Hutterites Building a New Egg Sorting Plant Near Great Falls

GREAT FALLS, Mont. (AP) — A cooperative of 30 Hutterite colonies is building a new $6.6 million egg grading facility on the northern edge of Great Falls.

The Great Falls Tribune reports the egg grading facility — being built for Montana Egg LLC — will be able to grade, sort and ship more than 280 million eggs each year.

Wilcox Family Farms, which buys eggs from the colonies, has a contract to supply eggs to Costco Wholesale Corp. stores in Montana and eastern Washington. The new contract means the Hutterites will be expanding their operations, as well.

Mike Miller, field operations manager for Wilcox, says the colonies have about 600,000 laying hens and he expects that number to double over the next few years.

Miller says the colonies associated with Montana Egg are converting to cage-free nesting systems.