The plant employs 2,000 people and those affected by the closing will get help finding jobs elsewhere, Minneapolis-based Cargill said in the statement.

“Given the overcapacity that exists with four major beef plants in the Texas Panhandle and a dwindling supply of cattle in the region, idling Plainview will allow Cargill to operate its other beef plants in Texas, Colorado and Kansas more consistently on a five-day-per-week basis,” Keating said.

The U.S. beef-packing industry has 10 percent to 15 percent excess capacity, with the highest level in the southern plains where Plainview is located, said David Nelson, an agricultural global strategist for Rabobank International in Chicago.

Herd liquidation intensified in that region during the 2011 drought, he said in a telephone interview with Bloomberg.

Cargill’s remaining beef processing plants in Texas, Kansas and Colorado will receive cattle destined for Plainview, according to the statement. Cargill beef facilities in California, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Nebraska and two plants in Canada are unaffected.

According to the Bloomberg article, Mike Martin, a spokesman for the closely held company, said that Cargill doesn’t plan to sell the Plainview plant. He declined to comment on how long the plant will be idled.

“We don’t think there will be a reversal in the national cattle herd for a number of years,” he said. 

—From Cargill news release and Bloomberg article (Click here to read the full article.)