Tyson end cattle slaughter at Emporia

Tyson see no signs of appreciable growth in the fed cattle supply over the next two to three years. The move will eliminate 1,500 of the plant's 2,400 jobs. The plant will still be used as a cold storage and distribution warehouse and will process ground beef. It will also take over processing certain commodity and speciality cuts from other locations. While the company have no present plans to use the plant's slaughter area, they will leave the equipment intact. Bond said because cattle production has moved from eastern to western Kansas over the past 20-30 years, the Emporia plant is no longer centrally located. ‘By making this change, we'll be able to divert more cattle to our other facilities, which are more strategically located, and improve their capacity utilization', said Jim Lochner, senior group vice president of Tyson Fresh Meats. Affected workers will continue to be paid and receive benefits for 60 days. The workers will be encouraged to consider transferring to other Tyson locations, such as company beef facilities at Finney County, Kan, Dakota City and Lexington, Neb, and Joslin, Ill. The Emporia plant has been part of Tyson Foods since the company's purchase of IBP Inc in 2001. IBP bought the plant from Armour & Co in late 1967 and began production in 1969 after the facility had been extensively remodelled and expanded.