Mar 2002 Page 9

          rock’s Miracle Egg owner, Del Brock,
          said a decision has been made not to go
          back into the processing business, three
weeks after fire destroyed the office,
processing plant and two poultry houses.
Instead, the farm is selling the estimated
216,000 (18,000 dozen) eggs being produced
on an average to three companies which have
agreed to grade, inspect, process and ship
them to retailers who are under contract with
Brock.
“We’re strictly a nest-run business today,”
Brock said. “The chickens are laying the eggs,
we crate them up and sell them to one of three
processing plants. The eggs are just as good
and the quality is just as good. The only
difference is that we no longer grade them.”
The decision to stay in the poultry business
as a producer and not a processor is a
gamble. “Anyone involved in food production

will tell you there are a lot of variables which
come into play and none more important
that supply and demand,” Brock said.
The only negative factor is the loss of
employees who Brock said, “have been loyal tous for so many years. Out of 30 employees
our company had, including our mill in
Cullman, before the fire, we now have a total
of nine,” Brock said. “Those we weren’t able
to find employment for received their last pay
check last Tuesday. It was a hard day for me.”
Brock says he’s slowly beginning to catch
up on all those hours of lost sleep. “The outpouring of support from the community was amazing and I’m so thankful for the local
chapter of the American Red Cross,” he said.
An investigation into the cause of the January 3 fire at the plant located on County Road 1568 has been completed. The cause is listed as undetermined.

      Vanessa H. Elrod
has joined Gold Kist
Inc. as grower rela-
tions manager. Elrod
will work as a liaison
between growers and
the company. She will be responsible for
gathering information on grower problems and concerns, working with field operations personnel on developing proactive solutions to issues, facilitating training programs for field operations personnel on grower relations, and serving as a communication channel to growers on company information.
      Elrod is a graduate of Auburn University with a bachelor’s degree in agricultural journalism and a master’s degree in agricultural economics.
      She served as communications and public affairs director for the Alabama Poultry & Egg Association for five years, and prior to that was editor of two state Rural Press USA publications. Most recently, Elrod was online ommunications specialist for a healthcare software company in Birmingham.

If you have a friend or neighbor that has not yet joined,
please encourage them to do so. The poultry industry
touches almost everyone in our state. Working together,
we can improve opportunities for everyone to succeed.
For more information please call AP&EA at 1(800) 254-
2732.

Jason E. Spann has been promoted to
plant manager at the Guntersville, Ala.,
processing plant, which is a part of the
Northeast Alabama Division of Gold Kist Inc. He will be responsible for maximizing productionyields, coordinating production schedules and maintaining plant sanitation, waste treatment and safety programs that comply with regulatory standards. The Guntersville plant processes 1.2 million birds per week and employs 1,100 people.
Spann joined Gold Kist in 1995 as a
management trainee. He has worked as a processing plant supervisor and further processing quality assurance manager at the company’s Boaz, Ala., plants, and most recently was the food safety manager at Guntersville. He has a bachelor’s degree in poultry science from
Auburn University.