Our meat supply channels face some bottlenecks as packing plants close to protect workers, deeply disinfect and determine potential fomite risks in their throughput. Our meat industry is built to have inventories moving all the time. There are challenges facing producers who now have limited options for moving animals ready for slaughter on their terminal schedules.
It is difficult to manage animals to NOT gain weight”
Source: Drovers, April 13, 2020. Link. Last summer, the loss of a single packing plant in Kansas resulted in relatively little decrease in overall cattle slaughter as production was shifted to other plants and increased Saturday slaughter largely offset the loss of the fire-damaged plant. In the current situation, closure or reduced chain speeds across multiple plants may make it impossible to keep up with slaughter.
INSIGHTS: Milk producers have already begun to dump milk as consumer and food service demand slows and processing facilities cannot receive the fresh milk. Veterinarians, nutritionists and producers need to communicate about the adjustments being made to ensure animals remain healthy while packers are on hold. Hopefully, previous VFD visit records and inspections will allow some of the discussions to be done virtually.