ABERDEEN, S.D. (AP) - An official of Northern Beef Packers says the new meat plant in this northeastern South Dakota city will hire about 200 workers and kill about 300 cattle daily when it initially begins operations.

The $40 million plant is expected to be ready in August.

Eventually, it will have 600 employees and process about 1,500 cattle a day.

Hundreds of people already have inquired about jobs, said Dennis Hellwig, one of the partners in the plant.

Starting wages for non-management employees will be $11 to $13 an hour, he said. The hiring process is expected to be in full swing in late spring, Hellwig added.

Concrete walls are starting to go up at the beef plant site about a mile south of town.

"Everything is moving along on a pretty good schedule," Hellwig said.

The state is providing Northern Beef with about $8 million in loans to establish the plant, and the rest of the financing will come from private sources.

Plans are still on track for IKOR, a blood research and processing firm, to buy all of Northern Beef's cattle blood, Hellwig said.