Stirring Through the Ashes after the Tyson Fire Tomorrow will mark three weeks since the major fire that shutdown the Tyson beef packing plant in Garden City, Kansas, but cattle slaughter volumes have been holding up, actually increasing for the two weeks after the fire compared to the two weeks before the plant closure.  The gain has come mostly through Saturday slaughter and some plants shifting cow slaughter to fed steers and heifer.  

With the timing of the fire coming before the Labor Day holiday, retailers reacted by buying up supplies and boxed beef prices charted out like a hockey stick, while negotiated dressed cattle prices looked like an upside down hockey stick.  As an aside, even the drop-value of off al...