More from Day 3

June 4, 2010

Bright and early we hit the road for Greeley Colo., where we toured the JBS packing plant, a family-owned operation. The plant employs approximately 3,100 people and processes around 5,400 head of cattle per day. Most of the cattle are age and source verified.

While this was not the first packing house I had ever been in, it was a good reminder of all the hard work that goes into producing a safe and healthy source of protein. A big thank you to all the workers behind the scenes!

Our next stop was the JBS Kuner River feedlot. A 549-acre feedlot,with a 100,000 head capacity. Currently they have 68,500 head on feed. the percentage of heifers fed is around 20 percent. Last year an extensive renovation began to improve pen drainage, replace the pine pens with steel and to basically improve and replace anything and everything to increase productivity and the bottom dollar. All renovations are scheduled to be completed by October.

We were also taken though the feed mill to see how all the rations were made. Cattle are fed three times a day with the goal of having all fed by 3:30 p.m. Approximately 2.7 million pounds of feed per day is ran through the mill. For those number people get out your calculators and figure that on a monthly and yearly basis!

Now we are off to eat a steak dinner!



Pictured in the feedlot mill is Susan Casey, Nevada, Ddee Haynes, Tina Loeffler, Texas and Jill Ginn, Texas YCC Chairman.