New Iowa Slaughterhouse Will Offer Producers Fair Return

An investor-owned corporation is set to begin construction for a new federally inspected beef processing facility in western Iowa this spring.

If all goes according to plan, Cattlemen’s Heritage's $450 million facility in Mills County, Iowa 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."

WATCH: South Dakota TikToker Shows Off the Funny Side Of Ranch Life

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.

Life on a Cattle Ranch in Western South Dakota

Life is different out in the country. One look at the photo from Robin Bickel and you quickly realize that a workday is quite different as well, after all, she lives out west in South Dakota Cattle Country.

Robin Bickel took time to tell KIKN Country a little bit about her life out west and life as a woman, working outdoors with animals and nature in God's Country. Bickel lives and works on a cattle ranch operated by herself, her father, Jack, and his brother Keith. How far out in the country is she? How does 50 miles west of Mobridge, South Dakota sound? Yep, mountain time out there.

Life is so different in Sioux Falls, South Dakota compared to what our friends on the farm and ranches deal with. It's a half-mile to the grocery store for our family. For Robin, it's 17 miles. However, it's a quick step out her door and she's right in the middle of where a lot of the groceries come from.