CALF_News_February_March_2021

15 CALF News • February | March 2021 • www.calfnews.net We Bring Information and Management Together! For more information email sales@turnkeynet.com, or call (800) 999-0049. Turnkey Computer Systems, LLC . 6117 Amarillo Blvd. West . Amarillo, Texas 79106 . Phone: (806) 372-1200 www.turnkeynet.com T he Turnkey Visual Management System is a decision support and analysis tool for feedyard management. INTRODUCING THE VISUAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FROM TURNKEY • Decision Support • Buyer Analysis • Vet/Feed Statistics • Customer Management • Customized Data Views • Multi-Yard Comparison • Customized Data Alerts • Scheduled Reporting addition to financial benefits, the beef could age while it was in transit. They would also control how the beef went to market. And they could ride out the highs and lows of the cattle market. His father eventually gave in. Construction of the plant started in the summer of 1959. Operations of Greeley-Capitol Pack began on May 16, 1960. The 92,000-square-foot plant cost $2 million to build and was able to process 600 cattle and 240 lambs per day. It was a struggle from day one. After six months, Capitol Pack wanted out. Kenny wanted to keep going, using the Monfort name, but Warren was not convinced. Once again, Kenny pre- vailed. After the papers were signed, Warren looked at Kenny and with a smile told him, “At least I still have my teaching certificate. I don’t know what you’ ll do.” Warren managed the feedlots, Kenny the packing plant. Kenny jokingly said his father became just like other feeders. “He learned to hate me,” he said. But he had been raised in the cattle feeding environment and knew they were feeder/packers, not packer/feeders. And he believed in the logic of what the company was trying to accomplish. It was touch and go for the first year, withWarren and Kenny needing to go back to the bank with hat in hand to keep things afloat. They weren’t sure they would make payroll each week. Monfort Packing Co., started making money in 1963, though, and was able to pay off its debt. Competition and Labor By this time, their competition was changing. The Big Five packers were getting out of the business. Iowa Beef Packers (IBP), which by 1969 had nine packing plants, had become the world’s largest beef producer – larger than its five largest competitors put together. And they were playing by their own set of rules. IBP believed that not only was beef production antiquated, but the way people were paid for it was antiquated, too. The company focused on efficiency and productivity while lowering labor costs. That meant going up against the packing unions. Those unions had been increasing in power since a 1935 government act that encouraged collective bargaining. In 1948, a strike by the United Pack- inghouse Workers of America led to a “follow the leader” model comparable to the automobile industry. Continued on page 19  Kenny discusses plant operations with Niles Campbell (left) and Wayne Tritt.