It was bound to happen. Not if, but when.
After 70 years of operation, the 50,000-head capacity Lubbock Feeders has announced it will close its West Texas feedlot as soon as current contracted inventories are fed and finished. After doing the math, conventional wisdom has all fingers pointing south.
For many years Mexican feeder cattle comprised 60-70% of the yard’s cattle inventory. However in November 2024, the USDA began closing the U.S./Mexico border to live animal imports due to threats of New World Screwworm (NWS) infections. The last feeder steers crossed north last May…