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CAL POLY UNIVERSITY RESEARCH CENTER
PROJECT PROFILE
About the Poultry Center
The Cal Poly Poultry Center has housing facilities for 7,000 broilers and 7,000 replacement pullets. In addition, the Poultry Center has two egg production facilities—a two-story turbo house and a stack-deck house. Both houses are exact replicas of the facilities currently used by the commercial egg production industry. The Poultry Center also contains a research house that can hold approximately 2,2000 birds. With 96 pens each capable of holding 22 to 25 birds, this research building has the capacity for various contract research and in the past, has been used for research in nutritional immunology. A battery room with 96 individual brooding pens is also available and used for short-term trials. Currently, the Cal Poly poultry program is investigating housing methods for compliance with Prop 2 (effective January 2015).
About the project
In 2016, SALMET® and Ruby360 formed a partnership with Cal Poly State University in San Luis Obispo, CA. As a result of a generous donation from Cal Poly alumni Peter Oppenheimer, this project saw four new SALMET® poultry housing systems installed accompanied by Ruby360 custom control systems on campus revolutionizing poultry education.
Cal Poly is a leader in agricultural innovation which makes a relationship with SALMET® and Ruby360 a perfect fit. As industry leaders, Ruby360 provides a completely integrated system with heavy focus on cultivating the latest technology allowing poultry farmers to maximize control and supervision of their operations by utilizing their farm’s full potential.
About the system
- Poultry rearing housing systems
- Enriched colony housing systems
- Alternative cage-free nest systems
- Electrical control systems
- Bird weighing
- LED lighting systems
- Climate controls
- Video surveillance allowing the controller to have 24/7 remote access
- Feed weighing and feed management technology
- Egg conveying
- Egg counting and control
- Entirely automated agricultural computer system
In addition to the obvious benefits for the poultry science students at Cal Poly, the SALMET® and Ruby360 systems will act as a showcase internationally for the ever-expanding poultry industry.
The future of farming
One lucky student from Cal Poly will be accepting an internship in Germany at a SALMET® production facility. This opportunity will allow for hands-on experience and training with the products, which will be integral in the function and maintenance of future operations at Cal Poly. With a constant movement towards improving animal welfare within the poultry industry, this relationship creates opportunity for increased education for all poultry science students on proper animal care while still learning the most modern techniques of operation for increasing efficiency and production.
Peter Oppenheimer, Cal Poly alumni who graduated with a degree in agricultural business management in 1985. Oppenheimer later went on to act as the CFO of Apple Inc. for 10 years. Under his tenure, the company’s annual revenue grew from $8 billion to $171 billion.The donation of $20 million from Peter and his wife, Mary Beth is the largest cash donation in the history of the university.
Dr. Jaymie Noland
D.V.R-Animal Science Department Head,
Cal Poly University
Steve Soderstrom
Manager, Poultry Science,
Cal Poly University
“The Cal Poly Animal Science Department is excited to partner with SALMET® and Ruby360 on the recent renovation of our Poultry Production Center. As an institution that prides itself on innovation and advancement, Cal Poly has made it a priority to find partners with similar values. SALMET® is a true industry leader, with a 50-year history of producing exceptional quality enclosure systems for poultry, and the advanced integrated control systems from Ruby360 will provide our students with access to cutting edge technology. We are thrilled to offer our students exposure to these quality products, and look forward to an ongoing relationship with these industry partners.”
Dr. Jaymie Noland, D.V.R-Animal Science Department Head, Cal Poly State University
"I can't think of a better team than Salmet and Ruby 360. Quality poultry enclosures from Salmet controlled by custom control panels featuring Opticon technology designed by Ruby 360. It's a reliable combination that makes my job easier."
Steve Soderstrom, Manager, Poultry Science