At the Cargill meat packing plant Dodge City KS, this don't look good.

[denbot]

Coming off a way too long shift crossing central Kansas from east to west, navigating by cow patty. I finally reach the Cargill plant where I’m to drop and hook a loaded trailer and get some much needed rest.

I get to the gate and am met with two of the sketchiest guards I’ve ever seen who check my trailer, but what the hell.

I check in at the gatehouse and the woman at check in takes my pickup number, verifies it and tells me; “There will be no trailer activity at this time” hands me a slip with a phone# to the shack and tells me to call in 5-6 hours, and every 5-6 hours if needed. I asked her when does she think my load will be ready, and she repeated word for word-“There will be no trailer activity at this time”, I kinda stared at her for a moment and asked if there as an issue and for the third time she repeated deadpanned “There will be no trailer activity at this time”. The way she repeated her line made me think she was ex-military, say your line, nothing more nothing less..

I told her I was done for the day, and she brightened and said to try calling in the morning.

I walked back to my truck and noticed that there was not only zero activity on the dock, but also no activity in the yard. No people, no trucks, nothing but parked trailers.

I then remembered this is a Covid-19 hotspot. I am pretty sure the meat plants are shutdown again..

[Grokenstein]

1. Generalissimo Corpulente: "ALL IS WELL, NOTHING TO SEE HERE!!"

"THANK ME!! I ALONE!! TWO SCOOPS DONNY ONE SCOOP EVERYONE ELSE!"

[calimary]

11. That's a good one! "Generalissimo Corpulente!

I usually just call him "That Fat Fuck!" But yours has ever much more of a flourish and flare to it!

[riversedge]

2. get some rest.

[Fla Dem]

3. Why wasn't this communicated to the company you drive for?

Would have saved you the trip. Now you have to hang around and check in with them every 5 hours?

[denbot]

4. Cargill is one of, if not the biggest privately held companies in the US, maybe the world.

1, They don’t care. 2, They may be keeping this on the down-low..

[rurallib]

7. think I just read they are the largest privately held company in the world.

[paleotn]

15. Yep. Sounds like the latter in this case.

[Kali]

5. nothing in the news that I can find

there was an explosion there in October, possibly due to dust in a blood meal processing building, and of course there are covid 19 cases ongoing but nothing showing on line that I could find. interesting.

take it easy and give a honk if/when you roll through Texas Canyon.

[dhol82]

6. Wow, not good.

[MuseRider]

8. Be careful!

Our governor has worked really hard but is butt up against the most rabid RWers in our legislature. She has lost a few battles, won a few and compromised a few. If she had not this state would be totally open and raging with Covid, it sounds like it is getting ready to boom way back up. We all expected this but the RW own the state still.

[Warpy]

9. Oh, Dumdum made them open but so many of their workers are out sick

that production has slowed probably to a tenth of what it usually is--if that. Tjere is a lot of news about Canadian plants, not so much here in the US and I couldn't find anything about the one in Kansas.

You might have a very long wait to pick up that load. They're going to keep you hanging.

Catch up on sleep.

It's going to be a while before they get back to full production, if ever. All Cargill plants are reporting high rates of Covid infection, here and in Canada.

[SunSeeker]

10. K & R

[MLAA]

12. Be super careful, denbot. Thinking of you 🙂

[KY_EnviroGuy]

13. Pity the poor workers. Perhaps a covid flareup.

Closed for santiizing and/or lack of workers?

Cargill's web site has no details about plant health problems, but only boilerplate bullshit about health precautions. From the web site:

Plant details

Located approximately 2 miles out of town
Employs over 2,700 employees – Cargill’s largest beef plant
23 different nationalities represented in our workforce
Processes over 5800 head of cattle each day

According to https://infection2020.com/ Ford County, KS had a spike of eight coronavirus deaths on June 3, perhaps signaling an outbreak in the plant. If we believe Kansas' numbers, it went from two to eight overnight.

Ford County has the highest number of cases in the state at 1,823 cases, but again only two deaths until the 3rd. No data shown on tests or recoveries.

Looks like the City has gone silent on Twitter after March. Comments on the Ford County Dept. of Health Facebook page are saying the state is playing with the data.

Nothing about an outbreak or shutdown on the City website. Also nothing in their June 5 City PDF newsletter. Also nothing on the local news sources. It's as if Cargill does not exist.

I smell a stonewalling Republican rat.....

[keithbvadu2]

14. Human capital stock

Human capital stock

[Grokenstein]

18. I used to joke that

...if they could, my employers would work me until I fell over dead, rifle my pockets, then sell my corpse to a pet food company.

Won't be long before that's not a joke anymore.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

16. Omigod, my dear denbot!

Doesn't sound good, is right.

I hope you're OK and are able to sleep well tonight.

Please take care.

[locks]

17. I have been following

all the meat packing horrible news for months. I live not far from one of the largest plants in the nation. Rachel Maddow and a few other prominent news people worked hard to research and bring to light what has been going on for years, the illegal and sad treatment of workers, the huge fines against the five owners of hundreds of plants all over the world. Thanks to covid19 pandemic we finally had information that thousands of workers had contacted the virus and many were dying. But the corruption and political power of the meat industry was so strong that they did nothing and Trump would not let the plants close long enough to make the changes the CDC said they would have to make to save the workers or even find out how many of the thousands of workers were ill or had died of the virus. If you research even the recent history of these companies since you will find the stinking web of corruption that goes to the top of the industry and includes many of our own legislators. The only reason for this scandal is that meat on our plates is more important than peoples lives.

[raccoon]

19. Gosh sounds like something from THE STAND.

I feel for the meat packing workers.

[Squidly]

20. Everybody

Needs to read The Jungle again, or for the first time.
Amazing how little has changed