The $5 million project is expected to be completed in late 2019.

September 4, 2018

3 Min Read
Iowa State breaks ground to modernize poultry facilities
Iowa State's new poultry farm will house invaluable research lines of chicken genetics — like this Fayoumi rooster with origins in Egypt — that date back to the 1920s and 1950s.Iowa State University

Iowa State University broke ground Aug. 31 for the first step in replacing its aging poultry science facilities.

The new complex will be called the Robert T. Hamilton Poultry Teaching & Research Farm in honor of the Iowa Falls, Iowa, farmer who, with his wife Arlene, worked to build a successful poultry and hog operation and are considered pioneers of the modern layer chicken industry, the university said. Robert Hamilton died in 2014 at the age of 90.

“The Hamilton Poultry Teaching & Research Farm will be a modern, state-of-the-art place where we’ll begin writing a new chapter of Iowa State poultry science,” said Joe Colletti, interim endowed dean of the College of Agriculture & Life Sciences at Iowa State. “The facility will help us provide the best hands-on educational experiences for students and the infrastructure required for new scientific discoveries.”

The $5 million project, which is expected to be completed in late 2019, was made possible by three donors with Iowa connections. A lead gift of $3 million was pledged by Arlene Hamilton and the Robert & Arlene Hamilton Charitable Foundation. The Iowa Egg Council pledged $1.5 million. Hy-Line International and Hy-Line North America pledged $500,000.

Pending Iowa Board of Regents approval, portions of the farm’s new facility will be officially named the Iowa Egg Council Layer Research Wing and the Hy-Line Genetics Research Wing.

“This research facility will offer much improved facilities and provides our poultry and egg farmers a terrific resource for important and relevant work,” said Kevin Stiles, executive director of the Iowa Poultry Assn. and Iowa Egg Council. “We also see the farm as a tremendous asset to the university and students who will later become an integral part of our poultry and egg farming operations across the state and throughout the Midwest.”

The project will be built south of Ames, Iowa, on the same site as the university’s existing Poultry Science Farm, and will replace buildings dating back to the early 1960s, the university announced.

The new facility will accommodate educational and research needs in breeding and genetics, housing systems, flock management, nutrition, food safety and microbiology, behavior and welfare, flock health, animal health and well-being, environmental impact and economic efficiency.

Iowa State said the new facility will feature modern production systems that reflect current industry practices and will have the flexibility to adapt to emerging production systems. It also will have enhanced biosecurity measures of modern poultry farms to maximize animal well-being and health, food safety and environmental conditions for air quality and water quality.

The farm will be used by students and scientists from several departments and programs, including the department of animal science, department of agricultural and biosystems engineering, department of food science and human nutrition, department of agronomy and the College of Veterinary Medicine, as well as scientists with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service.

It also will be an important site for use by the Iowa State University Egg Industry Center, which focuses on providing value to the U.S. egg industry through information dissemination and collaborative research. The center is committed to ensuring that current and future needs of the nation’s egg industry can be answered through sound science-based information.

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