The Poultry Podcast Show - #40 - Improving Poultry Health and Welfare: Advances in Environmental Control

In poultry production, engineering has become indispensable to ensuring efficient and sustainable practices. This fact is made evident in the development of environmental control ventilation systems, for example: in poultry houses, these systems optimize air quality, temperature, and humidity, ensuring bird health and productivity. Moreover, technology has also been used to mitigate dust and dry manure in poultry production. With this integration among such technologies, the sector can continue to improve its efficiency, sustainability, and animal welfare. In this episode, Dr. Brett Ramirez shares his knowledge and expertise on environmental control systems, ventilation design and management, technology, manure drying strategies, and dust mitigation.

What you’ll learn:

1. Egg Industry Center projects 

2. Quantifying methane production

3. Environmental control and management

4. Practices and energy use of egg producers

5. The relation of pathogens with ammonia and dust 

6. Making birds more comfortable through air quality

7. Cage-free houses: ventilation and energy use

8. The future of environmental control in poultry houses

9. Agricultural engineering: the area of study 

Meet the guest

Dr. Brett Ramirez

Experience

      ○ Current: Assistant Professor at Iowa State University

      ○ Past: Graduate Research Assistant at the University of Illinois and at Iowa State University

Background

      ○ Ph.D., Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering (Iowa State University)

      ○ MSc., Agricultural Engineering (University of Illinois)

      ○ B.Sc., Agricultural Engineering (University of Illinois)

Hobbies: golfing, fishing, and engaging in outdoor activities.