MAY 30, 2019 / 3:00PM, SAFM - Q2 2019 Sanderson Farms Inc Earnings Call
Joe F. Sanderson - Sanderson Farms, Inc. - Chairman & CEO
It depends on the heat. But we’ll — during February, March, April, we were running ahead to fill orders at all of our deboning plants for wings and tenders and dark meat — boneless dark meat. And we just never — we’ve never gotten to a point where we could slow down. We were filling orders. And we finally, in May, got where we could slow down and shut down a day and slow down the kill and get our age up where our weights could get back up to our target weights. Now you’re going to make half of it up in May, and the other half, we just need to get our yields back up.
We’re doing a little bit more boneless dark meat right now. And that — as we — and we’re putting in equipment. That’s what these down — a lot of the down days were about was putting in automated dark meat deboning. And our yields are not quite where they ought to be because of that, because we’re starting that up. And as we become more proficient there and our yields improve, that’s the other half of covering this pay increase.
Operator
We’ll next go to Benjamin Theurer with Barclays.
Benjamin M. Theurer - Barclays Bank PLC, Research Division - Head of the Mexico Equity Research & Director
So this is a question, strategic outlook going forward. And I know and I assume, Joe, you’re going to like talking about this. So last quarter conference call, I remember we were joking about that you’re currently not looking for where you could potentially build a new plant, thinking of further capacity expansion and now, Tyler obviously in theramp-up process. And considering the potential medium-, long-term impact disruption from African swine fever on worldwide protein supply, and you’ve mentioned this very well in your prepared remarks, is that something that could trigger you or has already triggered you to think about further capacity expansion down the line just to kind of be prepared and have something up and coming to be in a position to fill a potential void or increase — just simply increase demand for poultry products? So what’s your current stance on capacity expansion and growth? That would be my first question.
Joe F. Sanderson - Sanderson Farms, Inc. - Chairman & CEO
We’ve — before we ever heard about African swine fever, a year ago, 2 years ago, we were already looking for a site. Our — what — the thing that drives us about expanding is the value of our stock. And strategically, we know that if we are going to increase the value of our stock, we need to keep our operations running well, improve our operations, improve our mix and continue to grow the company.
Whatever is happening in China is — an event like that is — we would not go build a plant because of that. We will build a plant because we know we produce more volume, our stock price is going to go up. And our charts — if you look at our chart, that — what we’ve done for the last 20 years, 25 years tells us that. And so that’s why we build plants.
Benjamin M. Theurer - Barclays Bank PLC, Research Division - Head of the Mexico Equity Research & Director
But it’s definitely something that’s currently — obviously, with stock being up essentially 50% in just a couple of months, I mean that should come to your mind though, how to further drive that. And that would be ultimately building a new plant, correct?
D. Michael Cockrell - Sanderson Farms, Inc. - CFO, Treasurer & Director
This is Mike, Ben. I’d just reiterate what Joe said. We — you wouldn’t build a new plant because of a temporary issue with the export markets. But we’re going to build another plant, and we’ve been very clear about looking for a site. That’s what we’ve done. That’s in our future. And you’re right, maybe you get to take advantage of that if that situation still exists. But hell, by the time we find a site and get it built, ASF may be in the rearview window. I know there are some estimates that this is going to go on for a long while, but we don’t know that. That wouldn’t factor into our strategy.
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