The proposed Rancher's Choice Beef Co-op has entered "voluntary dissolution," having given up on its plans to build a slaughterhouse near Dauphin, Man.

The farmer-based co-op had spent the past two years trying to raise money to build a facility there, in the hopes of increasing slaughter capacity in Manitoba.

But in December, Agriculture Minister Rosann Wowchuk turned down the co-op board's request for more money, saying the province had already given enough. At that time, the board decided to press ahead with raising the funds they needed.

But on Friday, Rancher's Choice president Bob Munroe said the co-op is basically broke, so it has decided to dissolve in January.

It is now in the process of taking the required legal steps, including returning $1.5 million in farmers' shares.

"Their money is all in trust, it always has been, it's never been in jeopardy," Munroe said. "The board has decided that that would be the first step is to return all the class A share money to the members.

Munroe said Rancher's Choice is not paying back the province's $4.5-million investment in the facility. Instead, it has turned over its assets to the province, including machinery, permits and blueprints.

Wowchuk said Friday she doesn't think the province has lost money in the failed proposal. The assets Rancher's Choice handed over are now the province's property.

"Some of the money has gone into equipment that's still there. Some of the money has gone into feasibility studies and environmental studies," she said.

"There's been a lot of information that's been collected and hopefully can be used by another proponent."

Other groups may be interested

Wowchuk said she believes other groups are interested in picking up where Rancher's Choice left off, but added that it was too early to talk about any new proposals in a concrete way.

"We're keeping our money on the table and we're prepared to work with other people to try to get this slaughter capacity going," she said.

"We know we need it. And we know hopefully the border will never close on us again, but it's three years and it still hasn't opened to older animals, and we have to look for solutions at home."

The Rancher's Choice slaughterhouse proposal began in response to the crisis created by Canadian cases of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE or mad-cow disease) that caused a halt to beef exports to the United States in 2003 and 2004.

The slaughterhouse was viewed as a way to prevent the problems that cropped up when the BSE-related border closure prevented producers from sending their cattle to the U.S. for slaughter, as most had done for decades.

Wowchuk said Rancher's Choice proposal failed partly because of a lack of commitment from farmers — a factor that she said must be addressed in any future proposals.