Nearly two years ago to the day, the feed mill at the University of Kentucky’s C. Oran Little Research Center caught fire, totally destroying the facility. This Friday officials welcomed visitors to the new and improved version.
UK Professor of Animal Sciences Robert Harmon stands underneath two giant mixers, one capable of handling a ton of feed, the other twice that amount. The facility resembles a big automatic kitchen, where researchers test new recipes for animal feed.
"And we have a master control panel in an office area to basically program in those diets," he explains. "The bins are on the outside so you program in ingredients and it automatically pulls from the right bin and takes it to the mixer."
That feed then travels to the university’s farms, which house thousands of sheep, pigs, cattle, and other animals.
Harmon says the fire – while unfortunate – did give researchers the chance to rebuild the facility from the ground up.
