For ranchers and other investors from around southeastern Saskatchewan, there is a light at the end of the tunnel, as four years of work is finally coming to fruition with the upcoming opening of Border Line Feeders facility at Ceylon.

An open house was held at Border Line's site on Wednesday, with over 200 interested producers and shareholders on hand to view the newly-completed construction of the feeder pens and processing barn.

A people mover was brought in to give people a tour of the sprawling facility, while others chose to walk around to view the many pens, now empty, but soon to hold 250 head of cattle each. The feedlot should be ready to start taking in cattle within one to two weeks, with only the feed mill to finish off and a few gates to hang on some pens.

Harley Goodwin and his son Roy ran a half-dozen calves through the facility to give a demonstration of how the system will work, from the loading chutes, through the barn and then out to one of the feeding pens.

President Keith Kaufmann hosted some of the tours from the people mover as well as talking to local and provincial media on hand to view the facility.

The feedlot, whose ownership is comprised of over 300 shareholders from around the southeast area, took $3.2 million to get it off the ground, and according to Kaufmann, there should be a $3 million spinoff as well, for truckers, barley farmers, employees, the purchase of supplies from the local area and so on. Border Line are also in talks with NorAmera BioEnergy's Weyburn ethanol plant to possibly use some of its byproduct for cattle feed.

"I hope we can get people thinking positively, rather than thinking of going elsewhere," said Kaufmann, adding that the positives from this venture hopefully will encourage others to also put forward more of these kinds of projects.

He noted examples like Ogema, to the west, which is growing with its hog barns, and now are taking on rail car refurbishing as a new industry there.

Border Line will initially handle 7,300 head, said Kaufmann, and as the feedlot expands towards Highway 6, that number can go to 10,000, with the ultimate goal for the facility to feed 20,000.

"We have to build up our clientele. If we can feed competitively and people are happy with us, that will happen. We're in a good location to do it," pointed out Kaufmann.

There are 11 large pens, each capable of holding 250 head, along with smaller ones with a capacity of 150 head, and six holding pens just off the loading area. All cattle are fed through the processing barn, where the cattle get their shots and are then sorted into the appropriate pens.

Just to the south of the pens is a huge reservoir, filled and ready to go with 6.6 million gallons of water, or enough to water 20,000 head of cattle for 30 days.

Each of the pens are wired for the water troughs and lights, with over 10 kilometres of wiring buried throughout the facility.

There will be seven employees working at Border Line initially, and more will be hired as it expands and at seasonal times.