Pork packers are also loosing money, partly due to the slowdown in overall meat demand resulting from the weakening global economies.

Two of the nation's largest pork packers on Wednesday said they will suspend slaughter at some Iowa pork plants due to rising flood waters.

Military contractors in Louisville provided the Union army with two hundred head of cattle each day, and the pork packers provided thousands of hogs daily.

Beef and pork packers and processors are consolidating and moving plants to Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

On Nov. 21, a letter was sent to all U.S. pork packers urging their assistance to alleviate the current slaughter bottleneck by increasing slaughter capacity.

Maple Leaf Foods, part of the McCain family empire and one Canada's largest pork packers, bought Manitoba-based Landmark Group in 1999.

While some pork packers have hogs for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, most of them do not and will have to pay up,' said Bob Anderson, analyst with Commodity Services Inc.

For their part, pork packers say the rules, which require mandatory truck washouts and veterinarian inspections, are too onerous and costly, and should be relaxed before importing live U.S. pigs can be feasible.

Dobbs added that the major beef and pork packers "don't like this new law" and claimed they have tried to "bully and intimidate family farmers and ranchers" with scare tactics about how expensive and cumbersome this new labeling law will be.