Foster Farms seeks permits for former Zacky Farms ranch

Foster Farms has applied for permits to operate a poultry farm at a former farm owned by Zacky Farms near Lemoore, California.

Roy Graber Headshot
(Foster Farms)
(Foster Farms)

Foster Farms has applied for permits to operate a poultry farm at a former farm owned by Zacky Farms near Lemoore, California.

Kings County officials are considering the applications, in which Foster Farms is proposing to operate a poultry ranch on the non-operational Holm Ranch to grow turkeys or chickens, reported The Hanford Sentinel. The company is seeking the ability to place up to 166,154 chickens or 54,000 turkeys onsite per flock for growout operations. Foster Farms would determine whether it would raise broilers or turkeys based on the market demands.

Foster Farms is seeking to utilize the property for poultry production after acquiring the land following turkey company Zacky Farms’ decision to cease operations.

Zacky Farms announced in late 2018 that it would go out of business, stating, “We have put our best foot forward, but as we struggled in the current state of the industry conditions, it has been impossible for us to continue profitably.”

At the time, Zacky Farms was the 18th largest turkey company in the United States, having processed 82.96 million pounds of live turkeys in 2017.

When Zacky Farms’ assets were put up for auction, Foster Farms was the winning bidder for 19 properties for a price of $31 million.

If the permits are approved and the farm becomes operational, it would allow Foster Farms to increase production and possibly move up in the WATTPoultry.com Top Companies rankings. Presently, Foster Farms ranks as the 13th largest turkey producer in the United States and the 11th largest broiler producer. According to 2020 data, Foster Farms slaughters 213 million pounds of live turkeys annually, while it processes 28.02 million pounds of ready-to-cook chicken on a weekly basis.

Foster Farms, which was founded as a single turkey farm in 1939, is headquartered in Livingston, California, and now has operations in California, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Arkansas, Alabama and Louisiana.

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