The Swine Nutrition Farm is located 4.5 miles north west of campus. It provides a diversity of research capabilities – including a 480-head nursery, two 300-head grower rooms, plus an array of individual housing for pigs from nursery age to market – along with extensive metabolism facilities and a surgery. There is also a feed mill for preparation of very precise research diets.
To preserve herd health, the Swine Nutrition Farm observes and implements biosecurity measures to limit the risks of disease transmission into the farm. This requires everyone to shower in and shower out of the facility, visitors must have no less than 48 hours down time from their last pig contact before entering, visitors that have visited another country must have no less than 5 days down time before entry.
The primary focus of research at this farm is nutritional studies for all ages of pigs. There are many projects using this facility at any given time. Published research articles can be found at the Iowa Pork Industry Center’s web page or at the ISU Applied Swine Nutrition web page.