Long-Time Cattle Partner Carl Stevenson

On Feb. 4, 2020, the Cattle Feeders Hall of Fame honored longtime JBS USA cattle supplier Carl Stevenson for having made a lasting contribution to the cattle feeding industry.

Born and raised in California, Carl Glenn Stevenson graduated from UC Davis in 1940 with a degree in animal husbandry. The next year, he was drafted into the army and joined a Veterinary Corp Unit in Fort Bliss, Texas – his primary responsibility being to take care of the mules that pulled and packed artillery. As the only non-veterinarian to head the Army School of Farrier, he took his outfit to North Africa, Italy, France and Germany before the war’s end.

Discharged in 1945, Stevenson spent the next four years working on a ranch in the Central Valley of California before moving to Continental, Ariz., in 1951 to start one of the state’s first cattle feeding operations for the Farmers Investment Co. (FICO). Several years later, in the early 1960s, he began working closely with the University of Arizona to develop a new cattle feeding technique for areas with little to no access to corn. He became the first feeder to fully implement Dr. Bill Hale’s and Dr. Bart Cardon’s now globally-recognized practice of cooking and rolling grain.

Ultimately when cattle prices dropped in 1963, Stevenson told his wife Pat that if they were ever going to go back out on their own, now was their chance. With the confidence that prices would rebound and against the advice of friends, the couple started the Red Rock Feeding Co. in Red Rock, Ariz., in 1964. “We came to Red Rock and I purchased this piece of ground we’re on here on a shoe string and we made it work,” Carl said.

Still operating today, Red Rock Feeding Co. has grown to a 30,000-head feedyard with 1,200 acres of additional farmland. “We ship 18 to 20 loads of fat cattle every week and we don’t try to play the market. Get the best we can.” Today, Carl and Pat’s four children remain involved in agriculture, with his youngest daughter, Barbara, having served as the American National Cattlewomen president in 2013, as her mother had in 1970.

Carl’s service to the agriculture industry spans decades and represents dedication to a vital industry. We are proud to partner with him.