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Cattlemen tell Hartzler their price concerns after fire

A Missouri cattleman met with Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler on her farm tour to express concern about the effects on the cattle market from the Kansas beef plant fire.

Ron McBee has a 600 cow/calf operation in central Missouri, near Fayette, “My theory is that we could do without a lot of the government welfare if we had a more level playing field in the cattle business. Directly, the next week after the fire feeder cattle went down 20-cents, Choice cattle went up $9.00 so the packer makes all the money instead of spreading it out.

Fred Weiker hosted the tour at his Angus ranch on Monday, “The people feeding cattle will lose money and I hear that more than likely you won’t see any reductions of the price of beef in the stores, which I think is ridiculous. If the cattle producers are getting less, the stores should be charging less. The middleman is getting the money.”

Hartzler assured the cattlemen she is holding a briefing after the August break to look into the issue, “Just to make sure that all eyes are watching the industry, to make sure they’re not taking advantage of this tragedy with the fire and using it as an excuse to pay farmers less.”

Hartzler serves on the House Ag livestock subcommittee. She is the only Missouri member of the House Ag Committee.