BOSTON — Executives for Tyson Foods Inc. addressed several areas of the company’s meat production business during the Barclays Global Consumer Staples Conference.

Brady Stewart, president of the beef and pork segment and chief supply officer for Tyson Foods, was asked if the company would consider any beef plant closures with recent capacity reductions.

“We really like our asset base. It’s a well-invested asset base,” Stewart said of the Tyson beef business. “We took care of those assets during the better times relative to the opposite side of the beef cycle as well and continue to have opportunities for us to improve within our business relative to mix, relative to efficiencies, relative to making sure we understand where the customer is going to be in terms of primal and mix and really like our path forward with our current asset base.”

During the session, Stewart also addressed the shrinking cattle herd in the United States including when heifer retention could be expected to stabilize and how Tyson will cope with the current cattle supply in the coming year and beyond.

“We’re looking at the same data that everyone else is as well — and so really a slow recovery to date — and we’re not seeing anything meaningful,” he said. “But when I talk about setting the stage, I think, it’s important to understand a few different points. First and foremost, better pasture conditions in the last couple of years that’s helping provide at least an opportunity to retain some heifers, continue to focus on interest rates and potentially some reprieve relative to those rates that goes into that economic decision making of the rancher.”

Stewart noted that cow liquidation has “basically ceased,” which provides some stability.

“And after every cycle we’ve seen in the past, the next step is certainly to have heifer retention,” Stewart said. “That’s what we continue to look for.”

Stewart also discussed the state of Tyson’s pork business following the decision to close its Perry, Iowa, plant in March.

“I think it’s important to note that we’ve made some network design changes recently with our Perry, Iowa, plant closure that was a very difficult decision for us but ultimately closed at the end of June to really get our network right,” Stewart said. “And so, it gives us better capacity utilization and efficiencies in our existing assets. We feel good about the way our assets are running today.”

Executives from the company also talked about the growth in its chicken business in the last few quarters.

“We’ve seen some benefits relative to the demand for chicken has been very, very strong as well,” Stewart said. “When you balance that against our operational improvements, we laid out a strategy about 1.5 years ago that Wes Morris and the team has executed against in our poultry business that we’re extremely proud of.” 

Curt Calaway, Tyson’s chief financial officer, commented on how the company’s portfolio of meat products helps it cope with customers' changing behaviors.

“(We) see segments of consumers search for value, whether that’s in retail or in foodservice,” Calaway said.

He noted that people at the conference are looking at the same data and continue to see private label continue to pick up a little bit of share. Calaway added the shift around channels of the food service segments along with the shift in quick-service restaurants.

Calaway mentioned some of the new capital investments Tyson made recently in its new bacon facility in Bowling Green, Ky., and its new fully cooked chicken plant in Danville, Va., along with some new plants internationally.

“There’s a lot of spend that’s occurred within our existing facilities to continue to streamline and automate and bring forward our operational excellence agenda that have really enabled that,” Calaway said. “And that has been one of the catalysts that has enabled us to transform from ’23 to ’24’s performance.”