Source:  Lisa M. Keefe, MEATINGPLACE.COM, 6/29/09

Smithfield Foods Inc. announced its intent to lay off 140 workers at its Dalhart, Texas, operation, a Murphy-Brown facility that supplies Smithfield with hogs for processing. The layoffs were filed with the Texas Workforce Commission, the state employment department, under the provisions of the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act.

The permanent layoffs are scheduled for Aug. 17. Most are employees who work directly with hogs, and the rest are managers, technicians and security guards, according to the Amarillo Globe-News.

The company will continue to operate nurseries and finishers at the Dalhart facility, the newspaper's Web site reported.

The layoffs are the result of Smithfield's decision to reduce its sow herd by another 3 percent, which the company discussed during its quarterly earnings call with equity analysts and media earlier this month.

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