Butterball to add jobs at newest turkey plant

Butterball is planning to increase production at its new turkey processing plant in Raeford, North Carolina, and to keep up with that increase, the company plans to add another 250 employees in 2016.
Mike Bliss, Butterball vice president of operations, told of the plans to add workers during a grand opening at its newest plant.
Butterball, the largest turkey company in the United States, finalized the purchase of the plant on February 19, and operations at the plant under Butterball’s ownership began on May 4, according to the Fayetteville Observer.
The plant had previously been owned by House of Raeford Farms, which used the facility as a turkey cook plant. House of Raeford decided to close the plant in December 2014 and sell it as a part of a new strategic direction, where the company de-emphasized turkey processing and focused further on growing its chicken production volume and further processed chicken lines.
Prior to purchasing the Raeford plant, Butterball already had a presence in the community of Raeford, as it employed nearly 200 people at its hatchery operations and Western Breeder Division.
According to the WATTAgNet Top Poultry Companies database, Butterball slaughtered 1.3 billion pounds of live turkeys in 2014.