# 9 years old + breeding swine project = what?



## GBov (Jan 19, 2011)

My eldest son (almost 9)is doing breeding sow as his project in 4H. We picked that project because we get to keep the pig and all our hard work at teh end of the project BUT..............

Last night was the first time the pig project leader was there - we have only just started so its all pretty new to us - and he was going on about "proper" feed and his costs are just waaaaaaaaaaaaay out of our price range.

Our plan was to go to as many fruit stands as are easily reachable and ask for their out of date produce and just supplement proper pig food when stocks run low. And even better than that, we now find that a local shop gives our club all their out of date fruit and veg already so I thought we were going to be doing really well on teh costs with that resource plus table scraps plus enough boughten food to fill in any needs they might still have but he has me worried now. 

And as I had to be up at the house to help my other two kids pick their poultry I wasnt even there to ask the project leader any questions, I just got it second hand from my mum who was keeping an eye on my son for me.

My mum who doesnt want D to be doing swine anyway as she is afraid of pigs!  And with reason as she saw a pig bite someones hand clean off at a fair when she was a kid.

But she was saying that the project leader said pigs HAVE to be fed twice a day! HAVE to be fed bought feed!  HAVE to be handled daily! My 9 year old will HAVE to go into teh pen with his sow instead of my feeding it and him being the owner and just scratching it with a long stick which was my plan lol.

Do any of you or have any of you done the swine breeding project at 4H?

My cats and dogs and birds all get fed once a day, are pigs THAT different that they need twice a day feeding or can we just feed generously once a day?

MUST pigs be handled daily?  Yes, it would be nice to have all that time to give them but we live in the real world here and sometimes we just wont have the time to go play with the pigs.

I know for showing many people get handlers so I had planned to either go in the ring for him or let him do it if the pig proves gentle enough but I worry about his 9 year old self in a pen or ring with multi hundred pound animals with a taste for meat.  He cant dominate our stupid dog, never mind something that might actively try to harm him.

Am really rather considering telling him to just do poultry instead of his breeder sow but he would be more motivated with the idea of piglets to sell than a chicken to show.  Our club is too new to do goats for a primary project which is a shame as he would be happy with goats to breed and milk so its just swine or poultry to choose from.

Darling daughter has chosen silkie chickens so she has something she can handle but her first choice was turkeys lol.

Please, any information you lovely people could give me about youngsters doing breeding swine would be great!  I did ask on another forum but, well, the feedback was the opposite of helpful


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## ksalvagno (Jan 19, 2011)

I have never done pigs for 4H but my nephew did and supposedly he had to feed the pig exactly the way the 4H group wanted the pig fed. Everyone had to do the same thing so that there wasn't an unfair advantage from feeding.


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## jhm47 (Jan 19, 2011)

Our children showed many hogs in 4 - H, and often won grand champion at the county level, and did very well at the state fair.  We fed nothing but top quality hog feed that was appropriate for the weight of the pigs.  We fed this in self-feeders, so we only had to feed them once or twice a week.  The pigs were worked with several times each week, and each child took turns working with them.  As the pigs grew larger, we always had an adult who supervised the children when they were in the pen.  

In my opinion, you should feed only the commercial feed.  This will ensure that your son's pig grows as quickly as possible and looks as healthy as possible.  These commercial feeds are scientifically balanced to help the pig grow as quickly and cheaply as possible.


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## aggieterpkatie (Jan 20, 2011)

Many 4-H groups have rules with animals that they must have a certain rate of gain to be allowed in to the fair. If a sow is out of your price range, I would suggest starting with something smaller.  This will let your son get a little more mature in order to handle the pigs, and will also allow him (or you) to save up some money to feed a sow in the future!  He may be able to make money selling poultry or some other 4-H project (maybe a lamb or goat?).  Or, instead of raising a sow and litter of piglets, could he just raise a market hog?


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## GBov (Jan 20, 2011)

Had a talk with him and he is going with poultry.  We will raise two piggies for ourselves at teh club so we all get use to having pigs as live animals.

Hubby says he will spring for an automatic feeder for us and the pens have water spouts so we will just enjoy having them and then eating them.

Thanks for all the help you guys, its nice to be able to get advice BEFORE jumping into a new project


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## sevenmile (Jan 23, 2011)

Probably a good choice! Raise those couple of pigs to gain experience., and then next year do a market pig.  Or, do a market pig, and do a gilt to enter to enter in a gilt class, and bring her back the next year in the sow class if she does well enough.  We didn't enter sow classes until my daughter was in high school.  You have plenty of time!  Watch the swine judging this year, and listen carefully to the judge.

In my view, and not everyone here will agree maybe, raising showpigs and raising a couple in the backyard for the freezer, are two different endeavors in many ways.  I really enjoy doing both-- but our showpigs would never get food scraps or regular hog feed in a self feeder.  Unfortunately for my daughter, it took me *too long* to learn the value of using show feeds, hand fed.  

It's usually considered bad form to mention other forums specifically, but there are sites specifically dedicated to showing pigs. 

Good luck to your kids in the showring!


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