Hoke County sheriff's detectives and animal welfare investigators have spent the day looking for evidence that turkeys were tortured and mistreated at a Butterball facility in Shannon, about 90 miles south of Raleigh.

The investigators arrived at the plant at 8 a.m. this morning in response to allegations by an animal rights group that Butterball employees beat, kicked, threw and stomped the birds.

Garner-based Butterball, the nation's largest producer of turkey products, said it does not tolerate cruelty to animals and is cooperating with the investigation.

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Garner-based Butterball will close its turkey facility in Longmont, Colorado at the end of the year and is seeks to lower operating costs in the face of rising feed prices.

"After long and careful consideration, amid record high ingredient costs, our company has come to the conclusion that we must take these steps in order to improve our overall effectiveness.” said Rod Brenneman, Butterball's CEO.

Brenneman said government ethanol subsidies and record high fuel prices for much of 2010 and 2011 contributed to a major increase in operating costs at the plant.

Brenneman took over as CEO earlier this month.

He is a 22-year veteran of Seaboard Corp. of Kansas, the holding company that acquired a 50 percent stake in Butterball in December. Maxwell Farms owns the other half of Butterball.

Brenneman warned in an interview earlier this month that Butterball, like all poultry and pork producers, needs to be more efficient and lower operating costs.

Garner-based Butterball announced this afternoon that it has named Rod Brenneman, a long-time executive with one of the turkey producer's parent companies, as CEO.

The move comes four months after the previous CEO, Keith Shoemaker, resigned without explanation.

Brenneman is a 22-year veteran of Seaboard Corp. of Kansas, the holding company which acquired a 50 percent stake in Butterball in December. Maxwell Farms owns the other half of the company.

Seaboard's investment came after Smithfield Foods, the world's largest pork producer, agreed to sell its interest in Butterball.

Butterball has donated more than 18,000 pounds of turkey to charitable organizations in North Carolina and Alabama to help victims of the recent severe weather in both of those states.

Butterball is the largest turkey producer in the nation. The company employs 80 people in Garner, where it moved its headquarters in 2008.

“Our thoughts and concerns go out to the many individuals who were impacted by the devastating tornadoes and floods, and to those across the country who struggle to provide food for their families,” said Walter Pelletier, president of Maxwell Farms. “Butterball is a proud supporter of hunger relief and we are thankful for the opportunity to join with such valiant organizations that help meet the needs of the community not only in times of distress, but every day.”

Butterball donated more than 8,000 pounds of turkey products to Alabama organizations and more than 7,500 pounds of products to the Food Bank of Central & Eatern North Carolina and 2,500 pounds to Warren's Chapel Original Free Will Baptist Church in Micro, N.C.

Garner-based Butterball announced today that its CEO and president, Keith Shoemaker, resigned on Monday.

The company didn't give a reason for Shoemaker's departure. No immediate replacement has been named.

In the interim, members of Butterball's board will assume the CEO responsibilities, the company said in a release.

Shoemaker's resignation comes seven months after Smithfield Foods agreed to sell its interest in Butterball.

Butterball is now a joint venture between Maxwell Farms and Seaboard Corp. of Kansas.
 
“Butterball thanks Mr. Shoemaker for his valuable service and for successfully guiding the company through last year’s change in ownership as well as his role in making the company what it is today,” said Walter Pelletier, president of Maxwell Farms and board member of Butterball, in the release.
 
Steven Bresky, president and CEO of Seaboard, said in the release that Shoemaker's departure wouldn't result in any major operational changes. 

“During this transition we do not anticipate major changes in any areas of production or employment," he said.  "It is business as usual.”
 

Butterball has partnered with the National Salt Reduction Initiative and pledged to reduce the amount of sodium in packaged and restaurant foods by 25 percent by 2014.

The company, which is based in Garner, already has many products that meet the sodium guidelines outlined by the NSRI. However, the company is working to lower the sodium content of other products.

Today, the company said it will reduce the sodium levels of its turkey ham and turkey pastrami by 20 percent by 2012. And, it will reduce the sodium in other deli products on average by 10 percenet.

Maxwell Farms and Seaboard Corp. announced today that they have finalized their purchase of Butterball from a subsidiary of Smithfield Foods.

The deal was first announced in September.

Smithfield sold its 49 percent interest to Maxwell, which already owned the other 51 percent of Butterball. Maxwell, in turn, sold a 50 percent stake in Butterball to Seaboard of Kansas.

Smithfield, the world's largest pork producer, gave Maxwell Farms an ultimatum in June. It said it would unload its shares of Butterball if Maxwell didn't accept its $200 million buyout offer.

Butterball employs 80 people in Garner, where it moved its headquarters in 2008.

Smithfield sold its Butterball stake for $175 million. Seaboard paid $177.5 million for half of Butterball.
 

Butterball has a new owner.

Late Thursday, Maxwell Farms, which owns 51 percent of the world's largest turkey company, announced that it was partnering with Seaboard Corp. of Kansas to purchase the minority shares now owned by Murphy-Brown, a subsidiary of Smithfield Foods.

Smithfield said the purchase price is $175 million.

The purchase is expected to be final in early December.

“We are pleased to be partnering with Seaboard and moving forward as the buyer of Butterball, the strongest brand in the turkey industry,” Walter Pelletier, president of Goldsboro-based Maxwell Farms, said in a statement. “Seaboard is a strong, diversified company with a great reputation in the agriculture and food industries, and we are confident the partnership will be mutually beneficial for both companies.”

In June, Virginia-based Smithfield offered $200 million to buy out Maxwell Farms and become the sole owner of Butterball. Maxwell Farms had until Saturday to agree to sell or to buy Smithfield's shares.

On a recent conference call with analysts Smithfield's CEO C. Larry Pope said he expected Maxwell to reject his company's offer.

Butterball was founded in 1954. Two years ago, it moved its headquarters to Garner, where it employs about 80 people. It also employs about 2,500 at a massive turkey plant in Mt. Olive and another in Kinston.

Maxwell Farms is privately held. It began in 1916 as a feed mill, selling bagged feed across eastern North Carolina. It turned its attention to turkeys in 1958.

Seaboard Corp. also has a long history in agriculture. It got its start selling grain in 1918. It is publicly traded under the symbol SEB. It now employs 14,000 people worldwide and has net sales of approximately $3.6 billion annually.

Earlier this year, Seaboard acquired a 50 percent ownership stake in PS International, a commodity trading business in Chapel Hill.

Butterball's future will become clearer within the next few days.

In June, minority owner Smithfield Foods offered $200 million to buy out Maxwell Farms of Goldsboro, which owns a 51 percent stake of the world's largest turkey company. Smithfield set a deadline of Saturday for the offer, and said it would sell its Butterball stake if Maxwell isn't interested in a deal.

This morning, on a conference call with Wall Street analysts to discuss Smithfield's quarterly earnings, CEO C. Larry Pope said he expects its offer will likely be rejected.

"We would be pleased to be the buyer and would be anxious to run that business," he said. "All indications are that we are going to be the seller."