Farbest Farms News

The week beginning February 18, 2024 Farbest Farms will be conducting our annual internal audit for our Process Verified Program (PVP) to ensure our company and growers are in compliance with PVP standards. The audit will cover all 4 points of the PVP. PVP Training is performed every year during the grower meeting and on farms with growers who are unable to attend the meeting. The slides from the annual PVP training held on 3/13/2023 during the grower meeting are posted on the grower portal under the category titled “Grower Meeting”. In anticipation of the audit please take time to review the document and familiarize yourself with the 4 points of PVP as well as animal welfare and handling. I would like to highlight one point of emphasis regarding PVP, the use of antibiotics. Federal law prohibits the use of antibiotics in livestock without veterinary approval. This means that one of Farbest’s veterinarians must approve a prescription prior to use of antibiotics in turkeys. One of the 4 points of PVP prohibits the use of antibiotics for growth promotion. This is assessed during audits by determining if unprescribed antibiotics are present on the farm. If anyone has unused antibiotics, please ensure that you contact your flock supervisor to have it picked up and returned.

Respectfully,

Trent Eckle, DVM

Hello everyone,

On behalf of Farbest Farms I would like to welcome you to the grower portal. For many of you this is a reintroduction, for others this is likely your first time exploring this website. Regardless of your familiarity with the website I encourage you to explore the various features of this website. Along the left side of the homepage, you will find multiple tabs for various categories of topics. If you click on the tabs, it will open a new page where you can access documents files, powerpoints, videos, and links to external resources. In the center of the homepage is the header titled News and Announcements where the most recent updates will be listed. Each time new content is added to the grower portal an announcement will be added with instructions for locating the content. There are a few new items I would like to discuss which are listed below.

1.) Farbest Farms recently made a routine change to our coccidia control program. Effective 2/20/2023 poults will receive a controlled exposure to coccidia via spray vaccine at the hatchery. The spray contains fluorescent gel droplets that the poults consume by preening it off each other. As a result of the change Farbest has been transitioning all conventional starter diets (0100-0300) to the ABF diets (0101-0301) for flocks placed on or after 2/20/2023. The finishing diets (0400-1400) will continue to have the coccidiostat, Coban, in the feed until further notice. This is important because of the potential risk of killing the coccidia in the vaccine if poults are exposed to the wrong feed within the first 3 weeks of age. A presentation titled “Cocci Control Program” has been posted within the Flock Health Information category that reviews coccidiosis, recent changes in control measures, and essential practices for maximizing the efficacy of the coccidia vaccine.

2.) During our grower meeting on 3/13/2023 attendees received training on the Process Verified Program (PVP) and animal welfare and handling. For those who were unable to attend you will need to receive these trainings from your flock supervisor by 4/10/2023. In addition, flock supervisors will be responsible for conducting internal audits of each premise by 4/10/2023. To ensure Farbest Farms is in compliance with the PVP, an external audit is performed annually by a third party. This year’s external audit will occur on 4/11/2023 and 4/12/2023 and will include visits to farms, feed mills, and processing plants. The audit will cover all 4 points of the PVP. The slides from the grower meeting have been posted to the grower portal under the category titled “Grower Meeting”. Please take the time to review this document and familiarize yourself with the 4 points of PVP as well as animal welfare and handling.

3.) Prior to Kent Peter’s retirement from Farbest Farms he kindly recorded a video presentation which details the steps for calculating grower payment. Many growers likely have a good understanding of how to calculate flock settlements, but this is a useful resource for new growers and anyone needing a refresher. The video is located under the category titled, “Grower Payment” within the “All Grower Files” tab.

If anyone has questions or suggestions regarding the grower portal, please feel free to utilize the “contact us” in the top right corner of the homepage.

Respectfully,

Trent Eckle, DVM

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:

1. 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.
2. 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

Below is a copy of the press release being circulated today providing an overview of the current COVID-19 situation at the Huntingburg processing plant.  At the time of this email there are a total of 42 confirmed positive cases at the Huntingburg facility.  We are currently not aware of any positives at the Vincennes facility.  Given the situation, the Indiana State Department of Health, Dubois County Health Department, Memorial Hospital and Farbest Foods are coordinating plans to conduct testing of all Huntingburg processing plant employees tomorrow, Friday, May 15^th.

Regarding the processing schedule going forward, we plan on being down in Huntingburg on Monday and Tuesday next week.  Beginning Wednesday we will look to bring Huntingburg back online albeit in a reduced capacity initially.  Vincennes will proceed as normal.

While we do not anticipate significant long-term issues at this time, we will be making some immediate short-term changes in an effort to give us flexibility should the need arise.  The first of these that some growers may see is the loading / processing of one barn at a farm several days earlier than the remainder of the farm to give turkeys space out in the field in the event we should experience any significant downtime at either facility.  This would allow us to keep birds out on those farms to an older age without having to resort to other, less desirable alternatives.  Thank you in advance for your understanding of this situation as we plan for the coming weeks.

Sincerely,

Phil Seger

A Statement on Behalf of Farbest Foods Inc., the Indiana State Department of Health, the Dubois County Health Department, and Memorial Hospital and Health Care Center:

Because of the nature of Farbest’s business with live turkey operations and processing turkey meat, it falls into the category of “Essential Business Functions” according to the United States government and as a result, has remained in production in every aspect during the COVID-19 pandemic. Farbest proudly owns that responsibility, and our workforce has risen to the incredible challenge of producing a quality source of protein for our family and friends around the world during this time. The focus on safety of our employees has been ingrained in our culture for years before COVID-19, and that commitment has not wavered. As a company, we have been taking a multitude of precautions to protect our people beginning as early as mid-March, weeks before there were any confirmed cases in the counties we operate in.

Our message to employees has always been consistent—to stay home if sick and to make decisions that prioritize health and wellbeing. Again, weeks before there were any confirmed positive cases in our area, we had deployed an extensive procedure in the event of a confirmed positive case for identifying and monitoring the health of those deemed to be close contacts. We have adhered to, and in many cases exceeded, CDC guidelines for the protection of essential workers. Farbest processes and plans have been approved by the Indiana State Department of Health and the Dubois County Health Department. For a complete list of actions taken, please visit https://farbestfoods.com/farbest-foods-response-to-covid-19/. It has been the company’s mission to learn from others in the industry and to follow local, state, and national guidance. Farbest has cooperated with and sought the advice from our local and state health departments and hospitals daily. It is based on this expert input that we are partnering with Memorial Hospital and Health Care Center, the Indiana State Department of Health, and the Dubois County Health Department to test all employees at the Huntingburg facility on Friday, May 15th. At this time, there are 42 confirmed cases at Farbest’s Huntingburg plant, and we are striving to contain that number. Testing all employees at the Huntingburg plant is out of an overabundance of caution, as local and state health authorities do not believe there is spread of COVID-19 occurring within the plant at this time. It was a unanimous decision from all parties involved in order to protect Farbest employees and the people in our community from further exposure.

The goal of testing every individual is to identify the asymptomatic positive employees and have them self-quarantine at home for ten days. This will further protect the workforce and community health.

We are thankful for the heroes that work at Farbest—our nurses and our workforce made up of essential employees. We are also thankful for the joint guidance and resources from Memorial Hospital, the Indiana State Department of Health, and the Dubois County Health Department. We hope for a full recovery for those affected and wish good health to our team and their families as we progress through testing.