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Our newest Mini MPU is now available. It consists of equipment from our PM line of poultry processing equipment. We have different sizes and configurations available. Please call us for more information and how to have one built to your specifications.

We recently provided a Mini Mobile Poultry Processing Unit to the Island Grown Initiative in Martha's Vineyard Mass

Click on the Logo to visit their site.

We are pleased to be able to offer financing on our equipment. We have teamed up with Premier Funding to offer you financing at competitive prices. If you would like more information please call or e-mail us for more information.

We have several MPU's operating in New York State. We can custom design these units for you to your specifications.

This Mobile Processing Unit helps take the bite out of processing costs for small-scale poultry producers. 

Processing is a big barrier for many would-be small-scale poultry producers. As daunting as butchering hundreds of chickens in your kitchen might be, it's even harder to justify the expense of building dedicated processing facilities when you're just starting to build your market.

That barrier has been lowered substantially for New York pastured-poultry producers by the staff of the South-Central NY RC&D, based in Norwich, N.Y. With the help of grants from Heifer Project International and the USDA-NRCS Graze-NY program, the RC&D built a Mobile Processing Unit (MPU) which is towed with a half-ton pickup to individual farms where producers use it to speed processing of their birds. 

The RC&D charges the producers a small per-bird fee plus mileage. That's a bargain compared with the $1 to $1.75 per-bird cost at state-licensed processing facilities, which quickly eats up profits. 

With the right tools and a little practice, a couple can process 20 birds per hour with the MPU, says Jim McLaughlin, coordinator of the RC&D's pastured poultry project. The savings translate to $27.50 per-hour for home-processed birds, plus the wastes can be composted to return organic matter to the soil, he notes. 

The total cost of the unit was about $3,000, excluding the approximately 70 hours of labor it took to construct. The 25-foot-long unit is built on the frame of a mobile home trailer salvaged from a flood. The original plan was to keep the shell intact so that it could be used in any weather. 

But concerns about heat from the scalder making the enclosed space unbearable in warm weather and difficulty maintaining good sanitation -- as well as the poor condition of the original flooring -- led the staff to strip the trailer down to the frame. They extended and reinforced the frame with angle-iron, and added a metal grating floor for easy hose-down.

The components of the system include: 
5 poultry crates to handle live birds. 
5 poultry kill cones to ensure proper bleeding. 
A propane-fired scalder fashioned from a metal drum capable of handling three or four birds at a time. 
A homemade 3- to 4-bird barrel-type feather plucker. 
A stainless steel processing table. 
Chilling tanks. 
Knives and scales. 
A 20-foot tarp that can be raised to provide shade or protection from the elements. 
Hookups for 110-volt electricity and water. 

(Reprinted from the Sustainable Farming Connection web site)

The components on the original MPU were home made to keep costs low. New units contain all new parts due to warrantees and the inability to travel to some locations to personally repair any problems associated with home made parts. We have rough plans available to build the picker and scalder as well as a floor plan of the MPU. If you would like a set send a check for $10.00 (US) to Cornerstone Farm Ventures, 242 Dan Main Rd., Norwich, NY 13815. The set includes pictures of the unit as well as parts list and places to purchase the components.

Click here for more pictures.

Click here for a Adobe pdf MPU brochure.

You will need Adobe Acrobat to view it. 

The document is downloaded and opened on your machine using Adobe Acrobat Reader (a free plug in available at www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html).

For more information call us toll free at 

Cornerstone Farm Ventures
242 Dan Main Rd.
Norwich, NY 13815
Tel: 607.334.2833
E-mail: info@cornerstone-farm.com

This page was last updated on 05/09/2008

	© 2007 Cornerstone Farm Ventures All rights reserved

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