The Nampa plant employed 408 people, down from 560 in May 2003 when the US border was closed to live Canadian cattle after a single case of BSE was first discovered in Canada. Despite last month’s decision to reopen the US border to live Canadian cattle under 30 months of age, the Nampa plant struggled to find sufficient cows as it processed older animals.

This is a very sad day for Swift & Company and for more than 400 employees and their families in and around Nampa,” said Dennis Henley, chief operating officer of Swift & Company. We’ve worked very hard over the past two years to sustain operations at Nampa without adequate cattle supplies, but we can’t afford to any longer.”