Betty Jo Gigot, Editor and Publisher

George Herrmann may have turned the day-to-day chores over to his sons, but he certainly keeps up with every aspect of the industry and implications issues may present for the far-flung business he and the boys have built on Kansas’ High Plains.

Doing what came naturally
At first, Herrmann was not going to tell me his age as he sat at his desk at Ford County Feed Yard, east of Dodge City, Kan. His eyes twinkled as he admitted to being 83. During our interview, he traded cattle and talked about a land sale on the phone while he discussed the issues of the day with me. Everyone should be so well informed.

“The cattle industry has been good to my family and me,” Herrmann says. He and his wife, Pauline, raised six sons and a daughter down the road from the 53,000-head capacity feedyard north of the tiny town of Ford, Kan. Herrmann lost his son, Mark, in a plane crash several years ago, and Pauline passed away late last year. Herrmann stays busy, tending to the business at hand.

“My first love was trading cattle,” Herrmann says, and he is very specific about the type of cattle he likes to work with. He prefers lightweight lean cattle, not those 600-pound, “sappy” calves that someone else has “spoiled.”

“Many years ago, I was telling my cattle broker, Jack Black, that we had too much sickness in our cattle,” Herrmann says. “So Jack said that we needed to look at Mexican cattle because they never get sick.”

Black found a load, so Bill Ferguson, the Kansas attorney general, and Herrmann went down to look at them.

“I can see it to this day,” Herrmann remembers. “Bill was a little short guy and here we were. I was looking over the fence and Bill was looking in between the first and second rails at those Mexican steers. He didn’t like them and asked Black if he could take them back. I thought they looked like 500-pound cattle that needed groceries.” Over Ferguson’s objections, Herrmann bought the cattle and made $95 per head. Herrmann became a fixture on the border, feeding literally hundreds of thousands of Mexican cattle over the years.

Even with the new farm bill and impending implementation of COOL, Herrmann is still buying cattle from across the border. “Surely there will be a grandfather clause or something,” he says.

Herrmann’s son John starts a lot of the cattle that go into the yard, purchasing many of those from Capitol Land and Livestock in Schwertner, Texas. “He gets along well with them,” says Danny Herrmann, manager of the family operation.

Changes and changes
COOL is just one of the many changes that Herrmann has seen. And right down the road, the High Plains Packing Plant (aka National Beef Packing), built right after Herrmann built Ford County Feed Yard, may soon be National Beef Packing JBS. Herrmann has no problem with that. “If the government leaves them alone, why not?” Herrmann says. “As a matter of fact, I was always leaning toward joining the packers,” he laughs. “If you can’t beat them, join them, but I never could get it done. I always felt it would eliminate some of the risk.”

And life has been a bit riskier of late as the family and the company feeds more and more cattle. Like other feedyards, customers are harder and harder to come by.

According to Danny Herrmann, one successful change has been signing up with the Certified Hereford® program. “It has worked very well for us,” he says. “We were always looking for a niche, and this one seemed natural.”

George Herrmann’s father raised registered Herefords near Jetmore, Kan., so the program was an attractive legacy for the family. Several thousand Herefords are currently on feed at the yard.

Changes in the grain business have been a surprise. George Herrmann never thought he’d see $12 wheat. “And we sold some at $12,” Herrmann says.

The family farms a large number of acres, raising wheat and alfalfa in the area.

The ethanol boom does not get Herrmann’s blessing. “My major complaint is that the government is financing it,” Herrmann says. “They should let prices reach their own level. The same is true for distiller’s grain. It has to be able to compete with the other feedstuffs. Meanwhile, we are feeding high priced grains.”

As to the future, Herrmann thinks the industry may be in for a couple of rough years, but he’s not deterred. He remembers 1974 when he was broke and nobody knew it. “Then I said something to my banker and he told me that he certainly knew it, they just didn’t know what to do about it,” Herrmann chuckles. “We’ve had tough years before,” Herrmann says. “But we’ve always come through them.”

At 83, Herrmann seems to be getting set up for the next fight.