For Illinois, current cow numbers are 20,000 larger than those of three years ago and Ohio has added 37,000 cows in the last three years. Indiana, however, has seen beef cow numbers decrease.

Beef producers continued to expand the breeding herd for the second year. Beef cow numbers increased by 1 percent during 2005 after a small rise in 2004. The total number of cows increased by 338,000 head and the increase was concentrated in the western Corn Belt, where Missouri increased by 115,000 cows and Iowa by 40,000.

However, for hogs and poultry, the question is whether the increased price of corn will be offset by added value in the feed product that is returned. If not, this could mean some restructuring of the location of the U.S. and world animal industries. This appears to be particularly true for the eastern Corn Belt and the southeastern United States where hog, poultry and dairy are more dominant.

We also notified the larger trucking firms in Ohio, West Virginia and Maryland of the closure.

We started this on a whim four years ago. We don't want to make it any larger than it is. It really is a lot of fun.

We did a lot of research. We looked at Indiana, Kentucky, Illinois and Ohio, and we finally decided on Akron.... My family was rebuilt here; our lives were rebuilt here.