Graduate re- search assistant Katelyn Zeamer in action during one of the virtu- al barn tours at the SDSU Swine Education and Research Unit.
From the outside: The SDSU Swine Education and Research Unit.
the pens are equipped with Electronic Sow Feeding systems by Gestal. The second house is the wean-to-finish barn. It has a capacity of 1,200 head and is where the piglets go after coming out of the breeding barn at 21 days of age. Both nurs- ery and finishing trials are done here. Pigs go to the Smith- field slaughter plant in Sioux Falls, SD, when they reach 285lbs (129kg). A third barn is located 18km south of Brookings. It is a com- mercial-style grow-finish barn, again for 1,200 finisher pigs, with 25 pigs/pen. These animals hail from one of the larger pork producers in the US. Basically, the unit is a contract finish- er site adapted to do production research; the money paid by this producer covers the costs at this location, explains Profes-
A sow and her litter in the research unit.
sor Bob Thaler, extension swine specialist at SDSU. This location is mostly used to do large-scale feed studies. It is equipped with scaled pens and a computerised feeding system, allowing for six different diets to be tested at the same time. The farm sites are populated with commercial breeds, with the females being of PIC origin and the Duroc semen being supplied by Compart, based in Minnesota. As would be ex- pected under US conditions, meals are mostly based on corn-soybean meal, supplemented with some Distiller’s Dried Grains and Solubles (DDGS). For veterinary consultation, SDSU cooperates with Pipestone Veterinary Clinic. According to protocols, a shower-in, shower-out procedure is necessary and a 48-hour downtime is mandatory before access to the
▶ PIG PROGRESS | Volume 37, No. 2, 2021
www.pigprogress.net/ worldofpigs
31
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60
