Company Tour
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Contract Farms
Our business starts on the farm! We utilize over 200 family owned and operated contract farms. Whether it’s a pullet farm, a breeder farm or a broiler farm, each facility is managed under programs provided to the producer by Peterson Farms’ personnel. This is done to insure that all birds are managed in a manner that will result in the best possible performance, with emphasis on bio-security, food safety and humane treatment. We realize that if the birds are not happy and healthy then we are not achieving the maximum potential available.
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Hatcheries
Eggs are produced on the breeder farm then transported to two Chick Master equipped hatcheries, located in Decatur Arkansas, that produce 1.3 million broiler chicks each week. We have the capacity to produce over 2 million chicks per week by utilizing two more Chick Master equipped hatcheries when market conditions warrant an increase in production. Our largest and newest hatchery uses Breuil automation to process the 1.3 million chicks that are delivered to contract broiler producers' facilities each week.
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Feed Mill
Peterson Farms has a feed mill, located one mile north of Decatur, capable of producing 12,000 tons of finished feed each week. Our feed mill ranked No. 1 for lowest total feed department cost when compared against 133 feed mills in our industry! Our feed mill produces nutritionally balanced feed for all of Peterson Farms pullets, breeders, and broilers along with manufacturing feed for another local poultry company. We receive most of the main feed ingredients (corn and soy) by rail. We can receive up to 50 car trains at one time.
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Processing Plant
Currently we process approximately 1.3 million broilers each week with an average live weight of 5.40 lbs. Our processing plant, also located in Decatur, has the peak capacity to process up to 1.5 million broilers per week and employs approximately 550 people. Not unlike all poultry processing plants, we have a very strict quality control program along with an extensive Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points program to insure complete food safety throughout the entire process. In the further processing portion of our plant, we utilize a spiral freezer to individually quick freeze deboned breast meat and cut wings, which have been marinated through our tumbler marination process. We have the capacity to marinate and freeze up to 48,000 lbs of deboned white meat each day. We also have an R&D test kitchen where we continually test the products we produce for proper marination pick-up, taste and tenderness. We strive to produce products with all the qualities needed to insure total customer satisfaction.
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Avian Health and Quality Assurance Lab
At our Avian Health and Quality Assurance Lab located in Decatur, we perform the routine flock health monitoring. We schedule flock testing as required by State and Federal Agencies. Our lab also performs ELISA and diagnostic testing for Contract Farms. Testing for our HACCP, Food Safety and Product Export are performed by our lab on a daily basis.
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L.P. Gas Company
Located in Decatur we have a L.P. Gas company that utilizes five 4,000 gallon trucks to deliver approximately 4 million gallons of propane each year. We maintain a very competitive price by forward contracting and receiving approximately 50% of our usage by rail. At the Decatur location we have storage capacity of 135,000 gallons. We also have storage capacity of 50,000 gallons at our satellite facility in Jay, Oklahoma. Due to our competitive purchase price and delivery cost, we are able to service the contract producers as well as several residential and commercial customers.
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L&L Farms
L&L Farms, the branch of Peterson farms devoted to cattle research, was created in 1961 primarily as a means to use the abundance of fertile grazing land owned by Lloyd Peterson. Years of experience in poultry genetic research have been directly applied to the development of Peterson's Polled Santa Gertrudis breed. Just as Peterson Industries has become internationally respected for its broiler breeding stock, L&L farms has gained the same respect for its Polled Santa Gertrudis cattle.
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Fleet Maintenance Shop
We have a Fleet Maintenance Shop located in Decatur. At this facility we employ 10 experienced mechanics that perform periodic maintenance and repairs on approximately 165 units that are needed for operation of our business. This includes, pick-ups, semis, feed trailers, live haul trailers, loaders, and chick delivery vehicles.
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Corporate Office
All company operations are coordinated through our corporate office also located in Decatur. Executive, Accounting, IT, Purchasing, Sales and Human Resources offices are located at this facility as well as a fully equipped and staffed fitness center that is available for use by company employees.