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.
Click here if you
are interested in 50% savings at Pass Port America Campgrounds
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.
Feed lot East Greeley, Colorado
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
Mike & Joyce Hendrix
Mike
& Joyce Hendrix who we are
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Until next time remember how good life is.
