In the wake of a bankruptcy filing in November, Coharie Farms has paid all of its farmers what they are owed and has now scheduled the first large wave of the liquidation process for May, when an auction of numerous company assets, to include the feed mill, more than 100 vehicles and equipment, will be held.

Coharie filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Nov. 6 and submitted a plan to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court that called for an orderly liquidation of all the animals and assets of the company. Much of the equipment is set to hit the auction block on May 20.

The Clinton-based pork producer, one of the nation’s top 25 hog integrators, is scheduled for the auction block on May 20, according to a spokesman for Rogers Realty & Auction Company, the firm selected to conduct the sale.

The auction begins at 9 a.m. Thursday, May 20. The sale will be conducted at Coharie’s main offices at 300 Westover Road in Clinton.

Auction officials said “a sale of this magnitude” will attract bidders throughout the United States and Canada, and Rogers is going to offer online and proxy bidding in addition to the live on-site auction.

The auction begins with the operations equipment and will include Coharie’s multi-million dollar feed mill. The sale includes everything from farm tractors, dump trucks, Ledwell feed trailers, livestock trailers, forklifts, bulldozers and backhoes; office equipment, furniture and fixtures; numerous mechanic tools and supplies to repair shop equipment.

The equipment to be sold was in daily use until November’s bankruptcy filing, auction company officials said.

The auction represents the first stage of the liquidation of Coharie Farm’s assets.

“This will be one of the largest auctions of its kind in this area and offers something for everyone,” Rogers’ lead auctioneer, Mark Rogers, said in a prepared statement.

According to the auction company’s site, there will be more than 125 vehicles along with the various equipment, all sold to the highest bidder. The feed mill is scheduled to go up for auction at noon, the company said.

Coharie partner Anne Faircloth owns the majority of the company, with Nelson Waters also serving as a partner. Faircloth’s father, former Sen. Lauch Faircloth, served as the face of Coharie Farms for many years, having started the company as a feed mill operation in 1972. Coharie started in earnest in the early 80s and, over the years, grew from its feed mill operation to a company that held operations in 11 of the state’s counties.

However, as with other pork producers, Coharie fell victim to a myriad of factors beyond its control, including a surge in input costs, a global recession and H1N1 scares that reaked havoc on the entire industry and hit state pork extremely hard.

When Coharie filed for bankruptcy, court documents showed the company’s largest debts totaled more than $3 million. Liquidation has been ongoing since, with Coharie selling off the remaining hogs from its 30,000-sow operation.

Faircloth said the auction is a necessary step in the liquidation process.

“I hope to keep some of the farms, but right now the plan is to be completely liquidated by the summer,” Faircloth said in February.

Coharie lost close to $30 million in the last two years and its 170 employees have dwindled since the end of last year, a situation Faircloth said has been difficult, but many have found other work. She has said it is not known what kind of assets will still be available after the liquidation, or whether Coharie could reinvent itself or possibly continue as a scaled-down operation.

“It’s too early to tell,” Faircloth said earlier this year. “That’s my hope. That’s my desire. It takes a long time to get these things sorted out and I haven’t gotten them sorted out yet. We’ll still have our valuable assets, which are our barns and our permits. I do believe, long-term, these things have value. It’s just a matter of how to tap into that value.”

Chris Berendt can be reached at 910-592-8137, ext. 121, or by email at sicrime@myclintonnc.com.