL Cattle, the company announced August 23.

“It’s going to add more competition,” Rick Wright told the Co-operator. “More competition probably will relate in some areas to some higher prices.”

JGL hired Wright, a fixture in the Manitoba beef market, to set up a marketing network in Manitoba. It is also opening a permanent office in Virden, the company said in a news release.

Wright brings over 40 years’ experience in the livestock-marketing industry. He’s joined by Robin Hill, former manager of Heartland Livestock in Virden. Hill has over 30 years’ experience in the industry.

“JGL has made quite a commitment by recruiting and hiring established buyers to represent it, and so it’s here to stay,” Wright said. “It’s not a flash-in-the-pan-type of thing.”

It’s unusual to have a new, established buyer come into the market, Wright said. The cattle sector has been shrinking in Manitoba and companies have consolidated, making for fewer buyers in the game.

JGL was already buying cattle in Manitoba on a third-party basis, said Wright. With marketing networks already established all over Canada, Manitoba was kind of “the last frontier” and a logical place to expand, he added.

JGL said it will purchase cattle through auctions and directly from producers. It will offer cattle financing through the Canadian Cattle Buyers Credit program and will offer forward contracting and risk-management programs.

The company has buyers at markets in Killarney, Brandon, Virden, Alameda, Gladstone, and Yorkton, Sask. It said it intends to support Melita when Taylor Auctions reopens there.

“It’s going to be good for the producers — very good for the producers — and for the market,” said Wright.