The Red Meat Club of Denver, CO, has selected the Monfort family of Greeley, CO as the group’s 2019 Friend of the National Western honoree. The Monforts will be recognized at the annual Red Meat Club dinner on Jan. 17, 2019, held as always at the National Western Club.
The name “Monfort” is synonymous with Colorado and the beef industry. Founded in 1930, Warren H. Monfort began feeding cattle in a small feedlot north of Greeley, starting with a small herd of just 18 head in the midst of the Great Depression.
Changes in field production that saw more farmers using tractors instead of horses in their fields created a large surplus of corn feed. Capitalizing on the excess feed, Monfort was able to provide well-fed cattle year-round. The feedlot grew quickly into one of the largest in the country, with a 3,500-head capacity in the midst of World War II, 8,000 by 1950, and 32,000 by 1960.
Stories of the Monfort-owned beef packing plants span generations and other families. For example, truck drivers like Chuck Sylvester and Evan Slack drove the graveyard shifts for Kenneth Monfort’s father, Warren, in the late 1950s.
“At midnight, we’d shut down and go to the cafeteria for a delicious meal,” recalls Sylvester.
“Often times Warren, and his son Ken would join us on the road. They had a real interest in how their employees were doing.”
There was such an interest that the Monfort’s open door policy stretched throughout the cattle industry and to the neighboring National Western Stock Show. The Monfort children were no stranger to the “super bowl” of livestock shows. A young Kenneth Monfort is forever ingrained in Colorado history with the 1941 title of Grand Champion Steer at the National Western Stock Show.
The Monfort family has sustained and succeeded through many changes in the beef industry and continues to be part of the fabric of Colorado ranching, and a name beef producers respect and regard.
“Both Warren and my father Kenny were individuals who believed there is always a way to improve how you do business and they both dedicated their lives to finding better solutions to challenges in agriculture,” said Dick Monfort.
“Warren use to tell us, if you have a viable business there will be highs and there will be lows. But with a strong sense of adventure to make things better, you will succeed.”
The Monfort family has sustained and succeeded many changes in the beef industry and continue to be the fabric to which Colorado beef producers respect and regard.
The Friend of the National Western Award has been awarded since 1993 by the Red Meat Club of Denver, which hosts an annual social dinner program during the stock show fostering agricultural fellowship, networking, and education. Past recipients include livestock exhibitors, volunteers, and ag-business industry leaders who have made significant contributions to the operations, programs, and the traditions of the National Western Stock Show.
The Red Meat Club’s featured speaker this year is meat industry leader Mark Dopp, general counsel and senior vice president of regulatory and scientific affairs for the North American Meat Institute (NAMI). Dopp oversees NAMI’s policy development and research, representing industry views to government officials on all significant regulatory and scientific initiatives, and will speak to the group on the subject of “alternative meats.” — WLJ
