uick facts
- Pig wellbeing should be your number one priority when considering how best to manage a pork packing plant closure.
- When facing a plant closure, contact your buyer to learn about how you will be affected.
- It may be best to slow pig growth rate.
- You may need to consider decreasing pen space, alternative markets and euthanasia.
Has your pork packing plant closed due to an unprecedented event while you have pigs scheduled to ship in the near future?
The strategies outlined below are temporary for emergency situations. The wellbeing of the pigs should be your number one priority when considering how best to manage a pork packing plant closure. Additional pig observation is recommended when implementing any of these options.
Communicate with your buyer
When facing a plant closure, contact your buyer to learn about how you will be affected.
- Pork packers with other plant locations may re-route some pigs to other plants.
- The other locations may expand harvesting hours to include Saturday and Sunday to accommodate closed plants.
- Ask your buyer the maximum weight of pig your packer will accept.
- Re-routing won’t accommodate all pigs scheduled to be received by closed plants, so you will still need a contingency plan.
