See the New Cal Poly Animal Nutrition Center & Plans for the New Meats Center

PHOTO/Video Opportunity: See the newly completed Cal Poly Animal Nutrition Center - the feed production center for all 13,000+ animals on campus. And see plans for the new J and G Lau Family Meat Processing Center.

WHEN: 10 a.m., Wednesday, March 19, Animal Nutrition Center

WHERE: Animal Nutrition Center – feed manufacturing plant

WHAT – Cal Poly’s College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences is opening the doors of its brand new Animal Nutrition Center during its dedication ceremony.

The nearly 21,000-square foot, $5.5 million teaching and research plant can produce up to 6 tons of animal feed per hour for a variety of animal species and is filled with state-of-the art processing equipment.

Cal Poly’s Animal Science Department will use the plant to make feed for all 13,325 animals on campus: 400 beef cattle, 250 dairy cows, 125 horses, 50 sows, 500 piglets, 5,000 egg-laying hens and 7,000 broiler chicks.

The Animal Nutrition Center will also be used to manufacture specialty feed products that are part of ongoing industry-sponsored research on campus, as well as to manufacture custom products for commercial companies. Students from Animal Science,

Agribusiness, and many other majors across campus will take classes and labs with focus on animal food processing and related food safety in the new facility. The Animal Nutrition Center will also serve as a site for feed industry management training for feed mill managers from the western United States, as well as from international companies based in Asia.

Feed production in the new facility will begin at the end of March. To arrange for photos/video during actual production, contact Animal Science Department Head Andrew Thulin, Ph.D., at 805-756-2419, or plant manager Casey Callaghan, 805-748-4546.

PHOTO/VIDEO OPS: Thulin and plant manager Casey Callaghan will be available for interviews, along with students.

ALSO: See the groundbreaking ceremony for the nearby J and G Lau Family Meat Processing Center. The $5.5 million 13,500-square-foot meat processing center will include conference room, meat processing labs, food safety research space and ready-to-eat product development facilities for Cal Poly and companies in the meat food industry. Thulin and Cal Poly Animal Science Professor Bob Delmore (805-748-8422) will be on hand for interviews about the meat center.

List of Supporters:
The Animal Nutrition Center was made possible by public funding and private donations. The Meat Processing Center is nearly all funded by private donors and companies involved in the meat processing industry. Cal Poly’s Animal Science Department still needs to raise the remaining $1.5 million to complete the Meat Processing Center.

Private funding for the $5.5 million Animal Nutrition Center came from major industry supporters including:

Format International
Harold and Rose Marie Page
California Pellet Mill / Roskamp Champion
The Essmueller Company
Scott Equipment Company
Associated Feed
Ledwell & Son Enterprises
Automated Process Equipment Corporation
Thiele Technologies, Inc
T.E. Ibberson Company
Land O'Lakes Purina Feed LLC
Screw Conveyor Corporation
ACI Mechanical, Inc.
Interstates Companies
Supreme International
Eastern Instruments
Seedburo Equipment Company
ROTEX Global, LLC
Cardinal Scale Manufacturing Company
Clayton Industries
NuWest Milling, LLC

Private funding for the $5.5 million J and G Lau Family Meat Processing Center came from major industry supporters including:

J & G Lau Family
Oreggia Family Foundation
Beef Products, Inc.
Peter & Mary Beth Oppenheimer
Foster Farms
Richard & Kathleen Zacky Family Trust
Superior Farms
Mrs. Beverly Zacky
Michael T. Kaney Memorial Fund
Mr. & Mrs. Roger G. Reiser
American Foodservice Corporation

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