Cattle Producers Big Part of Economic Stampede
Published Mar 27, 2006
More than a million beef cattle are raised within 40 miles of Hereford, while feed lots move 6.6 million cattle annually.
From beef cattle to dairy herd and feed yards, The High Ground region is among the nation’s top food producers.
“Cattle feeding is what drives our economy here in Deaf Smith County,” says Don Cumpton, executive director of the Hereford Economic Development Corp. “You’ve got access here within 40 miles of over a million head of cattle. We’re the largest beef cattle producing county in the world.”
About 30 feed yards and more than 15 beef producers operate in Deaf Smith County and neighboring counties, he says.
“Cattle is the No. 1 industry, raising beef cattle,” Cumpton says. “It drives our economy, no question.”
And beef producers in the region are finding their own niches.
Coleman Natural Products, which sells hormone-free natural beef, processes 600 head a week at its plant in Childress, says Larry Norton, executive director of the Childress Economic Development Corp.
“They were actually about 10 years ahead of their time with their product, and it’s really starting to catch on now,” Norton says. “More people are getting more health conscious on what they’re eating, especially in cattle feeding operations.”
Nearly all of the 200 feed yards the Texas Cattle Feeders Association represents in Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico are in The High Ground region, says spokesman Burt Rutherford.
“Those 200 feed yards last year marketed about 6.6 million fed cattle. That is about a third of the fed cattle marketing nationwide,” he says.
Feed yards in the region range from holding 10,000 to 90,000 or more head of cattle, he says.
“We have cattle coming in from all over the country, but we get a lot of cattle from the southeast,” Rutherford says. “We have four major packing plants in The High Ground region and several just to the north in southwest Kansas.”
Nearly 3 million cattle are in Texas feed yards, with the majority in The High Ground region, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
“Locally, it’s very significant,” Rutherford says of the beef industry’s economic impact. “Typically, feed yards will employ about one employee per thousand head [of cattle].”
Altogether, the feed yards employ about 3,000 people, not to mention the additional jobs created to support the industry.
“One of the significant things about having a feed yard near your community is … the economic activity [the industry] generates is pretty amazing in terms of the goods and services it needs on a continual basis,” Rutherford says.
The state estimates that about seven additional service jobs are created for every feed yard job, he says.
“I was visiting a feed yard and a guy showed up from a laundry service. He was changing out the floor mats in the office. That guy wouldn’t have the job without it.”
Story by Cristal Cody
Photo by Antony Boshier
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