Cattle Feeders, Packers and Industry Leaders
Feedyard founders, meatpackers, auction leaders and association presidents who run the modern beef business.
78 profiles
Kansas
- livingLee BorckA loan officer turned feedlot owner who organized small Kansas feeders into a cooperative and built a data-driven link…Kansas
- 1906-1985Earl BrookoverA civil engineer turned irrigation farmer who built a feedyard where the grain was, and warned early about the water.Kansas
- Paul J. BrownA farmer who began running cattle in 1961 as a hedge and turned a small custom yard into one of the largest feeding…Kansas
- Loren DollA Kansas feeder who started in 1961 with his father and three Irsik brothers and led the company into seven feedyards.Kansas
- died 2022Bob FooteFrom a stock-rack truck to nine-figure cattle deals, a Kansas dealmaker turned trading instincts into a family feeding…Kansas
- livingJoel JarnaginA Jetmore, Kansas, farm kid rose from feed mill manager to CEO of the fourth-largest cattle feeding company in the…Kansas
- livingTom JonesA Garden City farm kid who bought a 28,000-head yard in 1999 and spent the next two decades building a research-minded…Kansas
- 1837-1915Joseph G. McCoyAn Illinois mule and cattle dealer who built stockyards beside the railroad at Abilene and opened a market for Texas…Kansas
- livingJoe MorganAn Iowa State graduate who moved to Garden City in 1985 and built a customer-cattle feedyard on one rule: keep the…Kansas
- Dr. Jack ReeveA Kansas State veterinary graduate who turned a century-old family homestead into a feedlot and passed it to a sixth…Kansas
Canada
- 1939-Garnet AltwasserA Brooks entrepreneur spent 30 years as president of Lakeside and helped make Alberta a hub for Canadian beef.Canada
- fl. 20th centuryHarvey J. BuckleyA Cochrane cattleman improved his commercial herd while shaping Alberta's marketing law and rural crime prevention.Canada
- 1856-1937Patrick BurnsFrom an Ontario farm boy to a Calgary meatpacker, rancher and senator, Pat Burns supplied the West and backed the…Canada
- fl. mid-20th centuryEion Alistair ChisholmA stock growers' manager saw the future in finishing cattle, then spent 30 years running Alberta's biggest feeding…Canada
- fl. 1950s-2000James Harold GrahamAn Alberta grain farmer hit by hail became a cattle feeder and one of the country's most active beef trade advocates.Canada
- 1856-1925William Roper HullAn English teenager turned cowboy became Calgary's first vertically integrated meat packer and a major local builder.Canada
- livingDr. Kee JimA rancher's son from British Columbia who became a veterinarian, then built one of North America's big cattle feeding…Canada
- 1909-1999George Fletcher MorrisA Kent County feeder who pushed Ontario corn into beef and helped write the carcass standards behind Canada's 1972…Canada
Nebraska
- livingJerry AdamsAfter a 1971 land purchase and a punishing 1973 price freeze, Adams stayed on and helped build one of the most…Nebraska
- livingJeff BiegertA Texas Christian business graduate returned to Nebraska in 1976 and built a liquid feed company with ten plants.Nebraska
- 1902-1984Louis DinklageA farmhand with an eighth-grade education turned a corn-picking champion's work ethic into a feeding operation without…Nebraska
- Roy DinsdaleAfter graduating from the University of Nebraska in 1948, he went home to Palmer and spent six decades growing the…Nebraska
- b. c. 1935Bill FoxleyFrom a three-acre family pen near the Omaha Stockyards to 300,000 head on feed, Foxley turned hedging, steam-flaked…Nebraska
- 1926-2002Bob GottschA Depression-era farm boy and military policeman turned a $3,000 service station into one of the Plains' major feeding…Nebraska
- d. 1997Leo TimmermanA banker's loan for six head of cattle launched a Nebraska feeding family that now spans several operations in the…Nebraska
- 1946-2023Norman TimmermanHe hauled cattle to the stockyards before school, then spent more than 50 years building the family business with his…Nebraska
Australia
- livingAngus AdnamA teenage stockperson on Sabah-bound cattle ships became a founder of the Northern Territory live export trade.Australia
- fl. 1969-2004Rob BackusFrom Kimberley forage trials to a 20,000-head feedlot in New South Wales, he spent three decades building Australian…Australia
- livingJim CudmoreA feedlot manager with a science background took on the industry's sustainability reporting when the debate had stalled.Australia
- living or unknownKeith HammondA Tasmanian island cattleman turned a beef property to Wagyu in 1991 and later led the national breed association.Australia
- d. 2018John KausA former jackaroo and stock agent built a niche Southeast Asian live export business on small shipments and personal…Australia
- fl. 1984-2017Geoff WillettA Warwick feedlot founder studied Japanese feeding regimes and pushed Australia's grading scale to recognize Wagyu…Australia
- living or unknownPeter WinklerA Simmental stud breeder chased Kobe-quality marbling and ended up founding Australia's Wagyu industry.Australia
Colorado
- livingKent BamfordFrom 4-H projects to the CattleFax presidency, Bamford spent 47 years feeding cattle in northeast Colorado and as much…Colorado
- 1910-2007W.D. FarrFarr put fence-line bunks, daily feed reports and sloped pens into practice in northern Colorado, and spent four…Colorado
- livingSteve GabelA former CattleFax analyst, Gabel turned a tired Weld County yard into a National BQA Feedyard of the Year with an eye…Colorado
- b. 1947Temple GrandinFrom a summer on a relative's ranch to university professorship, Grandin built curved chutes, restraint systems and an…Colorado
- livingDan MayA Stratton, Colorado, farm kid who became a commodity trader, May helped his brothers scale a small feedlot into a…Colorado
- 1928-2001Kenneth MonfortBy placing a packing plant near the feedlots and cutting beef before it shipped, Ken Monfort changed how fed cattle…Colorado
- b. 1938Jim OdleA rancher who learned to sell cattle from a tractor seat, Odle helped move cattle auctions from the sale barn to hotel…Colorado
Texas
- d. 2020Ed BarrettA Kansas-rooted feeder who built yards in Emporia and Hereford and handed a 135,000-head family business to his sons…Texas
- 1929-2024Paul EnglerFrom a first herd bought as a boy to one of the largest private fed-cattle companies in the country, Engler helped…Texas
- 1886-1973Dr. O.M. FranklinA research veterinarian turned a Kansas lab discovery into a company that, by the 1960s, led the world in cattle…Texas
- livingJames HerringA Harvard MBA from Amarillo turned a feedyard company around in 1989 and championed tighter links between ranch,…Texas
- 1931-2020Robert JosserandA Kansas-born animal scientist who moved to Hereford in 1971 and rose to lead the Texas and national cattle…Texas
- livingJohnny TrotterA Hereford, Texas, feeder who reopened a shuttered yard in 1983 and grew it into one of the largest individually owned…Texas
Illinois
- 1832-1901Philip Danforth ArmourA gold rush miner turned Milwaukee grocer became the Chicago packer who made use of everything but the squeal.Illinois
- 1838-1907Nelson MorrisA German-born boy who worked a Chicago stockyard became a cattle trader and then a packer with 100 branches.Illinois
- 1860-1948Alvin Howard SandersA young Northwestern law graduate became the voice of American livestock publishing.Illinois
- 1839-1903Gustavus Franklin SwiftA Cape Cod butcher moved to Chicago and rebuilt the beef trade around refrigerated rail cars.Illinois
Brazil
- 1916-2005Tiao MaiaA former drover from Passos, Minas Gerais, founded a packing company in 1952 and restarted in Australia in his sixties.Brazil
- livingMarcos Antônio MolinaA butcher's son who bought a single slaughterhouse in Mato Grosso do Sul and built a multinational beef company, while…Brazil
- livingJosé Batista SobrinhoFrom a one-room slaughterhouse in Goiás to Friboi and JBS, the story of the Brazilian butcher known as Zé Mineiro.Brazil
Idaho
- livingThomas (Tom) John BasabeA pen rider who started in high school and became the president of one of the largest cattle feeding and ranching…Idaho
- 1909-2008J.R. "Jack" SimplotBest known for frozen french fries, Simplot also fed cattle on potato waste at a 110,000-head Grand View yard and…Idaho
- died 1997Robert Rebholtz Sr.A banker's son who managed a 300,000-acre Nevada ranch, then bought an Idaho feedyard and built it into an integrated…Idaho
New Zealand
- livingJohn CochraneA South Otago stud breeder who chaired Angus New Zealand through a new constitution and its first independent director.New Zealand
- livingGraeme HarrisonA former meat board manager turned a Japan-focused trading venture into one of New Zealand's largest beef and lamb…New Zealand
- livingLaurie PatersonA Southland beef breeder who helped bring genetic evaluation and a branded quality beef programme to New Zealand.New Zealand