NDSU recently celebrated the renovation and expansion of its Swine Research and Teaching Center and showcased the enhanced research and educational opportunities it will provide for students and researchers.
The NDSU Foundation led a four-year fundraising effort to support a 600-head expansion barn and 50-seat classroom, both additions to the existing swine facility.
“We’re excited to be able to conduct studies in a modern facility at a scale that results in meaningful discoveries for producers and the pigs under their care,” said NDSU associate professor Christopher Byrd, who specializes in swine research.
“This facility represents a major step forward in our ability to conduct industry-relevant research and prepare the next generation of agricultural leaders,” said Greg Lardy, Joe and Norma Peltier Vice President for Agriculture at NDSU. “By expanding our capacity and modernizing our infrastructure, we are better positioned to support producers, advance animal agriculture, and drive innovation in the region.”
The original facility was built in the early 1980s. In 2019, renovations modernized portions of the facility, including converting the gestation space from individual sow stall housing to a group housing system.
After that renovation, Byrd said there was no classroom available for hands-on instruction, and pigs could not be loaded onto a semi without being transported in small groups to another facility. There was also a shortage of grow-finish space, which is the amount of floor area each growing and finishing pig requires inside a barn.
“At that time, we had plenty of gestation and farrowing space, but we did not have enough grow-finish space to fully utilize the renovations completed in 2019,” Byrd said. “Without the extra grow-finish space, we struggled to provide meaningful teaching and research on an industry-relevant scale.”
Source : ndsu.edu