Yet cattle ranchers are forced to sell at rock bottom prices because of consolidation of ownership of processing plants, such as the one in the article.

The big 4 meat packing corps: Tyson, JBS, Cargill and National Beef control up to 85% of the U.S. beef market, and dictate what they pay to ranchers because there is no local competition to pay for the cattle.

At the same time, they jack up the prices when they sell to markets, because again, there's consolidation and little competition.