Sanderson Farms loses 1.7 million chickens to hurricane

Hurricane Florence has had a substantial impact on Sanderson Farms’ live operations, with the company estimating that about 1.7 million chickens died as a result of the hurricane and its subsequent flooding.

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Trendobjects, Bigstock.com
Trendobjects, Bigstock.com

Hurricane Florence has had a substantial impact on Sanderson Farms’ live operations, with the company estimating that about 1.7 million chickens died as a result of the hurricane and its subsequent flooding.

The third largest broiler company in the United States reported on September 17 that of the 880 broiler houses in North Carolina where chickens are raised for Sanderson Farms, 60 of them have been flooded. An additional six broiler houses were damaged and are presently inoperable.

Four of the company’s 92 breeder houses in the state were also flooded. However, none of the company’s 33 pullet houses were damaged.

The estimated 1.7 million chickens lost ranged in age from six days to 62 days. Sanderson Farms on the average has a live inventory of about 20 million head in North Carolina.

Some farms don’t have access to feed

Sanderson Farms cautioned that its live bird losses could mount due to farms being isolated due to flooded roads.

Roughly 30 farms in the Lumberton, North Carolina, area, cannot be reached by trucks that deliver feed. There are about 211,000 chickens housed on each of those farms.

“Losses of live inventory could escalate if the company does not regain access to those farms,” Sanderson Farms stated in a press release.

Status of poultry plants, feed mills and hatcheries

Sanderson Farms earlier reported there was not any significant damage at any of its processing plants, feed mills or hatcheries in North Carolina, and following further assessments, that status has not changed.

Sanderson Farms resumed operations at its feed mill in Kinston on September 17, and on the following day, it resumed operations at its processing plant in Kinston. The company expects to resume operations at its poultry plant in St. Pauls later in the week, once it is assured that employees can safely drive to work.

While the company has maintained operations at its hatcheries, it was unable to set eggs on its normal schedule. The resulting reduced egg sets and chick placements are expected to affect the company’s weekly processing volumes through December, with the reductions taking place mainly during October and November.

Anticipated financial impact

In its press release, Sanderson Farms stated that the company believes its insurance will cover a significant portion of the storm-related losses.

“While the storm’s impact on our live inventories and live production process will have an impact on the company’s capacity and volume over the next two months, none of the losses sustained will be long term,” Sanderson Farms CEO Joe F. Sanderson Jr. stated. “The impact on volume from our live losses will be spread over three months, although inefficiencies resulting from bird stress, overtime pay and loss of processing days will affect the company’s fourth fiscal quarter.”

Sanderson added that the company during the next few weeks will focus on maintaining its assets, responding to customer needs and replenishing its live production inventories.

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