Management Insights

My name is Wes Killion. I am the Yard Manager for the Boardman yard and have been with Beef Northwest for ten years but had worked for BNW off and on while I was attending Eastern Oregon State University from '91 through '93. In Jan 2000, Pitts Harrison called me. He was working for Beef Northwest out of Hermiston where they had leased the C and B yard in partnership with Schaake Corp. The yard was just getting started under the new venture and he asked me to come up as his assistant manager. At that time I had been managing a feed yard in southern California for several years. When he told me he needed help, I gladly accepted. After about three months, Pitts decided that he would rather spend time with his business in Boise and left. In April of that year, I took his position. The yard ran for about 20 months when we let the lease run out and I moved to the Boardman yard and became Bill Gover's assistant. At that time the yard was around 15,000 head and there were plans in the works to increase the capacity. A year later and the first expansion completed, Bill Gover became the Country Natural Beef manager and I oversaw the operations. Two years after that we completed the second expansion and took the capacity to 37,500 and for the most part have had it completely full ever since. The past ten years have gone by more quickly than I would like to admit and there have been more changes than I could name, but it has gotten me thinking about how I got here.

At a very young age, I knew exactly what I wanted to do. There wasn't a time that I remember ever questioning if I would ever manage a feedlot, but more of where that feedlot would be located. I was lucky enough to be raised in a time when a boy could go to work with his father and learn how to work. My dad ran feedlots across most of the southwestern states; Texas, Arizona and some ranch work in New Mexico. At that time, he was able to bring me to work and set me on a horse without the fear of a lawsuit, liability or child labor laws. Honestly, I can't tell you how old or young I was when I first started going to work with my dad. I just always went. After school, before school, Christmas and summer breaks- I worked. Also lucky for me, most of the feedlots my dad worked at were integrated which allowed me to see many parts of the industry. Although many things have changed within the operations of feedlots and how things are done in the cattle industry as a whole, the background I have has proven invaluable time and time again. I definitely would not be who I am today without the opportunities I had as a boy. To me, it highlights how important it is to make sure our kids are involved in activities that teach them not only about our industry, but how to work. 4H, FFA, internships and good old-fashioned summer jobs provide so much for the kids of today, but we also need to make ourselves available to mentor them and show them all the facets of our industry. I think there are many fine universities out there but in my opinion there is nothing that teaches like 'hands on' experience. It also teaches kids how to be responsible and lays the foundation for a good work ethic which I think is important no matter the position they hold. We can do so much for the kids who have an interest in this industry by providing opportunities that not only educate, but instill hard to find qualities such as leadership and responsibility, but we need to be proactive and available.

My own kids will be pretty well grown by the time this next decade passes. Thankfully, they have pursued activities that challenge them to be leaders and encourage their interests, but I know my time with them is too short to compromise. Nothing can replace actually teaching them how to work, lead and learn. After seeing how quickly the past ten years have gone by, it makes me seriously look at the next ten. They'll be behind us before we know it and it's up to us to make the best of them.