News

Funding approved for SDSU swine facility expansion

South Dakota Governor Larry Rhoden has approved a $1.72 million expansion to the Swine Education and Research Facility at South Dakota State University.

Bob Thaler, a swine specialist with SDSU Extension, tells Brownfield they’ve been waiting for more than one year for the funds and they’re grateful.

“Just like everything else good, oftentimes, it takes longer than expected. The cool part of this is it’s all industry supported.”

The South Dakota Corn Utilization Council, South Dakota Pork Producers Council and South Dakota Soybean provided the money to cover the expansion, which required legislation for the funds to be used. South Dakota House Bill 1118 was signed into law at the end of February.

Thaler says construction is expected to begin this summer and could be finished as soon as fall.

“If we have a typical year in South Dakota, easily September or October it could be done.”

Once the expansion is completed, the facility will have improved operations, provide more learning opportunities for SDSU students, and increase research capacity to improve production across the state. Thaler says that includes looking at nutrition and alternative products that add value.

“If you look at how the genetics of pigs have changed, even in the last 10 years, it’s a totally different animal,” he says. “We’re finding out now that actually, when you pull out that soybean meal, you’re losing performance. When we go back to feeding high levels of soybean meal, we get improved performance.”

The swine education and research facility at SDSU was built in 2016 and features a sow teaching and intensive research complex, an on-site wean to finish research barn and an offsite wean to finish production barn.