A spokesman for Greeley- based JBS USA says ranchers have nothing to fear from the company’s efforts to become the largest beef packer in the United States.
Chandler Keys, spokesman for the Brazilian-controlled company, told members of the Montana Stockgrowers Association in Billings that his company’s success depends on successful cow-calf operations.
“We’re in the cattle industry, and we’re going to pay you top dollar to get these cattle in our yards,” Keys, head of government and industry relations for JBS, told the group Friday.
Cow-calf operations breed cattle, selling weaned animals weighing 450 to 650 pounds to feedlots, which fatten them before slaughter.
The federal government and several states, including Montana and Wyoming, are suing JBS to stop its plans to purchase National Beef Packing Co. of Kansas City, Mo.
The purchase would trim the number of major U.S. beef buyers in the United States from five to three, raising antitrust concerns for federal and state attorneys.
JBS bought Colorado-based Swift & Co. in 2007 and Smithfield Beef Group this year.
The Smithfield purchase included Five Rivers Ranch Cattle Feeding, the Western feedlots that buy feeder cattle from several states, including Montana.
