New Mills County Slaughterhouse Will Offer Producers Fair Return

The investor-owned corporation Cattlemen’s Heritage is set to begin construction for its new federally inspected beef processing facility this spring. If all goes according to plan, this $450 million facility will be processing 1,500 head of cattle a day by late 2023.

Before beginning the building process, backers of the plant are holding investor meetings in Iowa and around the region. Frank Maher with Jennings Kallen Advisors told WNAX that the facility will be taking cattle from all over the region.

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"The cattle are coming from a 180-mile radius of Council Bluffs," Maher said, "so that includes southeast South Dakota, north Missouri, and then as far west as Grand Island (Nebraska) and as far east as Fort Dodge."

The facility is an opportunity for producers to invest in themselves and get a fair return, said Maher.

"It's an opportunity for the producers to get back control," said Maher. "We're in a marketplace where packer pricing is increasing and the amount of money that the producers are getting is falling and that's been happening since the beginning of 2014 and there's no end in sight because the packers are getting more and the producers are getting less."

For a priority space, also referred to as shackle space, producers are being asked for a minimum investment of $100-thousand.

"The timeline is, we're looking at putting the first shovels in the ground in May of 2022 and wrapping it up in December 2023," he said.

The site will employ 750 people in a single shift and offer employees on-site childcare and health services. Employees will be offered nearly subsidized housing as well.

Cattlemen’s Heritage’s goal is to not be bought by one of the four major meatpackers.