9-12 IAN Red Meat Down

 Idaho Red Meat Production Down 82 Percent

I knew something was going on in the beef industry as it relates to red meat production in Idaho, and then I got a foreboding newsletter from the Idaho Cattlemen’s Association.  It said that commercial red meat production at Idaho packing plants so far for 2011 totaled 3.1 million pounds, down 82 percent from last year, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service.  I hated reading that and I called Wyatt Prescott, Executive V.P. of the Idaho Cattleman’s Association to get an explanation: “ I don’t read meat production is down by 82%. That is reflective of the recent closure of XL Four Star Beef Packing in Nampa. That was our only large scale packer in Idaho, so that is why you are seeing that number be down so significantly. And the closure of that packing plant was because… I could not comment on that. We really don’t know. Mainly the harvesting facility harvested whey cows which predominantly went into grinding meat. If anything, that market is so competitive from the other large scale packers, I think they have a difficult time keeping the plant to keep it running.