Barn Spotlight: Volailles aux Grains Dorés

Location: Saint-Dominique, Que.

Sector: Broilers

The business
Michaël Boulay started raising broilers in Quebec’s Montérégie region in 1999 at age 18. Today, he and his wife Theresa Fuoco transform the 12,000 birds he produces per cycle into more than 70 fresh and frozen food items sold on their store and at select stores under their Volailles aux grains dorés brand name.  

With a new controller, Boulay can monitor and manage the barns from his phone.

An evaporative cooling pad system lowers the temperature in the barns by as much as 20°C.

The barns include other new cost- and time-saving features like unloaders (pictured here). PHOTO CREDIT: Cumberland

The need
The producers were operating two old broiler houses from the 1960s that were both in need of major makeovers and produced nearly twice the number of birds they needed for their farm-based food manufacturing business. Thus, they built two new barns in 2020. Featuring state-of-the art poultry producing equipment and technology, the new four-room facilities produce 12,000 broilers per cycle. 

The barn
The new barns feature a long lineup of mostly Cumberland products and systems that are designed to help control and deliver everything from feed and storage to climate and remote management. Boulay says he is most taken by his new evaporative cooling pad system, which harnesses the natural cooling effect of evaporation to reduce heat stress on his birds by lowering the internal temperature of his new poultry houses by as much as 20°C. Boulay also loves Cumberland’s EDGE 2, a remote management system with a smartphone-like touchscreen and integrated Wi-Fi connectivity. 

Barn Spotlight highlights new and renovated barns and hatcheries. Do you know of a good candidate to be featured? Let us know at poultry@annexweb.com.