Demise Of Packing Cooperative
May Bode Ill For Feedlot Co-Op

BISMARCK, N.D. —(AP)— The imminent demise of a beef slaughterhouse venture in the upper Midwest could hurt efforts by the North Dakota Farmers Union to start a producer-owned feedlot.

"It certainly complicates matters,"Farmers Union President Robert Carlson said. "f you're going to have a feedlot in North Dakota, you should have a slaughterhouse nearby. That would be a definite advantage."

he Northern Plains Premium Beef cooperative wanted to build a plant in Belle Fourche, S.D., to process and market high-quality beef. But two equity drives failed, and members will vote early this month on whether to dissolve the co-op.

Farmers Union plans to background calves, or feed them until they weigh around 800 pounds. The cattle would be fed to slaughter weight, about 1200 pounds, at a finishing feedlot — perhaps Dakota Prairie Beef.

Dakota Prairie said this week that it will proceed with plans to build a feedlot near Gascoyne, in southeast North Dakota. Chairman Dick Bowman said the co-op would look at other marketing opportunities now that Northern Plains will likely dissolve.

Carlson said the business plan for the Farmers Union feedlot, finished last week, included a scenario in which the Northern Plains plant did not exist and the co-op had to ship cattle to a plant or finishing feedlot farther south.

But he acknowledged that's not the most desirable option. The most beneficial to producers, he said, would be a system where cattle went from the ranch to a backgrounding feedlot, a finishing feedlot and then a nearby packing plant.

"That's what we really wanted to be a part of — that chain," Carlson said. "The difficulties Northern Plains Premium Beef has had really complicates that plan."

Bill Patrie, rural development director of the state Association of Rural Electric Cooperatives and Rural Telephone Cooperatives, has advised numerous value-added ventures in the state, including Northern Plains. He said he sees no problem with efforts to beef up the feedlot industry in North Dakota despite the absence of a nearby packing plant.

"It would have been much easier to organize beef producers into a marketing cooperative if we'd had this feeding system already in place," he said.

The Farmers Union co-op's board of directors will meet Oct. 14 in Devils Lake to review the business plan and decide whether to proceed with a drive to sell membership and equity stock, Carlson said.