Grower of the Month - November 2011

Hilburn & Sons Poultry Farm in Luverne, Alabama

Spotlight on Hilburn & Sons Poultry Farm in Luverne, Alabama

Hilburn & Sons Poultry Farm in Luverne, Alabama is a true family business. It was started by Henry and Melba Hilburn as a commercial egg business in the 1940s, and today the farm, which raises 850,000 fryer chickens per year, is run by Henry and Melba's five sons: Huey, Willie, Donald, Ronald and Ray. Donald currently manages and works the farm with weekend and evening help from his brothers, who all have other full-time jobs.

The Hilburn family farm was a natural choice for Grower of the Month, says Jason Robinette, grower manager for Pilgrim's in the Enterprise, Alabama, district. In fact, Robinette describes Hilburn & Sons as "The best kept farm we have." He notes that the Hilburns' strengths as farmers come from their extensive farming background as well as their approach to the work. "They've been in poultry their entire lives," says Robinette. "They have a good understanding of the industry's ins and outs and how it all works, and they have tremendous attitudes about what they do. They are a real pleasure to work with."

Robinette is especially impressed with the environmental measures the Hilburn family has taken to improve their farm's sustainable practices, to improve their energy usage, and to keep the farm well-ordered. "They've made upgrades to their houses to be more energy efficient in the last couple of years, to conserve gas and electricity," Robinette says, "and they do an excellent job of keeping their farm very neat. The grass out there is like a golf course, and they keep their facilities in top-notch shape."

Decades of Dedication

Wayne Wilford, Pilgrim's service tech, notes that Hilburn & Sons is a strong contributor to the Pilgrim's team. "They always do what you need them to do to keep the company standards met," Wilford says. "They are very good people who will do anything they can do to farm the best they can."

Over the years, Hilburn & Sons has gone through many incarnations. Henry ran the original egg farm through the 1940s and 1950s, and in 1959 the facility became a hatchery. In 1965 the family developed the business further by building pullet houses (for laying hens) on their nearby farm in Rutledge, and in 1970 they converted the Luverne farm for the final time to raise fryer chickens. These days the family also runs 100 head of beef cattle, but the farm has always focused on its poultry roots.

A True Family Farm

In addition to growing up on the farm, each of the Hilburn brothers has had a distinguished career in the poultry industry. Huey, now retired, worked for ConAgra, Spring Valley Farms, Goldkist and Pilgrim's during his career. Willie took over the hatchery in 1972 and worked it for 24 years, then worked for Sylvest Farms and Kucks Foods before ending up at the Alabama Department of Agriculture. Donald has run the family farm since 1975, following a four-year stint working a company that sold chicken housing equipment. Ronald moved to Georgia to work on a chicken farm for 10 years before returning to Alabama, where he has now worked at Wayne Farms for 30 years. And Ray worked as a ConAgra service tech, then at the Alabama Department of Agriculture, and he now works as Membership Director for the Alabama Poultry and Egg Association.

"We all grew up in the chicken business and we all swore we wouldn't end up in chicken farming," chuckles Donald, who notes that farming wasn't nearly as automated 40 years ago as it is today, "but every one of us did."

What brought the Hilburn boys back to farming after vows of staying away?

"We've got it in our blood and we can't get it out," Donald says. "It was the love of it, I reckon, that brought me back to farming."