We had two more announce they were closing in the last week. Both fed 50% or more Mexican imports. There have been several that have closed down sections up to 50% of their capacity for the same reason. Have been reductions in work force at many of them. It is having effects on the local communities. This has had effects on friends. I can’t say how letting Mexican cattle in will effect the market but can see the effect of none being imported is having on rural communities. These feedlots are many times the largest employer.
Feedlots closing
- Thread starter elkwc
- Start date
kenny thomas
Well-known member
The one in Lubbock has a 50,000 capacity with 60 to 70% coming from Mexico
mwj
Well-known member
Just like the packers they need to run at capacity to make it profitable.
simme
Old Dumb Guy
Yeah, most US cattle people are probably against importing live cattle. But imported cattle provide jobs for people in the US. Feedlots don't just feed cattle. They employ people, use US grown feedstuffs, impact communities, use services of US truckers, veterinarians, mechanics and other service people. Then the packers that process them with all their employees and associated suppliers of goods and services. When the cattle numbers recover, feedlot and packer capacity will impact prices for all cattle.
I suspect that opening new feedlots or reopening existing closed feedlots will take some time and money. Think of the environmental and permitting issues that may occur when reopening. Bottlenecks in supply chains affect pricing and movement up and down the chain.
So, would it be good or bad to reopen the border for live cattle?
I suspect that opening new feedlots or reopening existing closed feedlots will take some time and money. Think of the environmental and permitting issues that may occur when reopening. Bottlenecks in supply chains affect pricing and movement up and down the chain.
So, would it be good or bad to reopen the border for live cattle?
That’s right and to run at capacity the packers has to have a steady supply of cattle to do that and because so many cattle producers has got out of the business here in the U.S. Their aren’t enough producers to supply what feed lots are still operating enough to make it profitable to stay in business themselves.
So I wonder how government will solve the problem of supplying beef for the supermarkets in the U.S. in the future. Looks like the dollars that could be spent on the chain of business like co-ops, equipment, fertilizer, herbicide that it takes to support a cattle industry not to mention jobs like the ones being lost from shutting down the feed lots alone.
The only thing I can think of that they might come up with is to import more beef and of course pass that cost onto the consumer. That will solve the supply and demand problem for the supermarkets and the people buying the meat will take care of that problem.
But then all of these people that rely on making the money from their jobs that worked at a job that involved working at something that keep the cattle industry running like the employees of feedlots and the rest of the chain of jobs that it takes to run a country will end up losing their source of income to.
So then government can fire up the printing machines and start manufacturing food stamps. That will at least create some jobs.
I was a die hard supporter of Trump thinking he walked on water. Up until I voted for him I practically was never involved in politics and never voted period. The only time I voted before I voted for Trump was so that I could vote against Bill Clinton when he ran for President. I met that peace of **** in person when I was in the 5th grade selling candy bars for my school to raise money at an elderly neighbors house who I use to sell stuff like that too. When I knocked on the door and was invited in to sell the candy bar old Bill Clinton was sitting in the living room and the man ( my neighbor) introduced me to old Clinton who at the time was there seeking my friends vote to support him in an up coming election for governor or some election Clinton was running for.
Heck I was a 5th grader at the time selling candy bars. I couldn’t care less about politics nor did I know anything about politics. So I asked Clition if he would like to buy a candy bar to help our class project and he said no which wasn’t no big deal. But I look back at that now and think about how much that little demonstration of his morals he exhibited that day especially with him soliciting votes for a government position. And all of the crooked crap he has been proven to have been involved in over the years during his involvement in government.
But now from I am seeing in the way Trump is managing the country I have lost faith in politicians and am not wasting the time it takes to go vote. As far as I am concerned. I think you could stick every politician no matter what party they represent into
A paper bag and shake them up, dump the out on the ground and not be able to tell the difference.
MurraysMutts
Well-known member
It's setting us up for a huge downturn in cattle prices when Mexican cattle are allowed back in. There will be a huge supply increase and prices will drop like a friggin rock.
I am close to it and see both sides.I believe we each to make our own decision. With that being said you listed just a part of the reasons feedlots, packers and other businesses are crucial to rural areas. And when you see a friend in their late fifties with 25 years at the same place be without a job it makes me look at the whole picture. The feedlot owner can’t operate without cattle. As I was told after the expansion in pen space and feedlots several years ago we currently don’t have the numbers to supply the needs. The Mexican cattle filled part of that void. And the money spent by employees, for repairs supports the community.
I don’t like the idea the border was reopened or importing beef either. But I don’t like what’s happening now that has caused so many cattle producers out of the business that the ones still in business can’t provide enough beef to keep the feed lots in business either.
It’s not good for a big percentage of cattle producers that can’t buy cattle at the risk of losing what they do have in order to for a lot people borrow the money to replace the cattle they had to sell during the drought.
It’s not good for the consumers paying the cost of beef that it is now. It’s not good for the economy. And it won’t be good when the government steps in to solve the problem of supplying a source of beef to keep to sale at the supermarkets and people have to have that available to them.
And the government’s solution will I would bet be import more beef. And I agree with Murray if the government does that. I would sure hate to be the owner of a lot of cattle I paid for at the price you pay to buy them at now.
Welcome to the real world. It happens to the rest of us all the time.
You know how many friends and people have folded here in the US due to having to compete with Mexican cattle.
On top of that, the screw worm would be devastating to many of us and our communities also.
I saw where the numbers of dairy cattle were up and beef on dairy is helping to fill the voids of other imports.
It will take time but US production will always fill a void. We use to be told we were dependent on Saudi oil yet a few years ago we surpasses them.
Don't believe fear the fear tactics of people who profit off of selling out American production. They are the ones who should be rounded and sent packing.
I also question why they really folded up? You couldn't find any other cattle to feed or any thing else to do with that feedl lot? Im not buying it. My bet is they were already in financial trouble or chose not to pursue other options.
You know how many friends and people have folded here in the US due to having to compete with Mexican cattle.
On top of that, the screw worm would be devastating to many of us and our communities also.
I saw where the numbers of dairy cattle were up and beef on dairy is helping to fill the voids of other imports.
It will take time but US production will always fill a void. We use to be told we were dependent on Saudi oil yet a few years ago we surpasses them.
Don't believe fear the fear tactics of people who profit off of selling out American production. They are the ones who should be rounded and sent packing.
I also question why they really folded up? You couldn't find any other cattle to feed or any thing else to do with that feedl lot? Im not buying it. My bet is they were already in financial trouble or chose not to pursue other options.
Dave
Well-known member
Freight is Freight how far were those Mexican cattle shipped? Were they getting those Mexican cattle cheaper? They couldn't buy American cattle? Or do they just not want to pay the currant price. How far is that from feed producing areas?
mwj
Well-known member
Those feeders that are not crossing are still being fed with quite a bit of corn from this country. The world does not have much cheap beef or it would be here and the live market would be lower.
If you can not compete in a commodity that is influenced by world supply, do something else because the world will still eat beef.
As far as the screw worm they have been here in the past and will be here again. Rest assured they can cross the border without the help of cattle.
If you can not compete in a commodity that is influenced by world supply, do something else because the world will still eat beef.
As far as the screw worm they have been here in the past and will be here again. Rest assured they can cross the border without the help of cattle.
Yes but it's a lot easier to check a few know animals coming in vs thousands of head of cattle especially given the high levels of corruption by most of the people handling those deals. They caught the larvae in the horse from Argentina.
Until we have the resources and logistics worked out it needs to stay closed. We have way more to lose than gain with those cattle.
mwj
Well-known member
As i understand it the screw worm are not at the border but farther south in the country. When or if they reach the border area they will cross and we will have them to deal with with them whether border is open or closed.
A few random larvae crossing will not cause an instant outbreak. If people have problems the can be treated and the wild population of the flies will not reach critical mass.
Cattle born and raised close to our border would not be a problem. I see the problem as not being able to identify cattle raised in the interior regions or imported in to Mexico from central and south America.
Its time for people to quit being so short sighted and make the hard, long term decisions to create real solutions.
mwj
Well-known member
I
If that information is correct we already have the flies on our side. Are these cases in cattle native to the area or were they shaped from the interior?
It will help lower the price of beef a lot, but it was closed Oct of 24. Prices were way too high even before that. The crazy prices started at the same time al the other inflated prices started...with The China Virus Hoax.
The government has never "fixed" any problems at all. They just throw more money and more bureaucracy at it, and make it worse. Just like other things the federal government has "fixed" : Education, poverty, healthcare, housing, etc., etc... Best thing Trump could do would be to remove the fool-ass tariffs on food and live animals, and open the borders like they have been for decades.
They were shipped from El Paso, or Saint Teresa, NM. All kind of livestock crossed in El Paso, but in Saint Teresa, only steers and heifers that went to feedlots in Texas, mostly, but they'd announce a buyer occaisonally from another state.
Yes, screw worm larvae were found in cattle iin 2024 in southeastern Mexico states bordering central American countries, and the fear was that these cattle might be sold into the US. But, the Mexican state of Chihuahua, is a lot more strict on cattle health than any other state. The cattlemen of Chihuahua would not allow cattle from other Mexican states to enter Chihuahua and go to this sale. They are very protective of their cattle industry there. I have bought cattle from Chihuahua many times that I picked up in El Paso, and have delivered US cattle to El Paso for Mexican buyers. There is no way any screwworm larvae can survive the dipping they get in the Mexican side of the El Paso and Saint Teresa crossings. The Chihuahuan government agency has a lot stricter and better vaccination protocal than we do here in the US. I never got to go to Saint Teresa ( mainly because I was never in the market for stockers or feeders ) but I would watch that auction every week on DVauction. There were 8-10 Mexican ranches that sold every week, and about as many US buyers there getting the bulk of them, As each lot entered the ring, they would read off the name of the ranch, the elevation of the ranch, the bloodlines of the registered bulls that sired these calves, and announce if the cows were registered or not, and what breed or mix of breeds the dams were of they were commercial. Then, they would announce each round of shots the group had received, and when they got them. Every heifer or steer that came through, was frankly a lot better animal than 90% of what I see sold in the US. That is why buyers wanted them so bad, and paid as much as they would domestic steers and heifers in the US. They used a lot of red Limousin bulls there, and a lot of red Angus and Brangus. Some would use Simmental, and an occasional Gert or BM. Never heard of any group that a Char or Hereford was the sire, but you would occasionally see a yellow or white calf in the group that was in the ring. One or two in a group of 75-100 at the most.
