News Update

News Update
Oct. 13, 2006

Tyson, Swift, National Beef all cut beef production

Tyson Foods, Springdale, Ark., announced Oct. 10 that it will cut back production hours at its beef plants for the next six to eight weeks, operating 35 to 40 hours per week instead of the 40 hours its plants average at present, Meatingplace.com reported. That will cut production by about 12,000 cattle per week.

In a similar move, Kansas City, Mo.-based National Beef Packing Co., the nation’s fourth-largest beef processor, also announced Oct. 10 that it will cut operating hours at its Dodge City and Liberal, Kan., plants to 37 hours from a normal weekly schedule of 40 to 48 hours. Tim Klein, the company’s president, said the move was made because of continuing poor market conditions in the beef industry.

And at the end of the day, Swift & Co., Greeley, Colo., the nation’s second-largest beef packer, said it too would reduce production hours to 32 to 37 hours per week at three of its four U.S. plants. Swift said it had been operating on the reduced schedule for a few weeks, and would remain on that schedule until beef gross margins “materially improve.” Swift said that high cattle prices and low demand, including less-than-expected sales in key export markets, had made gross margin “unsustainable.”

The three companies in part blamed ongoing problems with major export customers Japan and South Korea for making the cutbacks necessary.

“Access to key export markets remains limited, competing meats such as pork and poultry are significantly less expensive (than beef), and we’re in the fall season when beef demand historically softens,” a Tyson spokesperson said in a statement.

Tyson also announced that its Boise, Idaho beef plant would close for good at the end of Oct. 10, a move it announced in August.

Bird Flu Tests Complete on Montana Ducks

The U.S. Departments of Agriculture (USDA) and Interior Oct. 7 announced final test results, which confirm that a low pathogenic H5 avian influenza virus was found in samples collected last month from wild Northern pintail ducks in Montana. This type of avian influenza has been detected several times in wild birds in North America and poses no risk to human health.

The USDA National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL) confirmed the presence of low pathogenic H5N3 avian influenza through virus isolation in two of the 16 samples collected from wild pintails in Cascade County, Mont. Initial screening results announced on Sept. 21 indicated that H5 and N1 subtypes might be present in the collected samples, but further testing was necessary to confirm the H and N subtypes as well as pathogenicity.

USDA and Department of Interior are working collaboratively with states and academic institutions to sample wild birds throughout the United States for the presence of highly pathogenic avian influenza.

For more information about the collaborative avian influenza efforts go to http://www.usda.gov/birdflu, http://www.doi.gov/issues/avianflu or the U.S. Government’s web site for avian influenza and human pandemic preparedness at http://www.avianflu.gov.

— release provided by USDA News