990275 Nebraska Storm Cuts Hours at Two IBP Meat Plants

Chicago - Heavy blowing snow in Nebraska shortened operating hours at two IBP Inc. meatpacking plants, a company spokesman said.

The first shift at the company's beef plant in Dakota City, Nebraska, was set to end an hour early, and the second shift was scheduled to operate for four hours instead of eight, said Gary Mickelson, an IBP spokesman.

Operations at its pork plant at Madison, Nebraska, were reduced to 5-1/2 hours from eight because of the weather, Mickelson said.

“We could get up to eight inches of snow, but winds are about 20 to 25 miles an hour and supposed to get stronger later in the afternoon. We may have some late starts tomorrow,” he said.

Sources at Hormel Foods Corp. (NYSE:HRL - news), John Morrell and Co., a unit of Smithfield Foods Inc. (Nasdaq:SFDS - news), and Farmland Industries said their plants in eastern Nebraska and western Iowa were operating fully on Monday afternoon, but weather conditions could change plans later in the day or result in late starts on Tuesday.

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