Feedlot consolidation

Oligopoly Watch:
The latest move in the ever-tighter US meat market is news of a joint venture between cattle stockyard company ContiBeef and pork and beef packer Smithfield Foods. The new, as yet unnamed company, to be owned jointly by Smithfield and ContiBeef's owner ContiGroup, will merge the feedlot operations of the two companies, creating an even more dominant player in the feedlot layer of the beef industry.
...
This is not just an alliance between two big (but not yet dominant) beef feedlot companies. It is also a tie between the top two and dominant competitors in hog farming. As such, it creates a friendly alliance between what the naïve might assume to be bitter rivals.