BURBANK, Wash. — Alika Conley and his cowboys circulate through the J.R. Simplot Co. feedlot several times a day looking for cattle that are depressed or not doing well.

Conley is the feedyard manager and veterinarian for Simplot Feeders.

The feedlot has a capacity of 75,000 head, and averages about 60,000. About 99% move next door to Tyson Fresh Meats several hundred yards away.

It’s one of two sites in the nation where the feedlot and processing plant are adjacent, Conley said.

Simplot also has 120,000 cattle at its Grand View, Idaho, feedyard and 35,000 on ranches owned by the company throughout the West.

“I would love to educate more people about feedlots, because people probably have a bad perception of what we do,” Conley said.

The general impression is of cramped feeding operations, he said.

“I have 80 employees, their whole focus is cattle comfort and keeping them happy and healthy, which in turn helps us make a profit,” he said. “We have a lot of people dedicated to making sure these animals are happy for however long they’re with us. We’re trying to minimize as much stress on them as possible.”

Cattle comfort

Conley oversees four department managers at the feedyard. He strives for efficiency.

“Trying to blend new ideas with old, traditional methods,” he said. “Everything we do is for cattle comfort, because the more comfortable they are, the faster they gain, the quicker we can get them in and out.”

In the fall, winter and early spring, any precipitation drains where it needs to, without cattle walking through an overabundance of mud to get to feed, water or bedding.

It also reduces man-hours and fuel by a third, Conley noted.

Creigh Lincoln, a veterinarian in Hermiston, Ore., who consults at Simplot on feedlot health, hopes to see Conley’s advocacy for the industry and animal handling continue.

“He’s had a tremendous impact at Simplot,” Lincoln said. “He’s very very knowledgable, very progressive.”

Watchful eye

A depressed cow won’t eat and isn’t alert to its surroundings. Cowboys pull out about 60 head a day to be treated medically, out of 60,000, Conley said.

In the veterinary hospital, they tend to and monitor patients to see which can be returned to their home pens.

Any change in the animal’s natural environment — new feed, added stress — presents an increased health risk that Conley and his crew watch.

About 90% of the daily concern is respiratory pneumonia, Conley said.

“If we’re not vigilant day in and day out, we will miss that mark and those animals pay the price for that,” he said.

Livestock backgroundConley grew up on a cow-calf ranch in Hawaii, where his father still works.

He earned his veterinary degree at Washington State University, and practiced at mixed-animal practices in California and Washington before joining Simplot.

“I had known everything about an animal up to 600 or 700 pounds, when we took them off their moms,” he said. “I didn’t really know much about feedlots. … I knew how big they took them, I didn’t know the complexities of how they did that, how they fed them.”

He said his employees truly care for the cattle.

Several years ago, a “horrendous” summer heat wave hit all Pacific Northwest feedlots.

“I had guys that had worked on this yard for 20-plus years, and I could see them well up with tears because they didn’t know what else to do to help these animals out,” he said. “That right there tells me it’s more than just a 9 to 5 job for these guys.”

Conley’s goal is to make the Burbank yard the “gold standard” for feeding cattle in the Northwest, from efficiency to health.

“That means you’re checking all the boxes, and every little detail,” he said.

Alika Conley

Title: Veterinarian, feedlot manager, J.R. Simplot Land and Livestock

Age: 40

Hometown: Waimea, Hawaii

Current location: Burbank, Wash.

Education: Bachelor’s degree and veterinary degree, both at Washington State University.

Family: Wife Jordan is feedlot accountant. Sons Cooper, 9 and Lane, 7.

Hobbies: Help other people with their cattle; snowboarding in winter, fishing on the river in the summer

Website: https://www.simplot.com/livestock/custom-cattle-feeding/