The Civil War & Texas Beef

Because of the Civil War, two things happened that created the American beef industry:

1. The development of industrial meat processing and
2. The Union’s blockage of Texas trade from the rest of the U.S. as well as other markets.

Birth of Industrial Meat Processing

The Union had a huge army that needed food. To meet this demand, innovative butchers in Chicago with names like Gustavus Swift and P. D. Armour acquired large buildings, hired every butcher they could find, and bought every head of livestock in the region that was available to them.    

These two meat-processing businessmen created what they called "disassembly plants." A steer would enter the plant, be slaughtered, processed, and emerge at the end canned or packed in barrels. This meat was then sold to the government to feed the army.

Cattle Stuck in Texas

When the war ended, Texans, as with other Southern states, returned to find their state’s economy in ruins. But during the War, the cattle on the Texas plains continued to breed and multiply. So at the end of the Civil War, there were cattle in the south and a demand for them in the north.

In the video, Civil War & Texas Beef, national events set the scene for beef moving to Nebraska.
From the 2008 NET Television production Beef State

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