The Texhoma operations house 20,000 sows and contain 71,000 nursery and 172,000 finishing spaces.

Specific terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

"Although vertical integration continues to be a key point of difference for Smithfield, these farms do not supply any of the company's pork processing plants," said C. Larry Pope, president and chief executive officer.

"The sale of these operations demonstrates our continuing commitment to shed non-core businesses with a greater focus on return on invested capital. This divestiture is another example of how we have altered our strategy to deliver better returns to our shareholders," he concluded.