Some
feedlots in the nation's major cattle-producing states have already been
dismantled, and others are sitting empty. Operators say they don't expect a
recovery anytime soon, with high feed prices, much of the country still in
drought and a long time needed to rebuild herds.
The
closures are the latest ripple in the shockwave the drought sent through rural
communities. Most cattle in the U.S. are sent to feedlots for final fattening
before slaughter. The dwindling number of animals also is hurting meatpackers,
with their much larger workforces. For consumers, the impact will be felt in
grocery and restaurant bills as a smaller meat supply means higher
prices.
Owner
Bob Podzemny has been taking apart the 32,000-head Union County Feed Yard near
Clayton, N.M. It closed in 2009 when a bank shut off its operating capital in
the midst of the financial crisis, and Podzemny said he doesn't see reopening
after struggling through Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
"There
just are not that many cattle in this part of the country no more, and it is
not profitable to bring them in and feed them, so it is shut down,"
Podzemny said.
He's
now feeding a few cattle in another feedlot, buying them at about 450 pounds
and growing them to 800 to 850 pounds. He then sells them to others who bring
them to the typical 1,200- to 1,300-pound slaughter weight.
"It
is making a little money now on just growing feeders and selling them as feeders
rather than finishing them all the way out," Podzemny said. "We do what
we got to do to survive, you know."
Cattle
numbers have been falling for years as the price of corn used to feed animals
in feedlots skyrocketed. The drought accelerated the process, but many feedlots
were able to survive at first because ranchers whose pastures dried up weaned
calves early and sent breeding cows to be fattened for slaughter.
But
now far fewer livestock than normal remain on the farms. And, ironically, if it
rains this spring and summer, even fewer animals will go into feedlots because
ranchers will hold back cows to breed and rebuild their herds.
Texas,
the largest beef-producing state, has been particularly hard hit with a
historic drought in 2011 from which it still hasn't fully recovered.
"Most
of the bad news is in Texas," said Dick Bretz, an Amarillo broker who specializes
in selling feed yards and other agribusinesses. "That is where I see most
of the empty yards, that is where I see most of the interest in selling yards
and where I see the least interest in buying yards."
He
recently dismantled a 7,000-head feed yard in Hereford, Texas, for a new owner
who had bought it for the land, not the business. The previous owner had lost
the property to foreclosure, and the facility was in very poor condition and
would have cost too much to repair, he said.
When
corn prices first spiked to $8 a bushel nearly four years ago, about 70 big
feed yards went up for sale in the High Plains feeding area that includes
Texas, Kansas, Colorado and Nebraska, Bretz said. Today, there are 10 and 15
feed yards for sale in the region, mostly in Texas. Bretz said he knows of 15
more that are empty, three recently dismantled and two others now being torn
down.
Feed
yards typically employ one worker per 1,000 head of cattle, so even big ones
may not have more than a few dozen workers. But they supply meatpacking plants,
which have much bigger workforces, and feedlot closures could herald greater
unemployment to come.
Cargill
Beef, one of the nation's biggest meatpackers, temporarily closed a slaughterhouse
in Plainview, Texas, earlier this year, laying off 2,000 workers. The operation
had been one of four meatpacking plants in the Texas Panhandle, and the annual
economic loss to the region is estimated at $1.1 billion
- a "major chunk of that economy," said Steve Amosson, an economist with
the Texas AgriLife Extension Service in Amarillo.
Cargill
is moving what business remained at the plant to slaughterhouses in Friona,
Texas; Dodge City, Kan.; and Ft. Morgan, Colo. That will allow those plants to
run near capacity and more consistently give their workers full paychecks with
40 hours per week, spokesman Mike Martin said.
"By
idling, we are retaining both the plant (in Plainview) and the property for
potential future use," Martin added. "And the hope is that at some
point some years down the line, the cattle herd will be rebuilt and there will
be a need for additional processing capacity."
Most
experts estimate the cattle feeding industry now has an excess capacity of
between 20 and 25 percent, CattleFax market analyst Kevin Good said. The meatpacking
industry has an excess capacity of 10 to 15 percent - even after the recent
closure of Cargill's Plainview plant.
Given
the cost of transporting cattle, most of the nation's feed yards and slaughterhouses
are in the big cattle-producing states of the High Plains. While the industry
has been gradually shifting north from Texas into areas that are expected to
more rapidly recover from the drought, businesses in Kansas and Nebraska are
struggling too.
In
southwestern Kansas, Lakin Feed Yard manager Steve Landgraf said his operation
is down to 75 percent of capacity and he expects it to be less than half full
within the next couple of months. For every two animals now going out of his
lot for slaughter, only one is coming into it.
With
a capacity of 15,000 head, the yard now employs 14 people. But with normal
attrition, Landgraf anticipates he'll be down to 10 or 11 workers by spring,
and he may reduce their hours.
Still,
with little debt, Landgraf says he's in a better position than some. "Some
people are probably going to go broke because they aren't going to have the
occupancy," he said.
Source:
Associated Press Feedlots, meatpackers closing with fewer US cows by Roxma
Hegeman AP Writer Betsy Blaney contributed to this
story from Lubbock, Texas.
Comments
The livestock
ranchers are being visited by federal agencies eager to close them down to
establish “wildlands” corridors prescribed in UN Agenda 21. Our agricultural areas are being replaced by
federal land grabs. The objective is to
destroy our domestic food production capabilities. If you want to control a population, the
easiest way to do it is starvation. The
plan to reduce the global population from 7 billion to 500 million is included
in UN Agenda 21. This plan is based on the global warming hoax. Chemtrail spraying probably exacerbated the drought.
We find ourselves in a war with our own
federal government the we didn’t start.
This war is over private property and other rights and will be fought in our civil
courts and current political campaigns.
And it will be very expensive.
Norb
Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader
No comments:
Post a Comment