Agri News, MN
10-23-07
Dordt College students doing research on grazing swine
SIOUX CENTER, Iowa -- Most fences keep livestock out of the cornfield, but
Dordt College ag students David Posthuma and Kerri Ewald have put up fences
to keep them in.
Seniors Posthuma and Ewald developed a directed agriculture study project this
fall and received I.S.U. grant funding to feed 20 feeder pigs to market weight.
Their hogs are free to roam in a small unharvested cornfield, where ear corn is
supplemented by protein supplements and trace minerals.
A second comparison group of 20 pigs with the same genetics are being fed in
traditional pens at the farm of Dan Wilson, Paullina, a pork producer and member
of Practical Farmers of Iowa.
Allowing hogs to directly harvest corn isn't new, say the Dordt students. But they
had to go back to the 1920s to find studies on the method's efficacy.
Posthuma wrote the project grant proposal and submitted it to the Iowa Pork
Producers Association. Rich Degner of the IPPA forwarded the proposal to Jerry
DeWit, who allocates funds from the Iowa State University Extension State
Sustainable Ag Program. He awarded a $995 grant to the project.
Posthuma and Ewald will write up an economic analysis, comparing the growth
rates of the two groups and noting the differences in expenditures and profit
margin.
Posthuma said the grazing method of corn harvesting saves on mechanical and
storage costs, as well as building expense, manure handling, and some
management time. They are using intensive grazing to make certain that as
much ear corn as possible is harvested, adding about one corn row per day by
moving an electric fence.
They bought the feeder pigs at 110 pounds.
Mike Schouten, Ag Stewardship Center steward, is helping students administer
the grant funding, which was primarily used to purchase fencing and hog
equipment.
"This is an example of student academic activity that was funded by an outside
source and demonstrates one of the ways student-faculty interaction for
investigative work occurs at Dordt College," said Duane Bajema, professor of
agriculture at Dordt.
Posthuma is from Brandon, Wis. Ewald is from Smithers, British Columbia.