Everything Except for What is Most Important — For a sustainable cattle industry, by Gilles Stockton
Montana Cattlemen’s Association
Press Release
Release Date: November 13, 2025
Contact person: Gilles Stockton
(406) 428-2183
Email: mca and gillesstockton@gmail.com
Everything Except for What is Most Important.
Back in April, an ad hoc group of cattle producers met to form the “Common Ground Coalition” and published what they consider to be the policies needed for the future of the cattle industry. Then just a few weeks ago, USDA released a “Plan to Fortify the American Beef Industry.” These two plans have many points in common, among them, more government subsidies and cheaper more abundant immigrant labor. Whatever cattle producers feel about dependance on government checks and foreign guest workers, what is not mentioned is the one policy that is by far the most important – elimination of captive supply.
When the President announced an increased quota for Argentinian beef the cattle industry freaked out. The market got real jumpy, and some producers lost hundreds of bucks on each head. Then, on November 7th, the White House made this announcement:
“Today, President Donald J. Trump directed the Department of Justice to launch an investigation into the nation’s largest meat packing companies for potential collusion, price fixing, and price manipulation. This decisive action targets the foreign-dominated conglomerates that control America’s meat supply and have been accused of artificially inflating prices at the expense of farmers, ranchers, and working families.”
This at least gets more to the point. However, the beef packers have already been exhaustively investigated. Just a year ago, USDA announced an advanced notice of rulemaking, “Price Discovery and Competition in Markets for Fed Cattle.” On page 8, USDA states:
“… in three out of the country’s five USDA-designated procurement regions, the cash negotiated share is significantly lower than 20 percent, reaching as low as 12.5 percent of total cattle sales in the Kansas (KS) region, 8.3 percent in the Colorado (CO) region, and 2.6 percent in the Texas – Oklahoma – New Mexico (TX-OK-NM) region.”
Captive supply – feedlot cattle committed to a packer but never publicly priced – is killing the cattle industry, and is the one policy reform that the “big players” in the industry are eager to never address. Instead, they call captive supplies – Alternative Marketing Agreements (AMAs) and claim that these are voluntary marketing practices that give cattle feeders flexibility in disposing of their finished cattle. Captive supplies are, however, not voluntary and the cash market, which sets the price for the captive supply cattle, is not representative of the overall market dynamics. Cattle feeders are trapped. They must agree to captive supply, because otherwise, they will not have their cattle slaughtered in a timely manner.
Perhaps the gigantic cattle feeding concerns and their private equity investors are happy with the captive supply system. It may work for them, but it is not in the interests of independent feeders, cattle ranchers, consumers, or good for the future of rural America. Over the last ten years we have lost 150,000 cattle producers. Half were independent feeders, the people who make the feeder calf market competitive.
There is more disturbing news. Walmart, has decided that there is no need to share the profits for beef with the packers. They look at how chickens and pigs are vertically integrated and figure that they can do the same with cattle. If successful, the Walmart “captive supply” will not just cover fed cattle, it will extend all the way to controlling the decisions ranchers make in breeding, managing, and marketing. As in the case of poultry and hogs, the public market will simply disappear.
It is time for “Common Ground,” but instead of focusing on more government subsidies and cheaper foreign labor, let’s talk about markets and how they can again be a forum for actual price discovery. All we need to do is what ranchers and feeders did in 1921 – require that packers bid against each other in a public competitive market. The Packers and Stockyards Act was passed for just that reason. While we are at it, let’s get country of origin labeling. American consumers should have the right to purchase beef – Born and Raised in the USA.
Gilles Stockton
Grass Range Montana
November 13, 2025