More than 200 of Tennessee’s most promising young agricultural entrepreneurs will show their prized pigs at the Tennessee Market Hog Show Wednesday, January 20, 2010.
The Tennessee 4-H youth, representing 31 counties statewide and more than 460 hogs will be on display at the Tennessee Livestock Center on the campus of Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro. The event starts at 8:30 a.m. and will continue until early afternoon.
The day before the big event, Wyatt Snow, a fourth grader at Porter Elementary School in Blount County, was getting his hogs ready for the show. “I’m super nervous, but I’m excited at the same time. I have a chance of winning the state championship with my pigs,” Wyatt exclaimed.
“This show is the culmination of the hard work these youth put into their 4-H projects,” says Aaron Fisher, an instructor in the Department of Animal Science at the UT Institute of Agriculture. “
The show will include a “Skillathon” competition, trade show, awards presentation, and a barbeque lunch provided by the Tennessee Pork Producers Association. Representatives of the Future Farmers of America will also participate.
Fisher says the 4-H’ers learn about the responsibility of caring for an animal through this project. “They have to maintain it, care for it, feed it. It’s an everyday thing to care for a hog. They learn real life skills here,” he says.
The Tennessee Market Hog Show also includes a “Showmanship” division. Here the humans are more closely judged than the animals. “It has nothing to do with how good the pig looks, but how the kids work with the animal,” Fisher says. The 4-H’ers are questioned by judges on their knowledge of swine production, and specifically how they cared for their animal.
Wyatt, with some help from his future 4-H sister, Laurel, has raised his hogs Oreo and Marshmallow, providing daily care and feeding, until they have reached 328 and 258 pounds respectively. “4-H is so cool!” Wyatt said. “I get to go up against people from across the state, and it’s so exciting when you win. I have to compete in a skillathon, and that’s even a competition.”
Wyatt may be nervous about the show, but he says the pigs aren’t. “They are laying (sic) down side by side and their ears are twitching, tails wagging,” he described. “So I think they’re pretty happy about it.”
Wyatt is the son of Jeremy and Heather Snow, and they live in the Wildwood Community of Blount County.
4-H is the Youth Development program of University of Tennessee Extension. 4-H teaches leadership, citizenship and life skills to more than 335,000 youth in grades 4-12. 4-H also has more than 15,000 adult volunteers. UT Extension is one of four units of the UT Institute of Agriculture.
For further information, visit http://www.utextension.utk.edu/4H/index.html
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