The Ruminant and Swine Facilities

The ruminant facility is housed on the farm. Research conducted there involves parasite resistance in sheep and goats (breeding, alternative dewormers, etc), meat quality/food safety, alternative feed ingredients and increasing reproductive efficiency. The ruminant facility consists of several pastures and buildings, as well as handling equipment for the livestock. Buildings include sustainable facilities such as Hoop structures.  Although calves are brought in every year for teaching purposes, the primary animal inhabitants of the ruminant farm are hair sheep and meat goats. Research methods used in the animal-related research include molecular biology techniques (i.e. cloning and sequencing of DNA), measurement of hormones, and applied procedures such as measuring worm egg numbers in feces, feeding different rations and measuring growth rates of the animals.

The Swine facility is also located on the farm. Research conducted there involves growth, reproduction and meat quality. The facility includes a 40-sow, total confinement farrow-to-finish unit which includes a metabolism room with crates adaptable for swine, sheep and goats and other rooms that can accommodate the individual housing and feeding of swine, sheep or goats as necessary for many experiments. All sows are bred using artificial insemination. Pregnant sows are group-housed in a large pen serviced by a computerized sow feeding apparatus. The facility includes a surgery suite, laboratories, offices and a classroom.

The Ruminant facility has pasture and housing that has also been the home to horses, including rescued Standardbreds, Nurse Mare foals (as yearlings) and PMU foals (as yearlings) among others.  However, all equine research has been conducted at other institutions in collaboration with UMES.