With beef processing plants in Alberta closing down or limiting production due to the COVID-19 outbreak, it has caused a domino effect in the industry.

Cargill’s plant in High River shut down on Monday due to the coronavirus and JBS in Brooks has limited its production.

Bill Jameson, founder of JGL Cattle in Moose Jaw, said it is turning into a scary situation for producers in Saskatchewan.

“This is getting ugly by the hour, to be honest with you,” Jameson said. “In Alberta, they can process on a regular basis about 40,000 cattle a week.”

Jameson added that Alberta now can only process about 10,000 to 12,000 cattle per week.

When it comes to recovery, Jameson felt even if Cargill is back up and running in the next three weeks to could take up to two years to recover as it will take a while for the plant to get back up to full capacity.

The other downside is the price of cattle has dropped. Jameson said prices have dropped by about $400 per head.

“The irony of this whole thing is the price is going up on the retail levels for beef, and it’s dropping out of bed at the producer level,” he said.

“So we are monitoring this and we are working with all the associations and the politicians to try and figure this out and hopefully we can get through this situation.”

Jameson added that, along with prices going up on the retail levels, there is a very real possibility of a shortage of meat in stores.