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Feedlot owner says more competition is good for producers

A Texas feedlot owner says increased competition in the cattle industry is a good thing.

The Kirkland Feedyard in Vega, Texas has the capacity to feed about 25,000 head of cattle. Robby Kirkland, who manages the feedlot says they sell cattle to the four major packers and a regional. “We’re about 70% cash, and about 30% on a grid or some sort of value-based marketing so we can mix it up,” he says. “It comes down to trying to get the cattle where the cattle need to go and optimize the most probability for the producer or whoever owns was cattle.”

He tells Brownfield the Texas panhandle lost a processor in 2013 that processed about 5,000 head of cattle a day, which put additional pressure on the market.  However, the prospect of a new processor coming online helps improve the long-term outlook for producers.  “The TCFA area is among the top in terms of numbers of cattle on feed,” he says.  “And yet we were third by region, and were third in packing capacity.”