World Agriculture Directory: the home of the world's largest agriculture database. Fastest way to find events, farms and agribusiness that suit your needs. Agriculture Event Directory

Cattlemen Hall of FameBeef cattle barons, cowboys, breeders and builders from around the world

Feeders, Packers and Industry Leaders

Paul J. Brown and the Growth of Cattle Empire in Southwest Kansas

A farmer who began running cattle in 1961 as a hedge and turned a small custom yard into one of the largest feeding operations in the country.

Who Is Paul J. Brown?

Paul J. Brown is a southwest Kansas cattle feeder and the man behind Cattle Empire, a family-owned feeding operation. The Cattle Feeders Hall of Fame biography lists him as a 2016 inductee and says he became known in the region as an honest, hard-working cattleman.

The public record on Brown is brief: the Hall's page gives a handful of dates and numbers and no birth or death years. This profile reports only what the Hall states and then places it in the context of his region.

Why Brown Came to Western Kansas

The Hall of Fame bio says Brown was drawn to western Kansas by good soil and irrigation potential. That was the same attraction that had drawn farmers like Earl Brookover to the area. According to the Kansas Historical Society, Brookover's Kansapedia entry describes how irrigation led to feed grain production and founded the first commercial feedyard near Garden City in 1951.

Brookover's account shows the logic: irrigation produced a grain surplus, and a feedyard put that grain close to cattle that could eat it.

Running Cattle as a Hedge in 1961

Brown began running cattle in 1961, the Hall says, as a hedge against the ups and downs of farming. Crop prices, weather and input costs swing widely, and cattle gave him a second income stream that did not move in step with the crop.

That same year, Loren Doll and his father began building Ingalls Feed Yard with three Irsik brothers, a sign that southwest Kansas feeding was taking shape across several families at once.

Buying Cattle Empire in 1978

In 1978 Brown handed the farming operation to his eldest son and bought a 4,000-head custom feedyard called Cattle Empire. A custom yard feeds cattle owned by other people and charges for feed, yardage and management, so its income depends on keeping customers profitable and satisfied.

The step meant moving from farmer who fed cattle to full-time feeder. The Hall bio gives no financing details, and none are assumed here.

Cattle Empire Today

According to the Hall, Cattle Empire now has a one-time capacity of 245,500 head across five facilities, ranking as the fifth-largest feeding operation in the United States, and it remains family owned and operated. That is roughly sixty times the size of the 4,000-head yard Brown bought in 1978.

Brown and his wife, Evelyn, have four children, nine grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren, the Hall states. The family structure is part of the story, since the bio emphasizes that the business remains in family hands.

Why It Mattered: The Key to Brown's Success

The record supports a modest set of lessons, all drawn from the Hall's facts: use cattle to reduce farm risk, change roles when an opportunity arrives, pass farming to the next generation, and build reputation first.

The sources do not describe challenges, losses or controversies, and none are invented here.

  • Added cattle in 1961 as a hedge against farm price and weather swings.
  • Bought a 4,000-head custom yard in 1978 and committed to feeding full time.
  • Handed the farm to his eldest son so the family could run both businesses.
  • Built a reputation in southwest Kansas as honest and hard-working, important in a business built on customers' cattle.
  • Kept ownership in the family while growing to five facilities.

The Hall of Fame and the Region

The Cattle Feeders Hall of Fame launched in 2009, according to a Drovers profile of another inductee, with Merck Animal Health, Osborn and Barr and Drovers as founding partners. Brown's 2016 induction places him alongside other feeders from the Southern Plains in the Hall's records.

For more on Kansas cattle and the families who feed them, explore farm.FM's ranching section or read a farm.FM story on southwest Kansas cattle.

Timeline

  1. 1951Earl Brookover founds Brookover Feed Yards near Garden City (regional context).
  2. 1961Begins running cattle as a hedge against the ups and downs of farming.
  3. 1978Hands the farm to his eldest son and buys a 4,000-head custom feedyard, Cattle Empire.
  4. 2009The Cattle Feeders Hall of Fame is launched.
  5. 2016Inducted into the Cattle Feeders Hall of Fame.

Frequently asked questions

Who is Paul J. Brown?

Paul J. Brown is a southwest Kansas cattle feeder who bought a 4,000-head custom feedyard in 1978 and built it into Cattle Empire. He was inducted into the Cattle Feeders Hall of Fame in 2016.

How big is Cattle Empire?

According to the Hall of Fame bio, Cattle Empire has a one-time capacity of 245,500 head across five facilities, ranking fifth among U.S. feeding operations. It remains family owned and operated.

When did Paul Brown start in cattle?

Brown began running cattle in 1961 as a hedge against farming's ups and downs, then bought the 4,000-head Cattle Empire custom feedyard in 1978 after turning the farm over to his eldest son.

Sources and further reading

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

More from the hall