GUILDERLAND — Nichols Meat Processing officially closed on Friday, May 7, and the facility re-opened as Double L. Ranch Inc. on the next business day, Monday, May 11.

The new business owner, Lowell Carson, will run the facility, at 7181 Dunnsville Road, with his two sons, Lowell Jr. and Jack Carson. They will handle cattle, swine, sheep, and goats.

The Cornell Cooperative Extension in Albany County believes the new ownership will help revive the facility, and give area farmers a new reason for hope, according to Tom Gallagher, a livestock specialist and issue leader for the extension.

Carson had a working relationship with Nichols Meat Processing, but decided to buy the operation when the owner of Nichols became ill. With a plan for expansions in the future, Gallagher, said Carson should be able to process more meat than before, benefiting the local farming economy.

“There are great marking opportunities for people in the area, and we should start to see existing farmers adding more livestock, and new livestock enterprises starting up,” said Gallagher.

Existing farmers were suffering because they would have to take their meat as far as 100 miles away to be processed, which they won’t have to do now that Double L. Ranch is open, said Gallagher.

Some of the planned expansions include adding more freezer space, which would allow the ranch to handle more customers, and a smokehouse. “There are no good smokehouses anywhere in the county,” said Gallagher.

So many people want to know where the food is coming from, and now, said Gallagher, “They will know it comes from a farm right down the road.”