Cooper Farms Ft' Recovery, Ohio

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Cooper FarmsFt. Recovery, Ohio

• Animal Sciences Internship
• Matt Barman

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Background of Cooper Farms

• Started by Virgil Cooper in 1938 near Oakwood,
  Ohio
• Started raising turkeys in Ft. Recovery, OH in
  the 1960s
• Purchased Hartwigg Processing in 1965 near Ft.
  Recovery
• By the late 1960s raising and hatching own poults

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Divisions of Coopers Today

• St. Henry, Ohio
• Harvest Plant
• Some Ready to Cook Processing
• Van Wert, Ohio
• Further Processing
• Heat and Serve
• Clean Room Slicing
• Luncheon Meats

• Oakwood, Ohio
• Main Offices
• Turkey Breeder Flocks
• Hatchery
• Sow Herds
• Ft. Recovery, Ohio
• Live Production
• Turkey Grow Out
• Swine Grow Out
• Feed Mills

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Oakwood

• Home to the breeder flock and hatchery that
  produce 14 million poults yearly
• Sow herd of approximately 9600 sows
• Main Offices

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Fort Recovery

• Turkey Grow Out produces 4.5 million Heavy Toms
  yearly
• Swine Grow Out producing some 250,000 market hogs
  yearly
• 1.6 Million Layers and 1 million replacement
  pullets
• Some custom broiler growing

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St. Henry

• Harvests about 17,500 heavy toms five days a week
• Some Ready to Cook items produced here like Bob
  Evans Slow Roasted Turkey
• Live Production responsible for toms until they
  Cross the Wall

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Van Wert

• The curing, smoking, and production of ready to
  eat products occurs here
• Only ISO certified Clean Room Slicing facility in
  the United States

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Projects During the Internship
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Fuel Usage

• All barns are heated with propane that Cooper
  Farms pay for
• Wanted to see if there was an approximate average
  for fuel used during each month by starter barns
  and finishers

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Barn Surveys

• All of the turkey barns are supposed to be the
  same
• Barn ages ranged from 1940s to 2002
• Compile information for a data base

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What I Looked At

• Dimensions of barns
• Size of bulk bin
• Type of ventilation
• Curtain size
• Open or closed ceiling
• Type of waterers

• Phone alarms
• Disposal of mortality
• Other livestock
• Water systems
• Generator
• Anything out of the ordinary

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Water Systems

• Three basic types
• None
• Iron remover with chlorine and poly
• Iron remover with 20 hydrogen peroxide
• Important to know for the use of vaccines and
  medications

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Standard Operating Procedures

• Shavings delivery
• Truck washing
• Trailer washing
• Loader washing
• Traffic flow
• Rendering Barn
• Poult delivery

• Live haul
• Night load out
• Live hang
• Meat hauling
• Servicing barns
• Shocking wells

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Assisting Servicemen

• Observe and learn flock management practices at
  different farms
• Help with vaccination of flocks
• Observe and learn different diseases that affect
  turkeys

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Water Tests

• Check level of chlorine in water prior to
  vaccination
• Check cleanliness of water with an ORP meter
• Both may have effects on turkey health

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Night Load Out

• Load toms the night prior to their harvest
• Load approximately 1,000 toms per hour on a five
  man crew
• Birds are handled to minimize stress and bruising

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Fear in Layers

• Student from University of Melbourne, Australia
• Count and watch heads of layers to attempt to
  detect the level of fear in the bird

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Assist Hog Servicemen

• Learned and observed different management
  practices at different farms
• Helped treat and vaccinate the hogs
• Learned and observed different hog diseases

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