ST. LOUIS —A major fire at a Michael Foods processing plant in Bloomfield, Nebraska, led to more than $2.5 million in damages according to parent company Post Holdings. 

The Knox County, Nebraska, Sheriff’s Office, posted on Facebook that it received an emergency call on Feb. 27 at 5:15 p.m. regarding the fire. Fire and rescue crews from the neighboring communities helped with the response.

Post Holdings said the fire impacted less than five percent of the layer population for Michael Foods’ internal and external network. No injuries were reported but local news outlets said 400,000 chickens were lost at the site. 

“Post management expects to be reimbursed under insurance policies,” the company said. “However, costs may be incurred in different reporting periods than any insurance recovery.”

In 2016, Post converted the egg layer farm to a cage-free operation at its Bloomfield site. It replaced 32 existing layer barns at the farm with 12 cage-free houses.