K-State opens swine nursery facility, hails research benefits to producers
Modern building replaces one built more than five decades ago
At a glance: Kansas State University animal scientists are hailing the opening of a new swine nursery facility on the north side of the university’s Manhattan campus as another step toward improving profitability and efficiency for swine producers in Kansas and beyond.
More information:
Jason Woodworth, 785-532-1157, jwoodworth@ksu.edu
Joel DeRouchey, 785-532-2280, jderouch@ksu.edu
Related: K-State Extension Wildlife Management
The new facility at the university's Swine Research and Teaching Center will be used to study the best ways to manage nursery pigs.
May 28, 2025
By Pat Melgares, K-State Research and Extension news service
MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State University animal scientists are hailing the opening of a new swine nursery facility on the north side of the university’s Manhattan campus as another step toward improving profitability and efficiency for swine producers in Kansas and beyond.
Joel DeRouchey, a swine specialist with K-State Research and Extension, said the new facility at the university’s Swine Research and Teaching Center will be used to study the best ways to manage nursery pigs, or those who have been weaned but not yet ready for the finishing facility.
“One of the exciting things about this facility is that it gives us more pens and more research capabilities,” DeRouchey said. “So, along with our graduate students, we will be able to use this facility for undergraduate research experiences in animal science.”
Jason Woodworth, a research professor in K-State’s Department of Animal Sciences and Industry who helped to lead the swine nursery project, said much of the work in the facility will be to estimate the nutrient requirements and evaluate feed ingredients for optimal growth of nursery pigs.
“That could be determining the proper levels of amino acids to include in their diet, or it could be studying the pig’s response to different energy levels,” Woodworth said. “We’ll be looking at how these pigs grow, and particularly their response to different feed ingredients that we might feed in a nursery, such as specialty protein products or lactose sources.”
K-State’s previous nursery facility was built in the 1970s and lacked many of the modern features that are present in swine production today. Woodworth said a key difference is that the university’s facility will have more pens to expand nutrition and management opportunities as well as four water lines to conduct water additive research.
“In each pen, the equipment, feeders, feed lines, waterers, water nipples, ventilation are identical to what we’d find in commercial production,” Woodworth said.
“Because of that, this facility provides tremendous opportunities to have research done with the equipment that pigs are around in a commercial facility. Maybe more important is that on the teaching side, students will see the same type of equipment in this nursery that they will if they go on to work at a commercial farm.”
DeRouchey says the opening of the swine nursery facility complements updates made to the university’s Swine Research and Teaching Center, and are part of an approximately $4 million in improvements to K-State’s swine facilities over the past 25 years.
“At the end of the day, our goal in the swine nutrition program is to improve efficiency and profitability for swine producers,” he said. “This facility is going to allow us to test commonly used feed ingredients and additives, or develop improved nutrient requirements for nutritionists to use to better formulate diets, improve profitability for producers, and make (feed) rations more environmentally friendly. We’ve built this facility with the end user in mind.”
DeRouchey added the manure from this facility is treated through a lagoon and utilized as fertilizer for nearby cropland – something that also is a common management technique by swine producers.
He said the new nursery project was funded through the combined effort of the university’s swine nutrition team and numerous partners, including the Livestock Meat and Industry Council, Kansas Pork Association, K-State College of Agriculture and the Kansas Board of Regents.
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K‑State Research and Extension is a short name for the Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service, a program designed to generate and distribute useful knowledge for the well‑being of Kansans. Supported by county, state, federal and private funds, the program has county extension offices, experiment fields, area extension offices and regional research centers statewide. Its headquarters is on the K‑State campus in Manhattan. For more information, visit www.ksre.ksu.edu. K-State Research and Extension is an equal opportunity provider and employer.