01/23/07 Idaho packing plant will reopen

Canadian based XL Foods Incorporated is going to reopen the former Swift meat processing plant in Nampa. Many of the 400 jobs that were lost when the plant closed a year and a half ago will be restored when the plant reopens February 5th. A company spokesman says XL plans to use the Nampa plant for processing mature cattle. Feed lot operators like Cevin Jones of Eden the XL Foods announcement is good news for some of the people in the livestock industry. JONES "It's a positive move but as far as feed lots go we're still going to have to ship out of state, one way or another. So we're having to ship cull cows to California or Arizona but it will give us another option. The other nice thing is that you had to ship load lots to California or Arizona. It will give ranchers an opportunity to have half a load or less than a load lot." XL Foods has been recruiting workers for the past couple of months. As part of the Nilsson Brothers Group, XL bought the Nampa plant and one in Nebraska last April. A company spokesman says the size of the plants is similar to their Canadian operations and it's a good location for older Canadian cattle in the future. XL Foods processes more than 450 thousand head of cattle each year. Today's Idaho Ag News Bill Scott