Swine Nutrition PhD under Dr. Brian Richert

Master of Science in Swine Nutrition awarded 5/11/2018. Major professor: Dr. Jim Nelssen

Established in 2000 for youth under the age of 21, the National Junior Swine Association (NJSA) is now the largest youth livestock organization in the world with more than 12,000 members. The NJSA is devoted to helping the youth reach their desired potential through educational opportunities, leadership conferences, scholarship programs and swine exhibition opportunities at many national and regional junior shows. The NJSA’s mission is to provide a network uniting purebred swine enthusiasts through a youth organization that offers competitive opportunities to reward excellence, enhance educational opportunities, promote the value of pure genetic lines and develop leadership skills at both the state and national level.

During all 4 years of my undergraduate education, I worked for Dr. Radcliffe and Dr. Richert in their swine metabolism research lab. I started by weighing pigs and collecting samples at the Purdue farms and took the opportunity to work in the lab testing the samples. Portions of graduate student experiments that I was involved with include nutrient analysis with the kjeldahl and bomb calorimeter, RNA extraction, and dissection of pigs to harvest tissue samples.In the 2015 Spring semester, I completed my own project on the Amylase Enzyme in Nursery Pigs and presented my paper at the Spring 2016 Purdue Poster Symposium.

I helped guide Freshman students interested in Animal Sciences through the laboratory section of the ANSC 102 course. I created and graded assessments for each week of the course making sure they understood basic animal science knowledge of many species and agricultural practices. I traveled with them to the Purdue Animal Science Research and Education Center, Columbian Park Zoo, Wild About Horses, and other locations as well each week of the semester. I enjoyed making bonds with these students in my lab section and sharing my knowledge and passion with them!

During my time with Pipestone, I had the privilege of working at the Buttercup Farm for most of the summer. While in this farrow to wean operation, I spent most of my time in the gestation barn where I learned about how to manage pregnant sows and how to breed them. While in the gestation barn, I completed a research project with TechMix and cull sows. I experienced the weaning process at Buttercup and had the opportunity to follow Buttercup pigs to the nursery and sort them there. I also worked with Spronk Brothers in their feed mill as well as their finishing sites helping manage the pigs at that stage as well. Working in the Pipestone research barns was one of the highlights of the summer. I enjoyed learning about all the genetic and nutrition research as well as being given the chance to travel and work in the JBS packing plant in Worthington, MN.

With ADM, I focused on swine show feed sales as well as developing an understanding of commercial swine producers in my area of Indiana. I enjoyed speaking with friends in the industry about their pigs and connecting how Showtec Showfeeds can help them achieve their goals in the show ring. I also enjoyed reaching out to local producers and talking to them about their life passions and family operations. One of the highlights of the summer was attending the Nutrition Conference in Quincy, IL.