More than 400 people, including representatives of the turkey industry, local community members and government officials, gathered to celebrate and tour the new Hendrix Genetics commercial turkey hatchery in Beresford, S.D. The new 83,000 sq. ft. facility will hatch poults for commercial farmers throughout the Midwest. It boasts a capacity of 35 million eggs and features leading technology in robotics and automation from Zoetis and incubation and hatching equipment from Petersime. It has also created 60 new positions to support hatchery operations.

The event was a rare opportunity to see inside a facility, as once in production, biosecurity policies will be in effect to support the high-health requirements of the Hendrix Genetics Turkey operations. A few of these policies were evident and experienced firsthand. Upon entry, all attendees were asked to sanitize their hands and wear special protective covers over their shoes to prevent the entry of contaminants from the outside.

Hendrix said the hatchery represents one of the largest pieces for a project initiated in 2017. At the time, the company announced that it would establish its own turkey poult distribution network in the U.S. The objective: to ensure the quality and availability of Hybrid Turkeys products throughout the turkey value chain. The investment, estimated at approximately $70 million, includes new and updated breeding farms, two new hatcheries and a new transportation fleet.

After speeches and an official ribbon-cutting ceremony, guests toured the hatchery to learn about the facility features. Highlights included:

Jeff McDowell, Hendrix general manager of Americas, kicked off the speeches by highlighting the timeline of just over one year to complete the hatchery project.

“I am very proud of what we accomplished in such a short amount of time. This wouldn’t have been possible without the ongoing support of our customers and the local community. This, of course, is in addition to the hard work and dedication of our staff and partners throughout this project,” he said.