DaQuay Campbell was raising 14 pigs near Tipton, Iowa when he ran into a problem.
When Campbell gets a pig, it weighs around 50 pounds. That pig will be ready for slaughter in five to six months. But over the phone, he kept hearing from meat lockers saying that they were booked for years: 2022, 2023. And the longer he keeps the pigs, the more feed they consume cutting into his bottom line.
"It was a real challenge to actually find a locker. And once I finally did, the locker date that I got was much sooner than I intended. So, there's a bit of a loss of money there just because I'd rather do the pigs while they're a little bit smaller and I know I have a butcher date versus having, you know, 400-pound hogs eating everything," Campbell said.
More: Non-profit Proteus Inc. to offer healthcare to slaughterhouse workers.
Former Iowa Governor and current U.S. Sec. of Agriculture Tom Vilsack is hoping $655 million in loans and grants will help launch new meat-processing facilities to help compete with
Tyson, National Beef, Cargill and JBS, four major corporations that control the market.
More on USDA: USDA moves to feed millions of children over the summer.
On this episode of River to River, host Ben Kieffer speaks with two small producers and two small processors trying to meet that demand.
"Right now we basically make a locker date for a beef before it's born," said
Barney Bahrenfuse of B&B Farms. "And then you think, that's two years to get a beef to market."
Guests:
- DaQuay Campbell, owner of Black Oak Acres near Tipton
- David Stender, Extension swine specialist Iowa State University Extension Office
- Ty Gustafson, owner of Story City Locker in Story City
- Curtis Van Grouw, owner of Old Parlor Meat Company in Rock Valley
