Proposed Nebraska farm would raise Smart Chicken birds

A new broiler farm that would house as many as 100,000chickens for MBA Poultry’s Smart Chicken isbeing proposed in Gage County, Nebraska.

A new broiler farm that would house as many as 100,000 chickens is being proposed in Gage County, Nebraska.

Farmer Charles Schmidt has applied for a special use permit with county officials for the proposed 156-acre farm, which calls for four barns and fencing between the barns, reports the Beatrice Sun. Schmidt intends to raise organic, free-range birds for MBA Poultry’s Smart Chicken label.

A public hearing was held on the issuance of permits for the proposed poultry farm, with nobody speaking out in opposition. The county’s planning and zoning board approved Schmidt’s request for the special use permit and has sent the application on to the Gage County Board of Supervisors, which is expected to vote on the matter during its meeting on June 10.

MBA Poultry, which is headquartered in Tecumseh, Nebraska, produced an estimated 1.25 million pounds of ready to cook chicken on a weekly basis in 2014, according to the WATT Global Media Top Companies Database. The company has one slaughter plant and one further processing plant.  The company employs about 400 people.

All Smart Chicken products are raised without animal byproducts, antibiotics, or hormones, are 100 percent all-natural, and are processed using purified cold air instead of adding non-potable water, the company states on its website.

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