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Feeders, Packers and Industry Leaders

Johnny Trotter and the Rebuilding of Bar-G Feedyard in Hereford

A Hereford, Texas, feeder who reopened a shuttered yard in 1983 and grew it into one of the largest individually owned feedyards in the country.

Who Is Johnny Trotter?

Johnny Trotter owns Bar-G Feedyard in Hereford, Texas, which his Hall of Fame biography describes as one of the country's largest individually owned cattle feeding operations. The yard can hold 125,000 head at one time. The Cattle Feeders Hall of Fame biography lists him as a 2021 inductee, and a Drovers profile of the yard says he was scheduled to be honored in August 2021 at the NCBA Convention and Trade Show, alongside Steve Gabel.

Feeding cattle is only part of what he does. Drovers reported that he also runs a livestock and feed trucking company and a cattle financing company, owns a local car dealership, breeds racehorses and owns a racetrack. He sits on the boards of several local banks and is a skilled team roper. The Hall of Fame bio adds that he has been passionate about farming, ranching and horses for a long time and calls them stepping stones to his career.

From Dumas to Hereford: Early Life

Trotter was raised in Hereford, though his family first lived in Dumas. According to Drovers, they moved to Hereford during his sophomore year of high school. Feedyards were being built there at the time, and he took work on the construction. By his senior year he was caring for cattle on wheat pasture, an early lesson in how closely feeding is tied to grain country.

In the 1970s he leased a preconditioning yard and started backgrounding cattle with partners. Backgrounding means growing young cattle on forage and feed before they enter a finishing yard. It is a lower-capital way into the business, and it let him learn cattle handling and feeding while sharing the financial risk with others.

How Bar-G Feedyard Started in 1983

Trotter bought the yard that became Bar-G in January 1983. Drovers says it had been closed for four years and was in poor condition. He and his partners rebuilt the feed mill and the yard and reopened it at 40,000 head. The early partners named in the profile include Shirley Garrison, Stanley and David Schaeffer, Harvey Garrison, Eddie and J.W. Sutton and Roy Bryan.

Trotter and Garrison also formed the Bar-G Cattle Company, which they called the little yard. Ownership stayed the same until about 2000, when Trotter began buying out his partners. That same year the group bought the nearby 7X yard. Together with expansions along the way, which took Bar-G to 85,000 head, the purchase brought capacity to the 125,000 head it holds today.

Inside the Operation Today

Drovers reports about 120 employees at Bar-G. Trotter's right-hand man, Kevin Bunch, has worked with him since the beginning, roughly 40 years by the time of the 2021 article. Long tenures like that matter in a business where yard managers, mill operators and pen riders carry most of the daily judgment calls.

Bar-G also manages nearby farmland for wheat and for future expansion, and part of that land was acquired for its water access. The Hall of Fame bio lists related businesses: Livestock Investors, LTD, Quality Distillers Grain, XCL Feeders, Inc., and Trotter Farms in Deaf Smith and Castro counties. Distillers grain, a byproduct of ethanol production, is a common feed ingredient for feedyards in the region.

Technology at Bar-G

Bar-G was among the first yards to endorse a turnkey accounting system built for feedyards and helped develop its programs, Drovers reported. It later moved from paper feed cards to feed-truck data sent wirelessly to the office.

About 25 years before the article, the yard also asked the ear tag maker Temple for a customizable tag showing the lot number and the individual animal number, color coded. The practical payoff was verifying that medicine withdrawal periods had passed before cattle shipped.

The Key to Trotter's Success

The documented record points to steady, unglamorous choices: buy a distressed asset, share the load with partners, invest in people and records, and keep adding capacity when the balance sheet allowed. Drovers quotes his advice to newcomers in simple terms: work hard and be a team player.

The record also shows a diversified operator rather than a single-yard owner, which helps explain how one family-run business reached this scale.

  • Bought a yard that had sat closed for four years in 1983 and rebuilt the mill and pens rather than waiting for a perfect facility.
  • Used partners to share early capital and risk, then began buying them out around 2000 as the business matured.
  • Expanded by acquisition, adding the nearby 7X yard in 2000 to reach 125,000 head.
  • Adopted tracking and accounting technology early, including wireless feed data and individually numbered, color-coded tags.
  • Kept key people for decades, including Kevin Bunch, and spread risk across trucking, financing, distillers grain and farming.

Industry Service and the Hall of Fame

Trotter's memberships include the American Quarter Horse Association, the American Horse Council, the International Feedlot Cowboy Association and the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association. The Hall of Fame credits him with benefiting his community and the cattle feeding industry through business success and philanthropy.

The Cattle Feeders Hall of Fame was launched in 2009, with Merck Animal Health, Osborn and Barr, and Drovers as founding partners. Trotter and Gabel were the 2021 class announced by Drovers. For more on the working life behind this kind of operation, see the ranching coverage on farm.FM's ranching section, or read a farm.FM story about Panhandle cattle feeding.

Timeline

  1. 1970sLeases a preconditioning yard in Hereford and begins backgrounding cattle with partners.
  2. January 1983Buys the closed Hereford yard that becomes Bar-G; it reopens at 40,000 head after rebuilding.
  3. 2000Buys the nearby 7X yard, bringing capacity to 125,000 head, and begins buying out partners.
  4. 2009The Cattle Feeders Hall of Fame is launched.
  5. 2021Inducted into the Cattle Feeders Hall of Fame with Steve Gabel.

Frequently asked questions

Who is Johnny Trotter?

Johnny Trotter is the owner of Bar-G Feedyard in Hereford, Texas, described by the Cattle Feeders Hall of Fame as one of the country's largest individually owned cattle feeding operations. He was inducted into the Hall in 2021.

How many cattle can Bar-G Feedyard hold?

Bar-G Feedyard has a one-time capacity of 125,000 head, according to the Cattle Feeders Hall of Fame bio and Drovers. It reopened in 1983 at 40,000 head and reached its current size after buying the 7X yard in 2000.

When did Johnny Trotter enter the Cattle Feeders Hall of Fame?

Trotter was inducted in the 2021 class, alongside Steve Gabel. Drovers reported the induction was set for August 2021 at the NCBA Convention and Trade Show.

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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