STRONG CITY — It was a sight to behold.
Even the bull haulers said so.
The early sun was riding low in the sky and every now and then it would poke its face through the bank of dark clouds.
The 10,000 acre Hymer-Lipps pasture, high in the Flint Hills and blackened by fire in April, was greener than the top of a new pool table.
On the horizon, 20 over-the-road tractors pulling double-decker stock trailers filled with young steers were lined up waiting to unload.
Lots of times, there are four or six, or a dozen trailers waiting to unload. But 20, in the middle of a 10,000-acre pasture? That's rare. And when the sun popped through those clouds, it was over-the-road calendar material.
The trucks began drifting into Strong City in the wee hours of the morning after a nearly 600-mile ride from the cattle pens in Evant, Tex. Some made it in about 11 hours.
The Kansas beef industry generates twice as much revenue as wheat. It was $4.95 billion in 2000.
Kansas ranks first in the nation in the number of commercial cattle processed, with 8.21 million head in 2000.
Kansas ranks second in the nation in value of hides exported, at $200.2 million in 1999.
Kansas ranks second in the nation in the value of live animals and meat exported to other countries, at $761.7 million in 1999.
Some truckers stopped along the way to eat or to change a tire. Some limped in on blowouts easier changed after unloading.
For the young steers aboard, this was the third road trip in their short lives.
The steers were born on ranches in Mexico. In September and October, when they reached 200 or 300 pounds, they were trucked to the Texas border. Their next ride was halfway across Texas to grasslands near Evant, 155 miles southwest of Dallas. Today they weigh between 400 and 500 pounds and are ready to munch the mineral-rich grasses adorning the Flint Hills.
Their owner, National Farms, is counting on them gaining between 1.7 and 2.2 pounds a day. They figure it takes one acre of the lush grasses to feed 275 pounds of beef.
If the weather wasn't such a factor, raising cattle would be a science.
"We could use some rain now," said James Peschbacher, National Farms manager in Cottonwood Falls. "Last year was dry, and we hope we are luckier this year."
The pasture that only an hour before had been deserted suddenly was very busy. Gene Matile, the National Farms caretaker who burned the pastures, wheeled a single-cow chute into position to off-load the cattle.
How do you unload more than 2,000 head of cattle? One at a time.
"You have to count each steer coming down the chute and check to see if they're limping or otherwise injured," Matile said, not taking his eyes off the cattle as one by one, they charged down the chute and trotted onto the huge expanse of pasture.
Dangerous work
The cattle trailer is actually several independent pens separated by a series of gates that the driver opens and closes from inside the truck.
The footing is slippery, and pushing 100 head of cattle through a small opening can be dangerous work.
As each truck unloaded, the cattle always took off in the same direction.
"They like to head into the wind, and they graze the same way," Matile commented.
After they covered 40 or 50 yards, the cattle would stop and take a few mouthfuls of grass.
Matile smiled and said, "That's a good sign."
The young steers will stay in the Flint Hills from 90 to 120 days. When they begin leaving in July and August, they'll weigh between 550 and 700 pounds.
According to extension agent Mike Holder, there are more than 120,000 head of cattle grazing in these Chase County pastures that cover more than 400,000 acres.
Their next ride will be to feedlots in Kansas towns like Garden City, Sublette, Larned or Turon, one last stop and three or four months away from the packing plant.
At the feed lots, they'll eat out of troughs until late October and November when they'll weigh between 1,100 and 1,200 pounds and head for their final stop, meatpacking plants in Garden City, Emporia or Liberal, to name a few.
By this time, the freight for each steer's journey through Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas is $45 a head. And, the final product is still a long way from the grocery store and the back-yard grill.
Senior editor Bill Snead can be reached at 832-7196.
No comments
Commenting is turned off for this story.