While we’re all aware of the concentration of nursery, grow-finish and wean-finish production facilities in Iowa (31.2% of the June 1, 2016 kept for market inventory was in Iowa), have you thought about the concentration of slaughter plants?

In a conversation yesterday with a packer representative we got into a discussion of the new slaughter plants and where are the pigs and plants the most concentrated. He made the comment that the epicenter of concentration was to the northwest of Fort Dodge, Iowa.

I was interested in his comment so I sat down this morning with a map of Iowa and started drawing 125 mile arcs around all of the slaughter plants that Steve Meyer lists in his 2016 estimate of US slaughter capacity. Why 125 miles (201 km) – this is only a 2.5-3 hr transport distance so readily accessible by a variety of delivery vehicles transporting market animals.

The intersection of all of these arcs is about equi-distant between Storm Lake and Fort Dodge, Iowa.

At this ‘sweet spot’ for slaughter access you have the following plants and estimated daily market pig slaughter capacity:
John Morrell – Sioux Falls, SD 19,500
Farmland – Denison 10,000
JBS – Worthington, MN 21,000
JBS – Marshalltown 21,000 (thanks Leon Sheets for catching this omission)
Tyson – Waterloo 19,500
Tyson – Storm Lake 17,000
Tyson – Perry 8,250
Hormel – Austin, MN 19,000
Hormel – Fremont, NE 10,500
Sioux-Preme – Sioux Center 4,500
Premium Iowa Pork – Hospers 3,150
Dakota Pork – Estherville 1,200
Verschoor Meats – Sioux City 1,200

The above list represents 155,800 head per day market pig slaughter capacity which is 36% of the US estimated market pig slaughter capacity. Add to this the new Triumph plant in Sioux City next year, the Prestage plant in Wright County in 2018 and Prime Pork in Windom, MN scheduled for late this year or early next year and you’ve got an impressive concentration of market access options.