The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) negotiated an administrative Consent Decision and Order with Stephen Smeal and Mendy Smeal, a Texas partnership doing business as Fatted Calf Cattle Farms #6 (Fatted Calf Cattle), on June 17, 2022, for alleged violations of the Packers and Stockyards (P&S) Act.
An investigation by USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service revealed that from Sept. 7, 2019, through Jan. 8, 2020, Fatted Calf Cattle issued ten checks to two markets that the bank did not pay when first presented because Fatted Calf Cattle failed to maintain sufficient funds to cover the checks. Eight of the ten checks resulted in delayed payment to the markets later than the parties’ credit agreements allowed. Fatted Calf Cattle purchased 278 head of livestock in these eight transactions and paid $103,195, plus $260 in invoice adjustments, six to 37 days late.