Story and photo by Rhiannon Branch, Photography Editor

Murray State is now one of the few universities in the nation to serve pork from pigs that were born and raised on their own campus.

Assistant agriculture professor Matthew Shultz, who currently supervises the Murray State swine lab, said this milestone originated from a swine production class project in the fall of 2016.

“During the final six weeks of this class, students focus on what we call a strategic initiative project where they research, plan and propose an action that they feel will benefit our swine operation,” Shultz said.

From there, students in the class vote on the project they want to pursue, and the university is now reaping the benefits of one of the selected projects.

Students in the swine production class in the following semesters presented this business proposal to the Dining Services staff, who saw the potential in it as well.

“We have agreed to purchase all of the pork which they produce, and it will be used in the operations on campus such as Winslow, T-room and in our on-campus catering,” Charlie Liming, with Murray State Dining Services, said.

Some of the products which will be utilized include bacon, sausage, pork roast for pulled pork sandwiches and pork loins.

Murray State pork was first served at a dinner for the Board of Regents and President Bob Davies and was also served at the Hutson School of Agriculture banquet in March. It is expected to be served at on-campus dining venues in the coming weeks.

Dining Services will work alongside agriculture students to inform the members of the university about this project. Liming plans to have students involved while serving these products to help the customers become aware that this is a Murray State product and how involved the students were in the raising of the livestock and in the production of the pork.

“The Dining Services staff has been very willing to let students take charge of what types of materials are presented in regards to how the swine unit would like to be portrayed,” Rachel Jackson, senior agribusiness major, said. “I think that if we keep the connection open between agriculture students and Dining Services, we can all benefit in the future not only in regards to the swine unit, but in other areas of the Hutson School of Agriculture as well.”