On Aug. 11, 2016, around 100 people met with leaders of a Michigan-based company that wanted to build a massive egg production farm in the Mercersburg area.

Exactly six years later, Herbruck’s Poultry Ranch on Thursday celebrated the ribbon-cutting of Blue Spring Egg Farm in Montgomery Township.

The 335-acre farm’s initial 1.5 million cage-free chickens will produce eggs for Herbruck’s customers on the East Coast, including McDonald’s. It will be Franklin County’s largest egg producer.

Holding in his hand the iconic breakfast sandwich in its traditional yellow wrapper, U.S. Rep. John Joyce, R-13, said “every egg in every Egg McMuffin comes from Herbruck’s.”

“Eggs as a source of protein. Eggs as a source of jobs and development in Franklin County. Eggs as a vital part of our community,” he said.

The Herbruck family invested $100 million to develop Blue Springs Egg Farm. It will employ about 190 people — all of whom will receive free health insurance among their benefits. The 18-month construction phase alone employed 995 people, most of them local.

Production of eggs and fertilizer is expected to start in the fall.

“We’re right on the precipice of having chickens in the barns in the back, and running some eggs through the plant here and having some trucks and all the things we need to have happen,” President Harry “Herb” Herbruck III said.

Herbrucks ‘talk the talk, walk the walk’

Herbruck’s Poultry Ranch has been a family-run business since its founding in 1958 by Harry and Marilyn Herbruck in Saranac, Mich. The company has roots that stretch back to the 1920s when Harry Herbruck Sr. first started an egg business in Michigan. Today Harry and Marilyn’s sons are company executives, and members of the fourth generation have started learning the trade.

Using giant golden scissors, 91-year-old Marilyn cut the ribbon held on either end by her grandsons.

The Herbruck family forged a tight bond with the local leadership since it began pursuing the local property seven years ago. Local and state representatives had many positive words about the company.

“I’ve been involved in more than 850 projects in Franklin County during my tenure at (Franklin County Area Development Corp.) and I can state that we have never worked with any company or any family that has been as transparent or willing to do things right more so than Herbruck’s Poultry Ranch,” FCADC President Mike Ross said. “Quite simply, the Herbrucks talk the talk and walk the walk.”

Greg Weller, chairman of the Montgomery Township Board of Supervisors, pointed to the community meeting Herbruck’s hosted in 2016.

“How many projects start with a public meeting to address the residents before they do anything else? This company did just that,” he said.

Truck routes and wastewater removal from washing millions of eggs were concerns heard from the local community and stalled the process from moving forward. The ground was officially broken in June 2019, but then came COVID-19. David H. Martin Excavating began digging up the property in January 2021.

Franklin County Commissioner John Flannery said the Herbruck’s farm is a great match for “one of our strongest agricultural communities.”

Herb Herbruck said the company will “work really hard” to not let down the community.

“A lot of nice things have been said about Herbruck’s,” he said. “I think it puts a lot of weight on our shoulders now. We’ve got a lot to live up to.”

While the logistics of the site, a former dairy farm, were right for the Herbruck family’s plans, it was the “heart” of the community that drove their decision to move to Montgomery County, said CEO Greg Herbruck.

Herbruck’s also opened a cold-storage facility in Chambersburg in 2017.

What does the poultry farm look like?

A long, freshly black-topped lane stretches from Corner Road toward the handful of pre-manufactured buildings that comprise Blue Springs Egg Farm. Young pine trees planted on the perimeter of the property create a natural fence separating the farm from the rest of the rolling countryside.

The chickens, which Herbruck’s receives shortly after birth and keeps for their entire lifespan of about two years, will live in eight poultry barns. Four have been built so far.

These barns are nothing like the ones you’re probably thinking of.

Big and clean, inside are 420-foot-long, 60-foot-wide and 30-foot-high aisled and tiered houses where hens will live their lives roaming horizontally and vertically, eating and laying eggs. White conveyor belts, built at a slight angle, allow for easy egg collection and prevent eggs from coming into contact with waste. The whole aviary system came in pieces from Germany, ready to be installed; each house consists of 360 metric tons of steel, 40 metric tons of plastic and 120,000 Torx screws that must be applied by hand.

Herbruck’s uses “chicken psychology” to get the chickens to lay eggs where workers can easily collect them, said Vince Herbruck, who manned the chicken barn segment during tours of the farm.

Herbruck’s operates on a “serve the bird” philosophy, Greg Herbruck said during the ribbon-cutting presentation. Most decisions are based on what is best for the chickens.

Jake Herbruck, a family member who led the first tour group, quipped that the chickens will be living better than he does.

All of the eggs collected from the barns move to the egg processing building, where they are sorted, cleaned, packed up and shipped out to Herbruck’s customers.

Herbruck’s don’t let all the chicken waste go to waste. Fertilizer production is a key part of the business.

“We take a nuisance and a waste and create a product,” Greg Herbruck said.

The company says it uses “innovative technology” that dries out chicken waste and turns it into organic fertilizer while reducing odors and preventing flies. The process helps keep the hen houses clean. The final product is completely sanitary, technically.

“You can eat it if you want,” Jake Herbruck said.

Respecting the land’s legacy

The Herbrucks are the latest family to take over the land at 8069 Corner Road south of Mercersburg. The Herbruck’s company bought the Hartung dairy farm for $3 million in December 2017 after spending two years evaluating the site.

Sitting on stage next to Marilyn Herbruck was Doris Demuth.

The 96-year-old woman was born in the house that stands on the property, then owned by her grandfather, and lived there for about three years later in childhood. Before visiting the house recently, she hadn’t been there since 1958. She was happy to see the home had been well cared for over the years; Flannery, the county commissioner, even rented the house from Herbruck’s for 18 months while he and his wife built a new home in Guilford Township.

“I am just so thrilled to see how well they’ve done,” Demuth told a reporter after leaving the stage. “The things they have kept — they have kept buildings instead of tearing things down.”

Amber South can be reached at asouth@publicopinionnews.com.