Next Stop, Texas!

It has been a busy week since I have made a post on here. Since returning from my trip to the Texas and Oklahoma Panhandles touring a few feedyards I have been playing catch up. I really do not recommend skipping an entire week of classes the week before four tests are scheduled. I sort of wish I had just stayed at the feedyard.

I hope you had a chance to read about my Feedyard Tour where I interviewed with JBS Five Rivers. If not, you are missing out! The day after that tour, I traveled to Texhoma, Oklahoma to visit a family operation that has been buying cattle from my family’s cattle auction. The family has 3 ranch locations in the area and an 8,000 head capacity feedyard. A family operation is much different from a corporate run out fit, like JBS Five Rivers, but both have a common goal – to take care of the cattle in our possession, keep them healthy, and provide a safe, quality beef product for a global population. I think it is something we all have in common, that and a love for the daily tasks that come with cattle operations. It is something special that we in the cattle industry have the opportunity to do what we love on a daily basis, not many can say that.

Well if you are wondering, yes I did accept a job offer from JBS Five Rivers. At the end of May I will be moving to Dalhart, Texas to work as a Management Trainee in the cattle department at Coronado Feeders. Making a career decision was not easy. It is something many college graduates struggle with after a four-year investment. The Ranch Management program at TCU is very attractive, but I have a great opportunity to gain invaluable experience with the world’s largest cattle feeding operation. How can I pass that up?

So ya’ll had better stay tuned in because I will be giving you an inside look at life in a cattle feedyard in the Texas Panhandle. So how did you get your start in the cattle industry? Was it a way of life while growing up, your first job out of school, or does life’s road still have a few turns ahead? Share your story with my by email (rjlgoodman@hotmail.com), on Facebook, or Twitter. –ARranchhand

CattleFact: As of January 1, 2010, the US had 11,008,000 cattle on feed, down 2% from 2009. 2,680,000 of those were in Texas feedlots. The USDA, NASS defines Cattle on feed as “animals being fed a ration of grain, silage, hay and/or protein supplement for slaughter market that are expected to produce a carcass that will grade select or better. It excludes cattle being “backgrounded only” for later sale as feeders or later placement in another feedlot.”