In 1883, my great-grandfather, AW Wight drove a herd of sheep from Nebraska to what is now Odessa, TX. When he arrived here, there weren’t any other people besides the Indians and the army. He found a large mesquite tree and figured that there must be plenty of good water beneath it. After drilling a well, he set about raising sheep, cattle, and horses. The well that he drilled is still furnishing water for our family and our livestock. He gave up raising sheep when Grover Cleveland was elected president. Cleveland enacted some policies which were very detrimental to the wool industry. Through five generations, our family is still here raising cattle and horses.

In recent years, the government has allowed the meat packing industry to gain market share to the point to where there are only three firms controlling over 85% of the total cattle killed in the U.S.A. These large packing companies in combination with the retail markets are doing a poor job of marketing the beef. And needless to say, they have manipulated the market to where we are only receiving about a third of the price that the consumer is paying at the supermarket. This has forced us to enter the retail meat market.