The Allen E. Christen Swine Teaching Farm is a farrow-to-finish farm, with a 90-sow herd. The farm is located south of Ames. Jeff Hartwig is the Swine Farm Manager, while Karli Lane is the graduate student that runs the day to day operations.

Life for the pigs start in the breeding and gestation building. The piglets then move to the nursery, when they have been weened about 21 days after farrowing. The sows that are getting ready to farrow are kept in a darkened room, “Its just naturally more calming” Lane explained. The piglets leave the nursery at around 50 pounds.

They are then placed in either the conventional finisher barn or hoop barn. The conventional finisher represents how most of the swine industry raises pigs. It consists of an enclosed barn with heating, ventilation, and manure removal. Lane says “90% of the industry uses conventional finishers”. Conventional finishers are the easiest way to reduce the risk of disease entering the swine population and controlling their exposure to the elements.

The hoop barn shows a more natural way of raising pigs; and was just added to the farm within the last decade, to show another method of swine production that is less capital intensive. A downside of the hoop barn is that the pigs are not in a temperature-controlled environment, take longer to grow, and are more susceptible to disease. The hoop barns are naturally ventilated.

The primary priority when the pigs are ready for market is to supply the Iowa State University Meat Lab’s needs, any extra are sold to local markets. The swine are transported to Kildee and harvested, then used in meat labs and other programs. “90-95% of the pigs go to market and the rest stay with the herd” Lane said.

“The Farm is used as a recruiting tool” Hartwig says. Six undergrad students work at the farm, gaining experience that can help them earn an internship. This opportunity can provide experience to students not from a farm background, with 1st hand experience in swine production.

Many Animal Science classes will take visits to the Teaching Farm throughout the semester to get hands on experience. Grade schools from Des Moines will come to the farm to show kids, who wouldn’t be normally be exposed to farms how they work. FFA, 4-H, and other groups will use the facilities to practice for judging competitions.

Veterinarians from Iowa State Vet Med do the checkups on the sows during gestation. Lane added that “We hold a two week course, where vet students come out to do diagnostic testing and they get to see farm”.