A ballot measure that would shut down the only slaughterhouse in Denver, operated by Superior Farms, goes far beyond being an issue local to Colorado’s capital city. Opponents of the measure say that it’s part of a concentrated attack on the agriculture industry that would directly affect Wyoming.
Ordinance 309 would prohibit slaughterhouses from operating within the city limits starting in 2026 and would force Superior Farms, which exclusively processes lambs for the Rocky Mountain Region, to relocate its operation elsewhere.
Animal rights group Pro-Animal Future is the grassroots organization that brought the ordinance to voters. Members aim to end industrialized animal agriculture, including what they call “factory farming,” according to the group’s website.
“Globally, we kill 80 billion land animals annually for food, a number that continues to grow,” Olivia Hammond of the Pro-Animal Future told Cowboy State Daily in a written statement. “This industrial-scale production isn't just an animal welfare crisis — it poses safety hazards to workers, degrades the environment, and presents serious public health risks.”
American Sheep Industry Association President and Wyoming Rancher Brad Boner disagrees with the group and opposes Ordinance 309. He said that the Superior Farms and other processing plants must meet certain standards to operate and stay open.
“The USDA has a verified humane animal treatment process that these plants have to go through that's been vetted by veterinarians,” Boner said.
The future of the plant is important for Wyoming sheep ranchers who use the large-capacity processing facility. If it closed, it could be devastating financially for ranchers to ship their sheep to slaughterhouses father away, opponents say.
Accusations Of Inhumane Treatment And Pollution
“Initiative 309 emerged from a growing public concern about the impact of industrial animal agriculture on our community, the environment and on animals,” Hammond said in her statement. “Superior Farms is the face of this industry here in Denver and has a serious record of breaking the law.”
Hammond cited USDA noncompliance findings dating back to 2019 that included bits of corn found in the throat of a carcass, 3 mm of fecal matter found on a carcass and condensation on the ceiling. The noncompliance issues listed in the USDA reports were addressed immediately by workers at the plant.
The Wyoming Stock Growers Association Executive Vice President Jim Magagna says those claims just aren’t true.
“The newer industrial slaughter plants and even some of the older ones that have been refurbished clearly have technology to assure that the animals are not abused in any manner prior to the actual point of slaughter,” Magagna said. “Now, yes, if they view slaughter as animal abuse, that's inevitable.
“But beyond that, I'm confident that the vast majority of meat processing plants in this country are very attuned to appropriate treatment of the animals when they're brought in and before they're actually processed.”
Those in the agriculture industry also counter that the Superior Farm processing plant has a minimal impact on the environment despite claims of pollution by Pro-Animal Future activists.
“Almost none of the voters were even aware that there was a livestock processing operation in their city,” said American Sheep Industry Association Director Peter Orwick. “If they were a horrible neighbor or a major polluter or were in trouble all the time, they would be notorious in the city. The polling showed that nearly none of the voters were aware that there was a livestock operation.”
The ‘No’ Vote
Colorado State University conducted a study that found in a worst-case scenario, nearly 3,000 jobs and $861 million in economic activity would be lost if Ordinance 309 passes Tuesday. These jobs include independent ranchers, truckers, distributors, retailers, butchers, and restaurant owners and employees.
Labors organizations opposing Ordinance 309 include the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7, Service Employees International Union 105, Denver Area Labor Federation, Denver Pipefitters Local 208, the Teamsters Union and the Working Families Party.
The Central Committee of the Democratic Party of Denver also opposes the ban and endorsed a “no” position on Denver Initiated Ordinance 309 with an overwhelming majority vote of 207-12.
“Clearly we're totally against the ordinance, and we've signed some petitions in that urging its defeat on the ballot in Colorado,” Magagna said in regard to the stance of the Wyoming Stock Growers. “Meat processing is a critical part of our industry. That's the only way we get the meat that we produce into the hands of the consumers.”
The American Sheep Industry reports that Colorado is the third largest producer of sheep and lambs in the United States. The total capacity of Colorado’s 21 USDA-inspected facilities is 400,000 sheep per year.
Superior Farm’s facility in Denver accounts for 15% to 20% of lamb processing capacity in the U.S.
“You have restaurants in Denver that have jumped on board to oppose the ban,” Orwick said. “We hear about local food everywhere, and this is clearly an attack on local produced food. This doesn't shut down lamb consumption in Colorado. It just makes it much more difficult for the folks that are working in the industry.”
Impact On Wyoming
Superior Farms is a full-service processing plant that processes the lamb into primal cuts, sub-primal and common cuts, and the loss of this plant would directly impact Wyoming, state agriculture industry leaders said.
“It is the closest plant to Wyoming branches,” Owick said. “The lamb is distributed across the country and you're not going to find another plant that slaughters, fabricates and sells box lamb cuts next door to Wyoming. It doesn't exist.”
“I would estimate somewhere north of 50% of Wyoming lambs go to this plant,” added Boner. “They would either have to go to Detroit, Michigan, San Angelo, Texas, or Dixon, California. So it would have a huge impact on Wyoming, and Rocky Mountain West in particular, if that facility would then be shut down.”
Pro-Animal Future argues that the impact for animals outweighs the impact to jobs and those who eat meat.
“While passing Ordinance 309 won't solve all these problems overnight, it’s a step in the right direction for anyone who thinks we should move away from intensive animal agriculture,” Hammond said. “We believe a measure like this may inspire similar initiatives, sparking broader change towards a more sustainable and humane food system.”
The agriculture community believe that the protein found in meat is important to the diet of Americans and argue that there is no substitute.
And the Denver ballot measure isn’t about the treatment of animals or pollution as Pro-Animal Future contends, Magagna said. It’s political and about a fundamental opposition to eating meat.
“We think it's done as humanely as can be done,” Magagna said. “It's done with proper safeguards for human health and for the welfare of the animals. And so frankly, our view is that the proponents of this are people who would just fundamentally like to stop meat consumption.”
“This country cannot afford to take away animal protein out of our food supply,” added Boner. “As the animal rights activists move forward, I still have yet for them to present a solution on how we feed the people of this country without animal protein.”
Jackie Dorothy can be reached at jackie@cowboystatedaily.com.
