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Feeders, Packers and Industry Leaders

Bob Foote: The Cattle Trader Who Built a 285,000-Head Feeding Company

From a stock-rack truck to nine-figure cattle deals, a Kansas dealmaker turned trading instincts into a family feeding company.

Who Was Bob Foote?

Bob Foote was a Kansas cattle dealer who built Foote Cattle Company of Bucyrus into one of the larger family-owned feeding businesses in the country. He died in 2022, and in 2026 the Cattle Feeders Hall of Fame inducted him posthumously at CattleCon in Nashville. His Hall of Fame biography calls him aggressive in business and unassuming and caring in person, and it records his well-known motto: GET IT!

The family says what mattered most to him was his Catholic faith, his family and the Foote Cattle brand. His wife Gail, whom he married in 1975, is named in the record as the partner who started the business with him in 1985.

Trading Cattle From a 2-Ton Truck

A Drovers profile of Foote's career says he began by trading dairy and beef cows and calves from the back of a 2-ton truck with stock racks. Trading teaches a particular skill set: you buy and sell on thin margins, you learn what an animal is worth within seconds, and you get used to risk.

From trading he moved to buying, working local auctions and selling cattle to feeders in Nebraska, Iowa and Kansas. The Hall of Fame biography says that countless cattle-deal negotiations made him comfortable with significant risk, which later shaped how he approached buying feedyards.

Founding Foote Cattle Company

In 1985 Bob and Gail Foote founded Foote Cattle Company, which at first covered farming, order buying and cattle feeding. Order buying means purchasing cattle on behalf of feeders for a fee, and it kept the business close to the market every day.

In 1989, according to Drovers, he bought three loads of steers at the Kansas City Stockyards with Wayne Tilly, which began a long partnership. The article describes Tilly as a lasting business partner rather than a one-time buyer, a reminder that many feeding fortunes were built on handshake relationships.

Buying Feedyards and Expanding

The company moved into feeding on its own yards in 1997, when it bought Hoxie Feedyard, which started with a capacity of 10,000 head. A ranch near Manhattan, Kansas, followed in 2003. In 2007 Foote bought Imperial Beef, and the company then added Lane County Feeders, Pioneer Feedyard and Decatur County Beef.

In 2019 the family bought a bank. Today the family-owned company reports 285,000 head of feeding capacity at multiple locations, plus land, farming, ranching, banking and other investments in Kansas and Nebraska. Those capacity numbers come from the company and the Hall of Fame, so treat them as reported.

The Key to Foote's Success

Foote's rise is a case study in turning a trader's instincts into permanent assets. The record shows a steady pattern: start with a skill, build relationships, then convert cash flow into yards, land and eventually a bank.

His own family credits more than hustle. The sources are careful to describe a man who read markets closely and valued the people around him, and they do not claim every deal worked out.

  • He knew value and the market. His son Brad is quoted in Drovers saying he understood both, and that he sometimes bought nothing at a sale and other times most of the lot.
  • He negotiated hard and loved dealmaking, which is how he built relationships such as the one with Wayne Tilly.
  • He bought good farms and feedyards and then improved them rather than only trading.
  • He worked with his sons to expand, keeping the company in family hands and bullish about the business.
  • He diversified from feeding into land, ranching and, in 2019, banking, spreading risk across more than one market.

Honors and the Foote Family Today

The Hall of Fame notes that Foote was recognized on the floor of the U.S. Congress as a leading agricultural producer and businessman. His 2026 induction came four years after his death, a Oklahoma Farm Report account of the induction says, and sons Scott, Brad and Greg carry the company forward.

Stories like his are part of the wider tradition of Kansas cattle trading, and farm.FM's ranching section covers that world. You can also read a farm.FM story about a Kansas cattle family for more on how family operations are passed down.

Timeline

  1. 1975Marries Gail and begins his cattle business career
  2. 1985Founds Foote Cattle Co. with Gail
  3. 1989Buys three loads of steers at Kansas City Stockyards with Wayne Tilly
  4. 1997Buys Hoxie Feedyard, then 10,000-head capacity
  5. 2003Buys a ranch near Manhattan, Kansas
  6. 2007Buys Imperial Beef, then adds Lane County Feeders, Pioneer Feedyard and Decatur County Beef
  7. 2019The family buys a bank
  8. 2022Foote dies
  9. 2026Inducted posthumously into the Cattle Feeders Hall of Fame

Frequently asked questions

Who was Bob Foote?

Bob Foote was a Kansas cattle trader and feeder who founded Foote Cattle Company in 1985 with his wife Gail. He died in 2022 and was inducted into the Cattle Feeders Hall of Fame in 2026.

How big is Foote Cattle Company?

The Hall of Fame says the family-owned company has 285,000 head of feeding capacity across multiple locations, plus land, farming, ranching, banking and other investments in Kansas and Nebraska.

How did Bob Foote start in the cattle business?

Drovers reports he traded dairy and beef cows and calves from a 2-ton stock-rack truck, then moved to auction buying and selling cattle to feeders in Nebraska, Iowa and Kansas before buying feedyards.

Sources and further reading

Profiles are compiled from public sources and reviewed against them. See our editorial policy to suggest a correction.

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