NCI Future of Feeding Webinar Series | Featuring Dr. Robert Thaler

Each month, NCI holds a new update in the Future of Feeding webinar series, which focuses on using innovation in the processing of animal food, the equipment being used, as well as using grains from our region for co-products. 

Dr. Robert Thaler, Professor and Extension Swine Specialist from South Dakota State University.

This month's webinar, Utilizing Alternate Feedstuffs in Swine Diets: It’s More than Nutrition, featured Dr. Robert Thaler. Robert grew up on a diversified family farm by Wagner SD, and received his BS and MS degrees from South Dakota State University and his PhD in Swine Nutrition from Kansas State University in 1988. He returned to SD as Extension Swine Specialist, and has held a variety of positions including Assistant Experiment Station Director, Agriculture and Natural Resources Program Leader for Extension, and SDSU’s Animal and Range Sciences department head. He currently serves as Extension Swine Specialist, and focuses on helping pork producers and students in the state and region with the responsible growth of the swine industry. He focuses on production-based research and was involved with the funding and building of the new $7 million Swine Teaching-Research-Extension Center at SDSU. In 2018, he received a Fulbright scholarship to work at the Vietnam National University of Agriculture in Hanoi, and was named an SDSU Distinguished Professor in 2021. He has consulted extensively in the last 30 years with the US Soybean Export Council and the US Grains Council in China, Southeast Asia, and other parts of the world. 

Kim Koch, NCI’s Feed Production manager, was the moderator for today’s webinar. He and Robert Thaler have known each other since they were in grad school together. When we asked about what he thought about the webinar he said: 

“Things that we eat impact us, just like things that animals eat impact them…. Talking about nutritional information is always fun…. Feedstuff is an important topic because there are many different aspects that go into it. Where are you going to get it? Where are you going to put it?”

Today’s hour-long webinar focused on potential alternate feeds for swine when cost of corn is on the rise. Robert discussed a variety of topics revolving around potential effects of alternate feeds including: the change in ingredients and nutrition, value and cost, impacts on carcasses, potential feed milling issues, impact on manure value, potential health hazards, and more. 

When asked about what his biggest take away from today’s webinar was he said: 

“The decision to switch ingredients impacts not only diet costs, but potentially growth performance and carcass traits/quality, milling costs, money value of manure, etc.  Pork production needs to be viewed from a system’s approach, and before you change one thing in a well-run system, you need to understand all the other things that will be impacted.”

Robert Thaler gave great insight on things to consider when it comes to alternate feeds, and The Northern Crops Institute greatly appreciates his  involvement and input in our webinar. At NCI, we continue to work towards fulfilling our mission to support regional agriculture and value-added processing by conducting educational and technical programs that expand and maintain domestic and international markets for northern grown crops. All of this wouldn’t be possible without the innovative ideas of guest speakers like Dr. Robert Thaler. 

For more information about future webinars offered at NCI, please click here

To see the full recording of Utilizing Alternate Feedstuffs in Swine Diets: It’s More than Nutrition, fill out the form below!