By Scout Nelson
South Dakota State University (SDSU) continues to support agricultural education and livestock research through a major expansion of its Swine Education and Research Facility. The university recently marked this achievement with a ribbon-cutting ceremony held on September 8. The project adds new space to the facility and increases its wean-to-finish capacity by 50%.
The swine facility was originally built in 2016 and has played an important role in hands-on student learning, industry outreach, and applied research. Over the years, the center has helped students gain practical experience while also providing valuable information to pork producers and the swine industry.
The new expansion increases the number of wean-to-finish rooms from the existing capacity to a total of six rooms. This improvement allows all pigs born at the facility to stay on-site until they reach market weight. Keeping the animals in one location makes research projects easier to manage and creates more opportunities for production studies.
The ribbon-cutting event brought together university leaders, agricultural organizations, and industry supporters. Among the speakers were SDSU President Barry Dunn and Joe Cassady, South Dakota Corn Endowed Dean of the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences. Their participation highlighted the strong partnership between the university and the agricultural community.
Bob Thaler, Farm Credit Services of America Endowed Chair in Swine Production and an SDSU Extension swine specialist, served as master of ceremonies during the event. He explained how the new addition will help answer important questions from pork producers and expand research efforts.
“Our swine team really focuses on production research,” said Thaler, an SDSU Extension swine specialist. “They want to answer the immediate questions of producers. And so basically, by increasing that wean-to-finish capacity by 50%, we’re going to be able to do a lot more nursery and finishing trials.”
The project received strong financial support from several agricultural organizations across the region, including the South Dakota Corn Utilization Council, South Dakota Pork Producers Council, South Dakota Soybean Research and Promotion Council, and the Minnesota Pork Board. Together, these groups provided enough funding to cover the entire $1.8 million expansion cost.
DaNita Murray, executive director of SD Corn, praised the cooperation among agricultural commodity groups that helped make the project successful.
South Dakota Corn served as the lead donor, contributing $1.2 million to the project.
“When our board voted to support the research expansion, we did so with an eye toward the future,” said Jay Esser, president of the SD Corn Utilization Council. “These dollars will help strengthen the pork industry here in South Dakota as well as the research that goes on at SDSU.”
SDSU leadership members expressed deep appreciation to the organizations that helped make the expansion possible. These same organizations contributed more than $7 million in 2016 to build the original facility and continue to support its growth today.
The expanded facility is expected to become fully operational by mid-October and will increase total wean-to-finish capacity to 1,800 head. SDSU will also host SDSU Swine Day on September 29 at Club 71 in Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium. The event will feature research posters, expert presentations, and a keynote speaker. It is free and open to the public, with breakfast and lunch provided. Registration remains open until September 23.
Photo Credit: south-dakota-state-university
Categories: South Dakota, Education, Livestock, Hogs