The impact of the fire at the Tyson packing plant in Holcomb, Kansas is on the minds of North Dakota cattle producers. CattleFax market specialist Troy Applehans told North Dakota Stockmen’s Association members at their annual convention slaughter numbers are holding stable, but there is a lot of concern with packer margins. “It’s concerning when packers make that much money. Cattle packers making money hasn’t been completely due to cattle prices going lower,” Applehans explained. “Beef prices went up in conjunction with that. A lot of beef buyers probably attributed more to that excess margin to the packer than the cattle feeder.”
