Reuters — Tyson Foods on Friday said it is permanently ceasing beef production at its plant in Denison, Iowa, effective immediately, as cattle ranchers work to rebuild shrunken herds following the severe Midwestern drought.
The move by Tyson, the biggest U.S. meat processor, will affect 400 employees at the plant, which will continue byproduct rendering operations with about 20 workers.
Such closures are becoming more common since fewer cattle are available for slaughter due to several years of drought that hurt feed crops and forced ranchers to trim their herds.
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“The cattle supply is tight and there’s an excess of beef production capacity in the region,” Steve Stouffer, president of Tyson Fresh Meats, said in a statement.
The plant at Denison, about 110 km northeast of Omaha, has a daily estimated slaughter capacity of about 2,000 head of cattle over a five-day work week, which represent two per cent of U.S. steer and heifer slaughter capacity, according to industry experts.
Animals that will no longer be processed at the plant likely will be transferred to Tyson’s other nearby locations, including a newly expanded facility in Dakota City, Nebraska, just south of Sioux City, Iowa.
The Dakota City plant has an estimated daily kill capacity of 6,000 head, the experts said.
Last year, the U.S. cattle herd sank to its lowest level since 1951 at roughly 89 million head based on the government’s Jan. 1 inventory report.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s semi-annual cattle report confirmed a turnaround in U.S. cattle herd size. As of July 1 it stood at 98.4 million head, up two per cent from a year ago, thanks to cheaper feed and healthy grazing pastures.
The 400 affected Denison plant workers will have opportunities to apply for jobs at other Tyson plants, the company said.
Cargill, one of the country’s largest beef processors, on July 30 announced the closure of its Milwaukee beef-processing plant due to cattle shortages.
— Reporting for Reuters by Ramkumar Iyer in Bangalore, Theopolis Waters in Chicago and Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles.
