LINCOLN, Neb.-
Nebraska’s growing ethanol industry is a vital asset that may help the state retain its lead in red meat processing and avoid contraction in the beef industry.
Annual federal figures released Friday reflect Nebraska’s continued dominance of meatpacking.
Beef and pork plants in Nebraska combined for 15.2 percent of the record 2006 red meat production of 47.7 billion pounds.
That figure kept Nebraska No. 1, ahead of Iowa at 13.7 percent and Kansas at 12.9 percent.
Don Beermann, head of the Animal Science Department at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, said the state has maintained that lead the past seven-eight years.
Iowa slaughters more hogs and Kansas a few more cattle. But Beermann said Nebraska retains the top spot because Iowa isn’t a big player beef processing and Kansas is an even lesser player in pork.
“Throw it all together,” Beermann said, “and we sneak up a little bit.”
And he said Nebraska’s edge could get bigger. The state’s triangle trade of corn-cattle-ethanol gives cattle feeders a ready supply of relatively cheap leftovers from ethanol production, distillers grain.
That advantage will become even more pivotal as Nebraska tries to avoid any damage in a beef industry shakeout.
Industry analyst Steve Kay of the Cattle Buyers Weekly in Petaluma, Calif., said the beef processors he talks to say there’s an overcapacity, even though Tyson closed its Nebraska slaughter plant in West Point and processing plant in Norfolk more than a year ago.
Something’s got to give, he said.
“Tyson has said very clearly they don’t intend to close any more facilities anywhere in the U.S.,” Kay said. “But it’s pretty apparent that we have at least 10 percent overcapacity in the beef processing sector. And we probably need to take another 5,000-7,000 (animals) out of the daily capacity in order for it to function more economically.”
John Nalivka, a livestock and meat industry consultant in Vale, Ore., agreed.
“I think it’s going to happen. It’s only picking out who it will be,” he said.
Nalivka expects the ethanol advantage to shift cattle numbers northward. Nebraska has a dozen ethanol plants in operation and is ranked third among states in total production.
“If you put a dot on Grand Island, Nebraska, and draw a 400-mile circle around it, there’s the center of the beef industry,” he said.
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Information from: Lincoln Journal Star,
