I 
112TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 4284 
To amend the Packers and Stockyards Act, 1921 to make it unlawful for 
a packer to own, feed, or control livestock intended for slaughter. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 28, 2012 
Mr. BRALEY of Iowa introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Agriculture 
A BILL 
To amend the Packers and Stockyards Act, 1921 to make 
it unlawful for a packer to own, feed, or control livestock 
intended for slaughter. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. PROHIBITION ON PACKERS OWNING, FEEDING, 
OR CONTROLLING LIVESTOCK. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 202 of the Packers and 
Stockyards Act, 1921 (7 U.S.C. 192) is amended— 
(1) by redesignating subsections (f) and (g) as 
subsections (g) and (h), respectively; and 
(2) by inserting after subsection (e) the fol-
lowing: 
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‘‘(f) Own or feed livestock directly, through a sub-
sidiary, or through an arrangement that gives the packer 
operational, managerial, or supervisory control over the 
livestock, or over the farming operation that produces the 
livestock, to such an extent that the producer is no longer 
materially participating in the management of the oper-
ation with respect to the production of the livestock, ex-
cept that this subsection shall not apply to— 
‘‘(1) an arrangement entered into within 7 days 
(excluding any Saturday or Sunday) before slaugh-
ter of the livestock by a packer, a person acting 
through the packer, or a person that directly or indi-
rectly controls, or is controlled by or under common 
control with, the packer; 
‘‘(2) a cooperative or entity owned by a cooper-
ative, if a majority of the ownership interest in the 
cooperative is held by active cooperative members 
that— 
‘‘(A) own, feed, or control livestock; and 
‘‘(B) provide the livestock to the coopera-
tive for slaughter; 
‘‘(3) a packer that is not required to report to 
the Secretary on each reporting day (as defined in 
section 212 of the Agricultural Marketing Act of 
1946 (7 U.S.C. 1635a)) information on the price 
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and quantity of livestock purchased by the packer; 
or 
‘‘(4) a packer that owns 1 livestock processing 
plant; or’’. 
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 
the amendments made by subsection (a) take effect 
on the date of enactment of this Act. 
(2) TRANSITION RULES.—In the case of a pack-
er that on the date of enactment of this Act owns, 
feeds, or controls livestock intended for slaughter in 
violation of section 202(f) of the Packers and Stock-
yards Act, 1921 (as amended by subsection (a)), the 
amendments made by subsection (a) apply to the 
packer— 
(A) in the case of a packer of swine, begin-
ning on the date that is 18 months after the 
date of enactment of this Act; and 
(B) in the case of a packer of any other 
type of livestock, beginning as soon as prac-
ticable, but not later than 180 days, after the 
date of enactment of this Act, as determined by 
the Secretary of Agriculture. 
Æ 
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