Greeley, Colorado Feed Lots
June 30th through July 4th 2006: Greeley,
Colorado (50-miles north of Denver).
We are in Greeley RV-Park N40° 23.590' W104° 40.311' phone:
970-353-6476. They have gravel interior roads and gravel pull-thru
sites with mature shaded trees; 50-amps, water and sewer, $24.00 per-night.
We have chosen Greeley
as our place to "lay-low" over the 4th of July when everyone
that has an RV in North America decides to use it. We have found that
on national holidays if we are not safe and secure in an RV-Park we
will find ourselves without a place to stay. We knew Greeley
was having a Stampede and thought it would provide some entertainment
over the 4th but had no idea how much entertainment.
East of town on US-34 we drove by a huge feed lot that is supposed
to be finishing 2,500 head of cattle on a steady basis. I can believe
it. The place looked like this for about one mile along US-34.
Cattle in Feed lot East of Greeley
I would like to have toured this facility but they stopped offering
tours because of PETA protesters. They have even grown trees to shield
the operation from traffic on US-34. Joyce snapped these pictures
between breaks in the trees. The operation was BIG as in over a mile
of frontage on US-34.
Cattle in Feed lot East of Greeley
I do not know if trucks deliver and haul these cattle away but we
did see train tracks and over a mile of cattle cars so I suspect these
cattle are being moved by rail.
Storage For Feed lot
This is a feed storage area for the feed lot. As you can see it is
almost empty.
Feed storage for this operation
Something tells me that the malt from the Coors
Brewery in Golden,
Colorado is being delivered here. I remember seeing that 18-wheeler
being loaded with the malt left over from the beer making process
and it was headed to a feed lot.
At one time Greeley was the number one agriculture producing county
in the world then they dropped to number one in the United States
and now reside as number seven.
According to literature in the history museum they are the only non-citrus
producing in the top ten agriculture producing counties in the United
States.
Years ago sugar beets was the top crop now the sugar refinery has
closed and sugar beet production is on the wane. Beef is what keeps
them ranked at number 7. The local Swift slaughter house is supposedly
processing 8,700 head of cattle per-day in a 24/7 operation. Wow!
That is a lot of beef going through a single slaughter house in one
day. There is also a sheep processing plant in town.
The individual that was providing the slaughter house information
used to work at the plant and knew a good bit about it. They said
all cattle entered the plant via 18-wheeler cattle trailers with 40
head in each. My mind quickly determined that would be 218 truck loads
of cattle per-day entering the plant and unloading. That would mean
that in a 24-hour day they average unloading 9 semi-truck loads of
cattle per-hour every hour of the day and night.
We have all heard that they sell everything but the squeal. As amazing
as it may sound everything that comes into the plant will be shipped
out of the plant as well---except, perhaps that squeal. Of course
more can be packed on each outbound truck than was on the trucks delivering
the live cattle. Trucks leaving with frozen beef destined for market
will be tightly packaged in neat boxes. Trucks leaving with hides
will be fully loaded with compressed hides, etc., so it is safe to
assume that not nearly as many trucks will be needed to transport
the finished goods out of the plant.
Here are some of our other Travel Adventures near Greeley:
Ault,
Colorado Agriculture ** Greeley
Parade in 2009 ** Greeley
Stampede Parade 2009 ** Commanche
Peak Wilderness **
Fort
Collins and the Poudre River ** Poudre
Canyon Scenic Drive ** Poudre
River Scenic Drive ** Greeley
Agriculture **
Greeley
Feed Lots ** Greeley
Grain Elevators ** Centennial
Village ** Longhorn
Cattle in Greeley Parade ** Greeley's
2006 Parade
Until next time remember how good life is.
Mike
& Joyce Hendrix
Mike
& Joyce Hendrix who we are
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Until next time remember how good life is.