Gavin Jaro knows swine, and is quite the handyman.
Hence his choice for an FFA Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) was easy: take his pig project to the next level.
He currently has two sows, a York and a Hampshire, and together they just gave birth to 20 piglets.
So far, so good.
But let’s back up a bit. How does the process of raising hogs work? And how did Jaro learn such an art?
For starters, he’s had a great teacher.
“My dad’s raised pigs his whole life,” Jaro said, “so we started doing that when I was younger.”
And since the Jaro family still operates a substantial farming operation in rural Allen County, Gavin has grown up immersed in farm life.
As proof of his future farming chops, Jaro taught his Register reporter a thing or two about raising hogs.
First, he said, “we go to a website, pick an AI [artificial insemination] that we want to do, a boar, and they send the semen.”
Check.
“Eventually the sow has them. We wait a couple weeks. We clip the teeth, give them the iron shots; then we wait a couple more weeks.”
“After that, we start putting water in there, giving ‘em feed, then wean them from the sow. From there, we can separate ‘em completely.”
Jaro then explained how one designates each pig as either a butcher pig or a fair pig, but regardless, they grow up fast. “Especially if you push the feed to ‘em.”
As for the question, why pigs?
