Research conducted at Novus International's Green Acres Research Farm near Montgomery City, Missouri, provides accurate data and relevant results due to the design of the facilities as well as the experience of the long-tenured staff.
Designed as a multi-purpose, multi-functional facility, pens, rooms, barns, and pasture spaces are adaptable to the species and production stage being evaluated as well as the trials designed by Novus's research staff.
A 95-acre farm, Green Acres includes:
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Facilities for pigs from nursery through finishing
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Room with 36 pens for pigs, sheep, or calves
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On-site lab
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State-of-the-art feed mill
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Four floor pen rooms for poultry
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Four battery rooms with 72 pens each for poultry
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Modified open-front barn for 24 head of steers
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Pasture facility with 30, one-acre pens
In the on-farm lab, they are able to separate blood samples, prepare tissue histology samples, dry samples for testing, and evaluate tensile strength of a variety of tissues and products. The results of analysis conducted at the Green Acres lab is transmitted electronically to Novus's headquarters as part of the synergistic effort between the facilities.
Green Acres has a research feed mill and small pellet mill on site. "Our goal is not production but being more precise in all ingredients going into the feed," explained Skip Hampton, Senior Manager, Product Research. "In commercial production feed mills, the precision tolerance is likely greater. In research, everything has got to be very precise. When you think about MINTREX�, it's a product added at the parts per million level so you have to be very precise to test levels at seven parts per million to a ton of feed."
Everything going through the feed mill is hand weighed and manually added. And they are able to mix everything from a batch as small as a couple pounds up to two tons. Feed mill personnel can also grind material for whatever particle size is requested in the protocol of the research trial. Most feed produced at Green Acres is bagged and while the bagger sets the weight, each bag is again weighed independently for accuracy.
The pellet mill is set up so they can speed up or slow down the feeder and/or conditioner as well as change the pitch of the conditioner paddles. They can also measure the temperature of feeds coming out of the conditioner or the pellet mill to understand those properties' effects on ingredients and performance.
How animals respond to the ingredients, feedstuffs, and real-world testing circumstances at Green Acres is measured in many ways. At Green Acres right now, there are 22 ileal-cannulated pigs involved in an on-going, intensive trial on enzyme products and varying feedstuffs. This research will likely continue over the next three years with a large number of cannulated animals being involved with this trial at the research facility.
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| Skip Hampton |
"I believe we're making a difference," Skip concluded. "In the grand scheme of things, we're really helping people with production. When you think about Novus's goal - helping the world with wholesome, affordable food - to be part of that is pretty rewarding. And we're helping our customers as far as producing animal protein at a reasonable cost. That's important."
Green Acres is constantly evolving to meet the needs of the research teams at Novus International and their customers. They change and grow in configuration, capacity, and capabilities to achieve the best, most applicable test results possible for product development and customer needs.
When you talk to Yulin, you will hear two different accents. The first is Chinese and the twist is a bit of Kentucky thrown in the mix. A native of China, Yulin pursued his passion in swine nutrition research at the University of Kentucky where he earned his doctorate in swine nutrition in 2011. As a new generation of swine nutritionist, Yulin demonstrates a strong ability to apply our research solutions to provide service and sustainability to our customers.