Episode Details

It's time to take a look at what's happening around Wyoming for Monday, December 15th. I'm Mac Watson.

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Nebraska's new producer-owned packing plant opened in May and is among the first to be built in America in a generation. Cowboy State Daily's Renee Jean reports that the model is something that Wyoming cattle ranchers would want in the Cowboy State.

"You have basically four companies that control 87% of the market. There's not a lot of room for anyone else in that. It's kind of become this kind of not. It's not a monopoly because there's four companies, I guess, but the competition isn't what ranchers feel is fair the way those packing plants work. It's very difficult for ranchers these days to make a living. They're price takers, not price makers."

Nebraska has some inherent advantages when it comes to opening a vertically integrated packing plant like Sustainable Beef, which is owned by producers, feedlot owners and other investors, including a minority stake held by Walmart.

Read the full story HERE.

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Roy Vavra mysteriously disappeared in January 2006 after friends reported seeing an unknown white pickup parked in his driveway. Cowboy State Daily's Jen Kocher reports the last time Ann Vavra-Faris spoke to her twin brother Roy Vavra, she could tell something was off.

"The last time Anne talked to her brother, she could sense that something was wrong. He had missed Thanksgiving and missed Christmas, and so she was concerned about him, and his cell phone wasn't working, so she caught him on his landline at the home he was living in, in Gillette, and she could tell something was off. He wasn't his usual, as she explained it, jovial self, he was more quiet. He was more withdrawn. He disappeared not long after, in January 2006."

His sister hasn't given up on finding answers, and now with the help of her cousin, Rachel Heaver, the two are determined to finally solve the mystery.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Sgt. Gary Sams with the Campbell County Sheriff's Office directly at 307-687-6176. Tips can also be submitted anonymously at the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation website.

Read the full story HERE.

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Rodeo fans stampede to Vegas for the National Finals Rodeo, but one obnoxious "Arizona Urban Cowboy" manages to ruin every romantic possibility. Cowboy State Daily's Zak Sonntag reports that between mechanical bulls and honky-tonk heartbreak, the only place to escape might be the dance floor at Gilley's.

"When people go to NFR, they go to the stadium, but a lot of folk will come to Vegas to celebrate NFR, and they won't ever step foot in the stadium…And I went to one of the watch parties at a place called Gillies, right on the strip at the old Treasure Island Resort. It's named after a famous country singer, and it is one of the Cowboys favorite place to go during an FR and what I found there is that if you're looking for a place to do some Honky Tonk dancing, you go to Gillies. And it's funny, the generational composition you get at a place like this, you've got every range. I mean, you got people in there looking like they snuck in on a fake ID, and then you got octogenarians, and they're on the dance floor together doing the Texas Two Step."

The Wrangler's National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas isn't called the "Super Bowl of Rodeo," for nothing. It's 10 straight days of cowboys, cowgirls, riding, roping, and rodeo-goers running up and down the Strip.

Read the full story