JBS, Tyson closures reshape beef processing map as prices fall and farmers face uncertainty

EDITOR’S NOTE and Correction: Fig. 1, “Pennsylvania bucks national trends,” published with the Aug. 14 Farmshine story on JBS-Souderton contained incorrect U.S. and New York comparison figures, mainly for milk cows. We regret the error. The Pennsylvania figures were correct. The corrected Fig. 1 published here deepens the contrast of Pennsylvania beef cattle growth against national decline. Fig. 2 shows where some of that growth is occurring farther into Pennsylvania’s beef pipeline.

EAST EARL, Pa. — JBS ended cattle harvest at Souderton, Pennsylvania Friday, Aug. 14, as expected. What no one expected was Tyson Foods’ abrupt closure of its Joslin, Illinois beef plant the same day.

Together, they removed 25,000 head of weekly harvest capacity from a cattle feeding and finishing region stretching from Pennsylvania through the Eastern Corn Belt — 10,000 head on the eastern end at Souderton and 15,000 in the center at Joslin.

A JBS employee called it a “historic moment in the whole fed cattle industry” Tuesday when my call to a Pennsylvania buying station went directly to JBS procurement in Greeley, Colorado.

“The worst is the Joslin shutdown. No one saw that coming. That’s put a strain on all the fat cattle east of Des Moines,” he said. “That’s a lot of family farms, and not just Pennsylvania, but Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and eastern Iowa. That leaves us not knowing what we’ll do.”

Asked whether Souderton could reopen as a harvest plant, he said that was above his paygrade, but added: “I didn’t see it closing either. We put $200 million into it over the last decade, and it was running well, but the supply is the issue.”

He estimated about 25% of Souderton’s cattle came from Pennsylvania and 65% from closer to JBS-Plainwell, Michigan.

Tyson cited historically tight cattle supplies and said it will concentrate beef harvest at three locations: Dakota City, Nebraska; Holcomb, Kansas; and Amarillo, Texas. It will reinvest in the latter to expand as cattle numbers increase. That’s a nod to the Mexican border reopening to live cattle imports this month.

The combined closures push Eastern cattle toward fewer, increasingly distant harvest outlets.

National cattle market analyst Corbitt Wall called Joslin a “critical, critical, critical loss,” pointing specifically to Eastern Corn Belt family farmer-feeders and Pennsylvania and Virginia producers compounding the loss of Souderton.

“You have to put a lot of wheels under those fat cattle to get them to a place where they can slaughter those cattle,” he said.

Prior to closing the Joslin plant last Friday,  August 14, Tyson was known to get two loads from Pennsylvania auctions most weeks.

Pennsylvania cattle dealers have also moved as many as 25 loads per week to Joslin during the heavy spring marketing period.

They estimate hauling cattle farther west will add around $100 per head — enough to consume much of a farmer’s margin on feeder cattle already purchased at record high prices.

More immediately, producers want to know whether they can get cattle scheduled.

Four independent sources said JBS had no bid for farmers seeking to move cattle this week. Some were told Plainwell was full and to check back.

Two had contacted Cargill in Wyalusing, Pennsylvania before the Joslin closure, and they were already reporting scheduling three weeks out. The 1800 head/day plant is mainly a non-fed cow harvest facility, taking fed cattle too, but not able to absorb the overflow.

“This struck real quick,” said Bob Keefer of Shippensburg. The former Pennsylvania dairy producer started feeding cattle in 2022 after selling the dairy. He feeds 550 year-round. About 80% have been marketed through JBS-Souderton and 20% through Cargill-Wyalusing.

Like other farmers we spoke with, he has a few trailer loads approaching market weight over the next several weeks without confidence in a destination.

There was some reassurance from New Holland Sales Stables Monday, where David Kolb said JBS bought two loads. Good finished cattle brought $230 to $240 per cwt, with about 50 top-quality cattle at $240 to $245. Still, as confirmed by the USDA Market News report, this was $5 to $7 per cwt lower than the previous Thursday before the closures, with cows selling lower also.

By Tuesday morning, Wall in his national Feeder Flash described a Monday that “felt like a wreck” in places, with prices $4 to $6 lower and order buyers struggling to find anyone willing to take cattle. Nationwide negotiated cash sales had fallen to 50,600 head from 104,600 the previous week, with 39% already committed for two-to-four-week delivery.

Packers are “flush with cattle,” he said, giving them greater leverage in a falling market just as Eastern producers lose harvest options.

Pennsylvania’s pipeline

The timing is particularly significant for Pennsylvania, where cattle production has moved opposite national trends since 2022. (Fig. 1)

Pennsylvania has 15,000 fewer milk cows but 15,000 more beef cows. Fig. 2 shows beef replacement heifers up 25%, milk replacements up 10.5%, steers 500 pounds and over are up 10.7%, and non-replacement heifers 500 pounds and over are up 44.4%.

Meanwhile, JBS-Plainwell is already the destination for an increasingly integrated beef-on-dairy pipeline. Public reports document at least one JBS-linked Ohio starter/grower network taking in bottle calves at under 100 pounds and moving them to feedlots at 600 pounds, with estimated annual throughput exceeding 150,000 head.

That established cattle stream is already moving toward Plainwell as Souderton cattle seek space there, and the loss of Joslin sends other Eastern Corn Belt cattle searching for outlets.

Replacing Souderton need not mean replacing a 2000-head-per-day plant. Even 300 to 500 head per day of new regional capacity would represent roughly 78,000 to 130,000 head annually, providing another competitive outlet and reducing dependence on increasingly distant Western harvest channels.

When state and federal officials talk about regional food security, resilience, and strength, this is what it looks like when it breaks down into capacity that instead becomes centralized, consolidated, and vulnerable — for farmers and consumers.