A group of cattle farmers weary of watching their profits dissipate have decided to take action.

They’ve banded together and formed a new livestock group called the Iowa Stock Growers Association, which aims to help support small- and mid-sized farmers across the state.

David Savage, who farms near Lamoni and serves as secretary of the board of the new association, said that in 2020, cattle producers were netting only 37 percent of the retail dollar.

He shared that the cost of raising a cow averages $1,500 per head for one year but that a weaned calf only sells for $1,000, so a farmer essentially loses $500 per head.

As a first-generation farmer who came to Iowa from Ohio about 12 years ago, Savage and his counterparts surveyed fellow growers to glean their opinion about the cattle industry and learned they weren’t the only ones discouraged.

“Our goal is to represent the independent producer and preserve access to the cattle market so we don’t go the route pork did. The average cow herd size is 44 head. That size of an operation hasn’t been represented in the state for some time. We want our group to represent them, the small-scale growers,” Savage said.

The Iowa Stock Growers Association invited Eric Nelson, a Moville farmer who also volunteers with R-CALF, to speak to their group. Nelson is a fourth-generation producer who, together with his son and grandsons, farm about 1,500 acres and run cattle across three counties in order to offer quality and affordable pasture ground for their herd.

“At one time, my grandfather ran a lot of sheep and had a couple thousand market lambs. Everyone milked cows back then. I grew up in the ’60s and ’70s when no one had money. Now we also run a retail seed business that my grandfather started in the mid-1960s,” Nelson said.

“The problem with the industry today is that there’s very little return to labor and management in a cow-calf operation, whether it’s 50 or 500 head. Those of us with 50 cows have to have other income sources to bridge that gap.”

After meeting with Nelson, Savage and other producers decided to merge their efforts and represent all livestock producers. Nelson now serves as president of the ISGA.

“It was really important for us to include all stock, so we’re inviting all forms of livestock — pigs, sheep, goats, horses, everything. I represent cow-calf as that’s my background,” Savage said.

Nelson noted that livestock production in Iowa continues to become integrated and controlled by a handful of companies, which can be seen in the hog industry.

“There has become a disconnect with who is representing Iowa livestock producers and how they’re being represented, with the example being how Iowa’s hog industry has succumbed to corporate control in recent years,” Nelson said. “It has become painfully obvious that a more robust discussion involving all participants in Iowa’s livestock industry needs to happen not only in the halls of Congress but also up and down main street of every city and town in Iowa. The future of Iowa agriculture hinges on entrepreneurial livestock production as an entry point for future generations. Iowa Stock Growers Association will fight for a place, the opportunity for future generations to profitably own and raise livestock.”

Nelson said that only 20 percent of U.S.-raised beef is actually consumed in the U.S. and, right now, the country is seeing the smallest U.S. cow herd since 1950.

“At the same time, we’re importing way more beef than we ever have. So are we just going to let that happen and depend on foreign countries?” Nelson asked. “The association aims to represent the underrepresented livestock producer in Iowa. It’s an issue nationally. Three years ago when the beef plant in Tama was for sale, a number of us lobbied to try and prevent the sale since it was going to be purchased by one of the big four beef packers in the country. If a smaller entity would’ve bought it, we’d be supporting small business and small entrepreneurial cattle producers in Iowa instead of it being owned by a Brazilian company.”

The new association’s initial focus so far has been on policy. Leaders have met with congressmen and intend to continue the fight to reinstate mandatory country of origin labeling.

“We aren’t going to take our eye off that prize. It was repealed during the Obama administration and ever since then it’s been pretty tough sledding for the cattle industry and independent cattlemen,” Savage said. “We also want to stand for getting beef packers to compete in the cash market and serve locally sourced meat in school lunch programs. The crux of it is we’re going to try and support the policies that put profit back into the pockets of small- and medium-sized producers.”

The ISGA leaders also will seek to station a special investigator from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to watch competition and enforce the Packers and Stockyards Act, and prevent lobbying groups from receiving checkoff dollars.

Nelson noted that the stock growers group in South Dakota that represents several livestock species have successfully gotten several resolutions passed at the statehouse that support smaller-scale producers.

Although the new association is in its infancy, Savage said leaders have hope for the impact that they will make.

“We’re not expensive to join and we’re going to push for things like mandatory country of original labeling and more cash trade in the cattle business,” he said. “What we don’t want to see happen is for multi-generation family farms to disappear, where one genetic package is used for the livestock. We have to get back to having a market for finished cattle at the local sale barns.”

How to join

Joining the Iowa Stock Growers Association costs $40. Membership fees can be sent to the ISGA at PO Box 1124, Ames, IA, 50014. For more information, email IowaStockGrowersAssociation@gmail.com.