On day 2 of the Summer Ag Tour, we stopped at Five Rivers Feedyard. Our tour was led by Mr. Zeke McCarty, where he explained the history of the Feedyard and the present time operation. This feed yard was built in 1970, along with 2 additional feedyards built in 1970 and 1974. He explained to us about how they harvest only once a year in fall. Their total acreage is 100,000 including all pens, the lagoon, office, mechanic shop, and a few other buildings. They use the lagoon to capture runoff water and use it for crops. At the Feedyard they mix their own rations of ingredients for the cattle. They use ingredients such as palm oil, ethanol, liquid finisher product, and corn flakes. FUN FACT: they use the palm oil as a fattening source.
In their company they have about 600 employees throughout all of their locations. On the Feedyard they have a hospital crew, pen riders, processing, shipping, and receivers. If customers want to keep their cattle there they charge them a yardage fee per head of cattle. My favorite part of this stop was seeing all of the cattle and see how they make their own feed and use the lagoon to water their crops.
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