09/23/2026
Nebraska ranchers tired of selling into a market run by four big packers built their own plant in North Platte.
It started processing cattle in May 2025. It cost about $400 million, sits on the site of an old city sewage lagoon, and is built to handle 1,500 head a day. That's roughly 37 truckloads of cattle a day that don't have to go to one of the Big Four.
Rusty Kemp, a McPherson County rancher and one of the cattlemen behind it, said it would make every calf in the state worth more.
It's not a cure. Walmart owns a minority stake, the Big Four still process about 85% of the country's beef, and the Justice Department's investigation of them is still open.
One group of cattlemen proved a new plant can still get built.
What would a plant like that within a day's haul mean for your operation?
Sources: Western Livestock Journal, Meat+Poultry, Food Processing, Fox Business
