Packer's growing clout vexes ranchers The recent announcement by Brazilian meatpacking giant JBS that it intends to acquire two big U.S. beef processors has cattle ranchers and feeders on edge, fearing a loss of competition in the market. "I'm hoping we have some chance of shutting this (merger) down," said Schreiber, who raises calves on his ranch with about 250 mother cows. "This is a very tough industry to survive in, and it's not going to help if we lose competition for our product." JBS, whose U.S. headquarters is in Greeley, has designs on becoming the nation's largest meatpacker. It already had taken a big step in that direction last year when it acquired Greeley-based Swift and Co. for $1.4 billion from a partnership that included Vail-based ski-resort mogul George Gillett. That deal made JBS the third-largest beef producer in the U.S., behind No. 1 Tyson Foods and second-ranked Cargill. JBS would be positioned to leapfrog to the top of the industry under its proposed acquisition of competitors National Beef and Smithfield Beef, the fourth- and fifth-largest packers, respectively. The deals would give JBS about 35 percent of all U.S. beef-processing capacity. But JBS's growth plans took a hit, at least temporarily, when the U.S. Department of Justice filed suit recently, claiming that JPS's acquisition of National Beef would harm consumers and cattle producers. The Justice Department did not oppose the Smithfield deal. Reaction to the antitrust lawsuit has been mixed. Many ranchers and feedlot operators favor the action because they say it will preserve competition in meatpacking, thus helping them obtain higher prices when they sell cattle to the packers for slaughter. Other analysts see the Justice Department's move as harmful to the meatpacking industry, which has struggled in recent years with low profit margins and excess capacity. Allowing mergers, they say, will improve plant efficiencies and help hold costs down....