Aberdeen, SD Mayor: Once-Shuttered Beef Plant Processing Cattle

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The new owners of an Aberdeen beef plant that closed in 2012 have fired up the equipment and are processing dozens of cattle a day, the city's mayor said.

That's welcome news for ranchers in the region who are tired of having to truck their animals hundreds of miles south to Nebraska.

Aberdeen Mayor Mike Levsen said he's not sure of exact production numbers, but that New Angus LLC is slaughtering somewhere between a couple dozen and 100 head a day during its initial phase of training employees and testing equipment. The 420,000-square-foot facility is capable of processing 1,500 head of cattle per day at full capacity.

"They contracted with a number of producers around the area some time ago anticipating this would be their startup time," Levsen said. "So they've got the cattle set to be delivered on a daily basis. They've got a fairly sizeable crew that's been hired that they are training."

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