The UC Davis Swine Center is located 2 miles west of the core campus at 2953 Straloch Road, near the University Airport. The swine center is a specific-pathogen-free (SPF) facility and utilizes multiple bio security protocols to maintain herd health. A scheduled appointment is required prior to entering the facility with 24 hours away from all other swine contact for visitors with no recent international travel and visitors travelling internationally to visit the swine center will need at minimum 7 days in the United States with no other swine contact before their visit. Clean clothing and closed toed footwear are also required to visit.
The swine center contains more than 9,000 square feet of inside, enclosed space that houses a class and meeting room, student apartments, lab, office, break room, storage area, feed and work areas, as well as two farrowing rooms and two nursery rooms. Each farrowing room has 10 crates, while each nursery room has the capacity to house 150 pigs. Gestation and Finisher barn boasts over 24,000 square feet consisting of boar and sow pens, Prop 12 compliant sow housing, finishing pens, hospital area, working and breeding areas, as well as load-out and feed-handling facilities.
The herd is composed of 70 sows and 6 males. In 2001, PIC (Pig Improvement Company) donated the original start up herd. In 2023, the swine center collaborated with Topigs Norsvin USA to acquire purebred Z line Yorkshire females to compliment the closed herd management style, allowing the swine center to become an internal multiplier for Z Line and TN70 replacement gilts. Currently the sow herd consists of a maternal TN70 line, purebred Topigs Norsvin Z Line Yorkshires, Crossbred sows, and Gene Edited breeding stock. The swine center’s main focus is to provide pigs for use in class work in numerous courses and to provide hands-on experience for UC Davis undergraduate, graduate, and veterinary students. Basic and applied swine research projects in several disciplines are conducted continuously throughout the year.
The swine center is committed to community outreach and offers tours to local producers, FFA and 4-H groups throughout the area. Show or Club style project swine are sold year round along with our annual club pig sale each year (late January- early February).
