The Swine Research Center at the University of Illinois is a 240 sow farrow to finish operation. There are 60 farrowing crates in 3 rooms with 20 crates per room and 20 sows are farrowed every other week. There are 4 nursery rooms each with a capacity of approximately 200 weaned pigs and each room has 32 or 40 pens. All pens are equipped with a feeder, a nipple drinker, and a fully slatted floor and each pen has a capacity of 4 or 5 pigs from weaning and until approximately 30 kg.
Facilities for growing and finishing pigs are also available. Pens are equipped with a feeder and a nipple drinker and they have partly solid and partly slatted concrete floor. The size of the pens can be adjusted to hold between 4 and 10 pigs from approximately 20 kg and until market.
The individually housed facility has capacity for 72 individually housed pigs in 0.9 x 1.8 m pens that have fully slatted concrete floors, a feeder, and a nipple drinker. The environmental pig unit has 4 rooms that can be equipped with pens or crates of varying sizes to fit the appropriate research needs.
The Metabolism Building has capacity for 40 small metabolism cages that will hold pigs from 5 to 25 kg and 24 large metabolism cages that can be used for pigs from 15 to 150 kg. All metabolism cages have fully slatted floors, a screen floor, and urine pans and they allow for the total, but separate, collection of urine and feces from pigs. A feeder and a bowl drinker are installed in the large metabolism cages while the small metabolism cages are equipped with a feeder and a nipple drinker. The cannulated pig room has 32 pens for cannulated pigs. Pens are 1.2 x 1.5 m and have smooth plastic sided walls. All pens are equipped with a feeder and a nipple drinker, and they have fully slatted tri-bar floors. A walk-in freezer and a large number of smaller freezers are available for sample storage.
The Swine Research Center also has a feed mill where ingredients and diets are stored. Research diets may be mixed in one of the 3 mixers that are available. These 3 mixers have capacities of 25, 100, and 500 kg, respectively. A fully equipped surgery room and a chemical laboratory are also part of the facility.