Meet the Big 4 Meatpackers: A Farmer's Guide to the Companies That Control 85% of America's Beef

Some readers may not have followed the recent kerfuffle about JBS closing their slaughterhouse in Souderton, PA and getting rid of 1,500 jobs because the plant is "too small" (aka only handles a couple thousand cows a day).

I obviously spend all my time thinking about this stuff, but not everyone is so deep down the beef industry rabbit hole.

So I thought I'd just give a quick refresher to reintroduce the reptilian monsters (whoops, my bad that was a typo!) perfectly normal human business people I keep ranting and raving about.

Who are the Big 4 Meatpackers?

The Big 4 Meatpackers are JBS, Cargill, Tyson, and National Beef.

Together they control about 85% of the beef in America, mostly via processing and marketing.

It's important to note that they do not raise cattle. Cattle are difficult to raise, require a lot of space and skill, and the big meatpackers have generally been able to buy finished cattle cheaper than they could have raised them so they were happy to let farmers take the risk.

Their model is built around buying fat cattle once they're finished, slaughtering them in the massive plants they own, then breaking the carcass down and selling it.

They work with huge distributors, multinational fast food chains, grocery stores, and of course their own sub-brands.

(Some of them have dozens of brands. Many of which are designed to look local and wholesome, like something you'd feel comfortable feeding your family, but are really just commodity junk in a trench coat.)

And historically the Big 4 have had an occasional tendency to collude with each other.

That's not me saying this, it's the US government which has fined them for that multiple times. They don't fine them enough, or even close to enough, but they do it!

(For the colorful version of just how often that happens, here's the JBS rap sheet.)

Because of this anti-competitive behavior, they basically function as a bloc. Not technically a monopoly, but they kinda feel like one, because they control enough of the market that competition between them is essentially theater.

There is no meaningful difference between Cargill beef or JBS beef or whatever. It is a commodity. A bland, generic, replacement-level product that can be shipped anywhere, stored anywhere, sold anywhere.

That's how they want things and, since they basically ARE the market, most of the beef in this country is raised to cater to their specs.

How the incentive cascade actually works

From there, it's all just incentives.

• The massive feedlots are going to try to make as much money as possible. That means producing fat cows as fast and cheap as possible. That means hormone implants, antibiotics in the feed, and a ration designed to put on the most weight per dollar.
• The folks selling cattle to the feedlots are going to try to make as much money as possible, so they want cattle with big frames that pack on weight efficiently on a grain-based diet.
• The cow-calf guys are going to try to make as much money as possible, so they want calves that are going to weigh as much as possible at weaning time and the earliest possible weaning.
• The whole thing relies on cheap, government-subsidized grain grown across the country. Grain that most of us are paying for twice, once at the grocery store and once on our tax returns.

BTW, when I say the producers will try to "make as much money as possible" I'm not being accusatory. There's nothing shady going on.

The system is set up for farmers and ranchers to have thin margins. They take the risk and the packers keep the upside (usually). So raising beef in a way that controls costs and optimizes for what the customer (the Big 4 Meatpackers) wants is just the rational, or often only, thing to do.

Why there's zero incentive to produce beef that tastes good

There is some value in consistently producing Prime or Choice beef. But when that marbling comes from a corn-and-soy diet in a feedlot, a USDA grade is just a stamp of how much sickly inflamed fat they were able to jam in there. It doesn't tell the end consumer (aka YOU) anything about flavor, texture, nutrient-density, or what it does to the land.

But there is ZERO incentive in the system to produce beef that tastes good, contains actual nutrients, or doesn't poison the planet.

Oh and once the Big 4 get their greedy little scaly claws normal human hands (WHY DO I KEEP DOING THAT?) on the beef, they make everything worse with 'wet-aging' and massive supply chains that make the beef anything but fresh.

Their whole system is designed to produce a commodity, as efficiently and cheaply as possible.

....and it tastes like it.

(For the deeper version of how that ends up at the grocery store, here's why grocery store beef is watery and who's profiting from it.)

Meanwhile, over at Dirty Dog Farm

Meanwhile, over in DirtyDogFarmLand, we're basically the opposite of everything I just described....

• Our cows spend their entire (much longer and happier) lives eating 100% Grass in an abundant variety (over 40 species in a single pasture)
• No feedlot, no grains, no finishing pen.
• Absolutely ZERO hormone implants, antibiotics, or chemical sprays.
• Genetics tailored for getting fat and healthy on grass, not heavy and inflamed in a feedlot pen.
• The beef gets handed off to a small local butcher where it is dry-aged properly to ensure the highest possible quality and best flavor.

Which is probably why people keep finding us, and why the waitlist regularly stretches several months out.

If you want to opt into our better way of doing things, you can reserve a Beef Share with a free chest freezer here.

As always, spots go first come, first served. If you've been waiting for the right moment, this is it.

P.S. Our Fake General Counsel absolutely hates it when I make typos that UNINTENTIONALLY cast doubt on the motivations or humanity of our corporate overlords. These are honest mistakes and I sincerely apologize to any definitely 100% decent human people I've offended.