Diamond GB Ranch LLC & TexaKashi Beef

10/04/2026

10/04/2026

The small beef plants that wrap your half beef in white paper just got $500 million worth of backup from USDA.

They're the places with a gravel lot, a walk-in cooler, and a butcher who knows your rancher by name. For years they've been squeezed between four giant packers and a shrinking cattle herd.

USDA's new SPUR program pays every eligible independent plant $53.05 for each head it processed in 2025. A family plant that ran 100 head gets $5,305. Half comes right away. The rest arrives once it processes 60 head this year.

It won't fix a 75-year low in cattle numbers, and critics call it a drop in the bucket. Plants also need federal or approved state inspection to qualify.

But it's money that goes to the little guy, and it stays in town.

What's the name of the local meat plant your family has trusted the longest?

Sources: USDA, Meatingplace, AAMP

10/01/2026

09/30/2026