April 12, 2010
Auburn University to establish new feedmill
A new US$7-million, state-of-the-art feedmill and animal nutrition facility at Auburn University, Alabama, USA, will help animal industries provide the best feed possible, according to officials.
Don Conner, head of Auburn's Department of Poultry Science and leader in the effort to establish the new nutrition centre, said the new feedmill will significantly advance Auburn's teaching, research and Extension efforts in feed science, technology and manufacturing.
"Auburn University is the ideal location for this much-needed academic feedmill facility, as this campus lies in the heart of the south-eastern US, where the majority of US broiler production is located," Conner said.
The new facility's design will be flexible so that it can be used not only for the poultry industry but for the beef cattle, pork and aquaculture industries as well.
The facility will be modelled after a modular nutrition centre recently constructed on California Polytechnic University's San Luis Obispo campus. Conner said the modular design minimises construction costs and time, allows for the flexibility needed in an academic feedmill and enhances the teaching value of the facility.
Krebs Engineering of Birmingham and T. E. Ibberson of Hopkins, Minn., will design the feedmill, with a technical advisory committee that includes poultry nutritionists and feed-milling personnel providing input on technical specifications.