Gaffield, Katelyn

Assistant Research Professor in Swine Nutrition
Weber Hall
Manhattan, KS 66506
815-592-5189
gaffield@ksu.edu

Bio Brief

Originally from Illinois, Katelyn completed her bachelor’s degree in Animal Science at the University of Illinois. As an undergrad, she was heavily involved in undergraduate research and completed internships with Smithfield and Cargill which established her interest in graduate school. Katelyn completed her master’s degree with a focus on meat science at the University of Illinois in 2021. During her master’s, she focused on applied pork research including feeding high oleic soybean oil to growing-finishing pigs and its subsequent impact on growth performance, meat quality, and bacon characteristics.

Katelyn joined the Kansas State University Applied Swine Nutrition Team in August of 2021 for her PhD. Her research focused on in-feed acidifiers in nursery and finishing diets. This included studies investigating optimal feeding duration and inclusion levels using benzoic acid and sodium diformate. She also conducted a series of studies investigating soybean processing by-products including soybean gums and soapstocks. This involved conducting a large-scale industry survey across US soybean processing plants to evaluate by-product composition and variation as well as a nursery study investigating their use in swine diets.

Katelyn recently started her position as an Assistant Research Professor in Swine Nutrition and has a 100% research appointment. Katelyn’s position will primarily involve conducting applied swine nutrition research focused on improving profitability, efficiency, and sustainability for pork producers. This work includes addressing some of the industry’s leading challenges as a part of the K-State Applied Swine Nutrition Team. Katelyn hopes to utilize her inter-disciplinary background to conduct collaborative, applied research that can directly benefit swine producers.