REPORTING SEGMENTS Narrative (Details)	12 Months Ended	3 Months Ended
Apr. 29, 2012 Hog Production Segment [Member] hogs sows	Jan. 30, 2011 Turkey Operations, Including Investment in Butterball, LLC [Member] Butterball, LLC [Member] Other Segment [Member]
Breeding Sows, Number	851,000
Market Hogs, Number	15,800,000
Production of Live Hog Requirements, Percent	49.00%
Sale of Stock, Percentage of Ownership before Transaction		49.00%

Percentage of subsidiary's or equity investee's stock owned by parent company before stock transaction.

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef

-Publisher SEC

-Name Staff Accounting Bulletin (SAB)

-Number Topic 5

-Section H

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