11/27/06 Fallout from Tyson plant closure

With the mid-October closing of the Tyson beef processing plant near Boise Idaho cattle producers can expect feeder calf prices of a dollar to two dollars per hundredweight less than if the plant had stayed open. So says University of Idaho economist Wilson Gray who has been looking at the fallout. GRAY "At this point I think it's a little difficult to say you know how much of this is just a seasonal thing that naturally happened anyway versus how much is due to the plant going out." Because Idaho feedlots will be paying a couple of dollars a hundredweight more to ship their fed cattle to plants in Washington and Utah, they`ll be spending less on the feeder calves they buy from producers. Gray says it all started three years ago when the US border was closed to Canadian cattle after a BSE case in Alberta. GRAY "Since then most of these plants here went on shorter hours, four day work weeks and different things to try and cope with the fact that they were down around 30 percent on the number of cattle they needed." Gray notes that the additional transportation charges could easily add up to $1.50 to two dollars a hundredweight or $18 to $24 for a 1,200-pound animal. Voice of Idaho Agriculture Bill Scott