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Mobile Processing Units
Cornerstone Farm ventures has been building mobile meat
processing units since the 1990's. Our specialty is poultry units but we are
able to build units for red meat,
pork as well as goat, sheep and bison. Our
latest unit was delivered to the State of Vermont in the fall of 2008.
For more
information on this unit please click on the link below.
We offer a basic enclosed Poultry Mobile Processing Unit as well. Each of
our units is built to our customer specifications.
For information on our basic
unit please click the link below.
Our 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. Mini MPU
$10,000.00
Mini Mobile Processing Unit
We recently built a Mini
Mobile Poultry Processing Unit to the Island Grown Initiative in Martha's
Vineyard Mass
This is one of our most basic units.
All of the processing equipment is taken off the trailer and set up on the
ground for processing.
The unit consists of a plucker, scalder, rotary kill cone
assembly and an evisceration table. The plucker and scalder are mounted on
stainless steel casters for easy removal.
This picture is of the MMPU being towed
by a PT (Poultry Truckin! )
Cruiser!
Plucker is located in the front.
Notice the casters on the plucker. Evisceration table is located to the right
behind the plucker and the scalder
is on the left side of the picture. Rotary
kill cone assembly is up against the folding ramp at the rear of the trailer.
Click on the Logo below to visit
the IGI site.
For financing click here
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 in 1994 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.
For more information contact us at : Cornerstone Farm Ventures
242 Dan Main Rd.
Norwich, NY 13815
Tel: 607.334.2833
E-mail: info@cornerstone-farm.com
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