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Jack Simplot: The Idaho Potato Baron Who Built One of the West's Biggest Cattle Operations

Best known for frozen french fries, Simplot also fed cattle on potato waste at a 110,000-head Grand View yard and became one of the Pacific Northwest's largest cattle suppliers.

Who was J.R. "Jack" Simplot?

John Richard "Jack" Simplot was an Idaho farmer and industrialist who built one of the largest agribusinesses in the American West. The Wikipedia biography says he was born on January 4, 1909, in Dubuque, Iowa, and died on May 25, 2008, at his Boise home at age 99.

He is best known for potato products and frozen french fries, but the Cattle Feeders Hall of Fame honored him in 2014 for the cattle operation he carved out of sagebrush and desert.

From a homestead to an eighth-grade exit

Simplot was the third of six children. In 1910 the family moved about a thousand miles west to homestead in Idaho's irrigated Magic Valley. He left school after the eighth grade in 1923, at 14, after differences with his father, and worked on a farm near Declo in Cassia County.

During a market downturn he fed hogs a cheap mix of wild horse meat and potatoes, then sold them at a profit when prices recovered. That experience moved him toward potato and vegetable processing.

Sheep, then cattle: Bruneau and Grand View

Range magazine's 1998 profile says that in 1943 Simplot bought the Bruneau Sheep Company, which held 12,000 sheep and a large ranch with deeded land. In the same year he bought Grand View Farms and Jamieson Farms.

His flocks grew to about 30,000 head before he converted them to cattle. He said sheep were unprofitable because the coyotes liked them too much, according to Range magazine.

The Grand View feedyard and potato waste

Range reports that the Grand View yard held 110,000 head and had a three-mile buffer zone because of the smell. It says Simplot ran four feedlots with a combined annual capacity of 600,000 head, about 750 million pounds of beef. Cattle ate potato waste, hay, haylage and grain, and the company bought grain by the trainload.

Pens were bedded with wood chips, computers tracked each pen's origin, seller, cost, freight and sick animals, and sprinklers ran on hot days to control dust and keep cattle cool. Grand View bought 4,000 to 5,000 head a week and fed about 1,400 tons of feed daily, including close to 900 tons of corn. It shipped about 50,000 head a year to Japan, where buyers wanted heavily marbled, extended-fed black cattle.

Ranches, public land leases and the cow herd

Twelve ranches in six western states supplied more than 25,000 animals to the feedlot system, according to Range, which lists California, Idaho, Nevada, Utah and Oregon. The ZX Ranch near Paisley, Oregon, had recently been bought and ran 15,000 head on more than a million acres of private and public land. The company held leases on several million acres of public land.

Range called Simplot the largest cattle supplier in the Pacific Northwest and the fourth largest in the country. Calves were weaned on the ranches and sent to the nearest feedlot. Helicopters were used to shoot coyotes during calving on the range, one of the practices Range described.

The Key to Simplot's Success

Simplot's cattle business sat inside his farming and processing empire. Potato waste and farm-grown feed supplied the yards. The company farmed more than 76,000 acres of crops in Idaho, Washington and Oregon.

The record also shows limits. Range quotes Simplot saying ranching is tough and that the company did not depend on ranch profits to survive. He also said that environmental rules were tightening, and that he considered them excessive after the company spent millions cleaning up water.

  • Convert unprofitable stock: he moved from sheep to cattle after predator losses.
  • Feed with what you grow: potato waste and farm-grown corn, hay and alfalfa supplied the yards.
  • Track by computer: pen-level tracking of origin, cost and sick animals.
  • Sell to demand: the yard shipped about 50,000 head a year to Japanese buyers wanting marbled beef.
  • Cross-subsidize: the larger company did not depend on ranch profits to survive.

Potatoes, McDonald's and the wider empire

By World War II the J.R. Simplot Company was the nation's largest shipper of fresh potatoes. In 1967 Simplot and Ray Kroc agreed by handshake that Simplot would supply frozen french fries to McDonald's. The company provided startup capital to Micron Technology in the early 1980s.

He retired as company president in 1973, served as chairman until 1994 and was chairman emeritus until his death. The Potato Bust of 1976 drew public outcry and Commodity Futures Trading Commission hearings after he refused to honor short-sale contracts, a controversy recorded in the Wikipedia biography.

Honors and where to read more

Simplot was inducted into the Hall of Great Westerners in 1996 and received the Golden Plate Award in 1967 and an honorary degree from Utah State University in 2001. The Cattle Feeders Hall of Fame inducted him in 2014.

For more on ranching, visit the ranching section of farm.FM, and see a farm.FM story about Idaho cattle country.

Timeline

  1. 1909Born January 4 in Dubuque, Iowa
  2. 1910Family homesteads in Idaho's Magic Valley
  3. 1923Leaves school after eighth grade
  4. 1943Buys the Bruneau Sheep Company, Grand View Farms and Jamieson Farms
  5. 1967Handshake deal with Ray Kroc to supply McDonald's
  6. 1973Retires as company president; remains chairman until 1994
  7. 1996Inducted into the Hall of Great Westerners
  8. 2008Dies May 25 in Boise at age 99
  9. 2014Inducted into the Cattle Feeders Hall of Fame

Frequently asked questions

Who was Jack Simplot?

J.R. "Jack" Simplot (1909-2008) founded the J.R. Simplot Company in Boise, Idaho, supplied frozen french fries to McDonald's and built one of the West's largest cattle feeding and ranching operations.

How big was Simplot's cattle operation?

Range magazine reported a 110,000-head Grand View, Idaho, feedyard and four feedlots with 600,000 head of annual capacity, supplied by twelve ranches. Figures date to the late 1990s.

Why is Jack Simplot in the Cattle Feeders Hall of Fame?

The hall inducted him in 2014 for building a cattle empire out of sagebrush and desert as head of the J.R. Simplot Company, alongside his potato and frozen-food business.

What did Simplot feed his cattle?

Range reports cattle at Grand View ate potato waste, hay, haylage and grain, with corn making up the bulk of daily feed. The company also grew some of the feed on its own farmland.

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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