First off, I hope this email finds everyone healthy and safe as well as having enjoyed a beautiful weekend. I wanted to pass along the latest Farbest update as of this morning. Please take a look as it gives the current situation at the plants. The news there is encouraging as several employees who have been absent due to COVID-19 are now back working.
We do have two updates pertaining to Farms that I want to make sure to bring to your attention:
- Beginning in the next couple of weeks we will be transitioning back to 100% poult placements for all growers. Select Genetics (hatchery) has been very good to work with on this issue over the last two months and we’re looking forward to getting back to normalcy.
- In late April we adjusted our nutrition package in an effort to slow growth in the event we were forced to keep turkeys out in the field due to excessive absenteeism at the plants. Sure enough this situation came to fruition a couple of days later as the first positive COVID-19 cases appeared in Huntingburg. While it was by no means perfect, our plants did a nice job of getting through the past several weeks with only slightly reduced numbers than what we had planned. From an age perspective we’re very close to the our projection at the beginning of the year.
Beginning last night we have begun going back to our regular / normal diets at both Bruceville and Dubois. As we sit here a month later I’m not certain as to what the actual effect on growth rates were. Weights this morning at Huntingburg and Vincennes averaged over 48 pounds. While these flocks were definitely on the heavier side of what we’ve seen, we have not experienced the dropoff in weights that we most likely anticipated 5 weeks ago. (our weights for the last 3 weeks have averaged 43.72 pounds)
On a personal note I want to thank you for your cooperation and understanding during these rapidly changing times. While the situation remains a very fluid one, I’m nonetheless encouraged by where we stand today.
I will continue to update everyone as events warrant.
Thanks.
Phillip J. Seger
