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R-CALF Testifies

feeder

Well-known member
Thanks Mike for providing that info. I knew there was a large feedlot owned by a packer but couldn't recall the name so fast.
 

Mike

Well-known member
feeder said:
Thanks Mike for providing that info. I knew there was a large feedlot owned by a packer but couldn't recall the name so fast.

Oh Feeder, that ain't the start of it. That's just one example. The big packers have subsidiary after subsidiary owning feedlots and portions of feedlots. It's a lot bigger than we really know.

" ContiGroup Companies (CGC) is a recognized leader in integrated poultry and pork production and cattle feeding, with nearly 200 years of experience in agribusiness and global trade.
The Company serves customers around the world through facilities and affiliates in nine countries. It operated as Continental Grain Company in the U.S. from 1921 to 1999, when it sold its commodity marketing operations and turned its principal focus to meat proteins.

Founded in Belgium in 1813, it is one of the largest privately held companies in the United States."
 

Jason

Well-known member
So we have 1 example of a mega lot, but 800,000 head doesn't even supply the needs for a big plant for a year.

Where do the 800,000 head of calves come from to fill that lot?

Are the cattle that go to that lot bought at gunpoint?

Tyson, Lakeside, in Brooks has a capacity of about 35,000 head. There are several more privately owned lots that big in 50 miles of that plant.

The biggest feeder in the States is Cactus Feeders (correct me if I am wrong), but privately owned.

The biggest feeder in Canada is Cor Van Raay Farms, again privately owned.

Worrying about feedlots being owned by packers is pointless. It is a free country. If you ban them from owning feedlots, you better ban feedlots from owning cows that produce calves. Then you better ban ranches that produce calves from raising their own bulls. Where does it end?

The crap that packers can just kill their own cattle when fats get too high is a fallacy, they don't have a never ending supply, and their own cattle need to be killed at times when the price would be cheaper to buy the fats.
 

Mike

Well-known member
Cactus Feeders - 9 feedlots with a one time capacity of approx. 500,000 in Texas and Kansas. Paul Engler (so-called inventor of formula cattle) also owns a feedlot in Argentina. 150,000 to 175,000 head are imported from Mexico each year.

Buys and/or feeds a million head of cattle each year. Sells primarily to Tyson and Cargill.
 

Econ101

Well-known member
Jason, if you don't care about competitive markets that is your problem. Some of us down here want producers to have buyers actually paying them the most money. That only comes about when there are competitors for thier product.
 

Sandhusker

Well-known member
Jason, "So we have 1 example of a mega lot, but 800,000 head doesn't even supply the needs for a big plant for a year. Where do the 800,000 head of calves come from to fill that lot?"

You can't connect the dots, Jason? There once was a day when Tyson didn't control enough chickens for a big plant for a year, too.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
The idea that top down vertical integration will occur in the cattle industry is absurd when you consider the equity tied up in land, livestock, machinery and feedlots.

The chickenization of the beef industry fear mongering has as much merit as the rest of the blamer's empty arguments.

Here, I decided to do some research for you guys........


Here is a list of the top 25 cattle feeding operations and the single worst operation in existance.

1. Five Rivers Ranch Cattle Feeding LLC - Loveland Co. - ContGroup Company Inc. and Smithfield Foods, Inc. - 811,000 capacity - Kansas, Texas, ,Colorado, Oklahoma, Idaho - 10 yards

2. Cactus Feeders Inc. - Amarillo, Texas - Engler Family - 510,000 capacity - Texas, Kansas - 10 yards

3. Cargill Cattle Feeders LLC - Wichita, Kansas - Cargill Inc. - 330,000 capacity - Kansas, Texas, Colorado - 5 yards

4. Friona Industies LP - Amarillo, Texas - Privately held - 275,000 - Texas - 4 yards

5. AzTx Cattle Co. - Hereford, Texas - Josserand Family - 242,000 - Kansas, Texas - 4 yards

6. J.R. Simplot - Boise, Idaho - Simplot Family - 230,000 - Idaho, Washington - 2 yards

7. Four States Feedyard Inc. - Lamar, Colorado - Privately held - 195,000 - Colorado, South Dakota, Kansas - 8 yards

What happened to the fourth state?

8. Heritage Feeders LP - Oklahoma City, Oklahoma - Tom L. Ward - 189,000 - Texas - Kansas - 5 yards

9. Agri Beef Co. - Boise, Idaho - Rebholz Family - 180,000 - Kansas, Washington, Idaho - 6 yards

10. Pinal Feeding Co. - Laveen, Arizona - Northside Hay Company - 175,000 - Arizona - 4 yards

11T. Irisk & Doll - Cimarron, Kansas - Privately held- 170,000 - Kansas - 6 yards

11T. Cattle Empire LLC - Satanta, Kansas - Roy N. Brown, Paul Brown, Rex Brown, Ronald C. Shortridge - 170,000 - Kansas - 3 yards

13T. Dinklage Feed Yard Inc. - Sidney, Nebraska - Corporation - 160,000 - Nebraska, Wyoming, Colorado - 6 yards

13T. Hitch Enterprises Inc. - Guymon, Oklahoma - The Hitch Families - 160,000 - Kansas, Oklahoma - 3 yards

15. Bartlett Cattle Co. LP - Kansas City, Missouri - Bartlett and Company - 145,000 - Texas, Kansas - 3 yards

16. Gottsch Cattle Corporation - Hastings, Nebraska - Bob, Bill, and Brett Gottsch - 140,000 - Kansas, Nebraska - 3 yards

17T. Barrett - Crofoot Inc. - Hereford, Texas - Barrett Families - 135,000 -Texas - 3 yards

17T. Harris Feeding Co. - Coalinga, California - John Harris - 135,000 - California & Nevada - 2 yards

19. McElhaney Cattle Co. - Welton, Arizona - Privately Held - 130,000 - Arizona - 1 yard

20. Bar G Feedyard - Summerfield, Texas - Livestock Investors - 125,000 - Texas - 2 yards

21T. Pratt Feeders LLC - Pratt, Kansas - Privately Held - 115,000 - Kansas, Oklahoma - 4 yards

21T. Brookover Feedyard Inc. - Garden City, Kansas - Brookover Companies - 115,000 - Kansas, Oklahoma - 3 yards

21T. Innovative Livestock Services Inc.- Great Bend, Kansas - NA -115,000 - Kansas, Nebraska - 6 yards

24T. Timmerman & Sons Feeding Co. Inc - Springfield, Nebraska - Gerald, James, Norman & Ronald Timmerman - 100,000 - Colorado, Nebraska - 7 yards

24T. Cattlco Inc. - Memphis, Tenn. - Privately Held - 100,000 - Kansas, Colorado - 2 yards

26. Sandsnake Club Calves. - Cody, NE - Owned by a local banker - 1 foundered bottlecalf who comes to the name of "OH YEAH" - chained in the back yard


~SH~
 

Jason

Well-known member
Facts kill a good blamer story again.

Thanks for the updated info that Cactus has been passed in size.

Add up the numbers of independant cattle and they dwarf the packer owned ventures.

By the way the #1 yard is Smithfield owned, not Tyson or Cargill...surprize surprize.

Regardless of the lot, where do they get the calves from to fill them? Smithfield must outbid everyone else on the cattle they buy.

Do producers sell to Smithfield for less? I doubt it.
 

Sandhusker

Well-known member
SH, something for you to think about (actually you will need help as thinking is not your forte); now read slooooowly...... You don't have to control the 100 miles of road if you control the 100 feet of bridge.

As far as you slamming my calves (which you have never seen) - when is the last time you sold a 500 lb steer for $5000?
 

Sandhusker

Well-known member
Jason said:
I'd rather sell 100, 500 lb steers for $500 than 1 for $5000.

Bridges aren't the only way across a river.

You caught me. How did you know I had to give the other 499 away?

Why not just admit you didn't get the analogy and ask me what I meant?
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Packer owned cattle are less than 10% of the total.

These poor blamers just hate the facts.



~SH~
 

Sandhusker

Well-known member
~SH~ said:
Packer owned cattle are less than 10% of the total.

These poor blamers just hate the facts.



~SH~

What about contracts? If they are under contract to be bought, they are just as good as owned.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
You can't have contract cattle without a willing seller. If a feeder wants to contract his cattle, he has every right to do it.


~SH~
 

Sandhusker

Well-known member
~SH~ said:
You can't have contract cattle without a willing seller. If a feeder wants to contract his cattle, he has every right to do it.


~SH~

Even if that contract directly results in his neighbor getting a lower bid?
 

Econ101

Well-known member
~SH~ said:
You can't have contract cattle without a willing seller. If a feeder wants to contract his cattle, he has every right to do it.


~SH~

Yes, but by law, and I'm not talking about the goofy 11th circuit court's interpretation, the packer is limited in their actions.

Maybe you should read the act, SH.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Sandbag: "Even if that contract directly results in his neighbor getting a lower bid?"


Damn straight! The neighbor can sell to another packer who didn't lower his bid.

Should video sales be stopped because it could result in some sale barn sale resulting in a lower bid?

Same stupid argument!

DAMN SOCIALISTS!


~SH~
 

Sandhusker

Well-known member
~SH~ said:
Sandbag: "Even if that contract directly results in his neighbor getting a lower bid?"


Damn straight! The neighbor can sell to another packer who didn't lower his bid.

Should video sales be stopped because it could result in some sale barn sale resulting in a lower bid?

Same stupid argument!

DAMN SOCIALISTS!


~SH~

You can't seem to get it thru your head that it wasn't the sale that lowered the price - it was the mechanism of the sale.

You can add "socialist" to the list of words who's definition you don't know.
 

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