Please do not include this page with your official OBBR record book submission.
OBBR PROJECT GUIDE
The Owned Bred Born & Raised Project
Polk County Fair 2015-2016
Eligibility
4-H and FFA members
Mission Statement of the Owned Bred Born & Raised Project
The “Owned Bred Born & Raised” Project is a celebration of 4-H’ers who have raised a sow,
bred her, farrowed her pigs and raised them to show. This project is a comprehensive look at 1)
the hard work and dedication it takes to raise pigs for the county fair and 2) the celebration of
the ‘process’ and what this type of work does to enhance the lives of project participants.
To Complete the OBBR Project Record Book, you will need:
Supplies
One 1 ½ or 2 inch three-ring binder
Plastic three-ring sheet covers, one for each page
Paperwork
One OBBR Project “Summary Page” per project participant
One multi-page OBBR Project “Sow Packet” per sow farrowing, per project participant
One OBBR Project “Essay Page” per project participant
Example: If you have three sows farrowing, you need one Summary Page, three OBBR Sow
Packets, and one Essay Page.
Photography
Photographs are necessary to complete this project. Each OBBR section has photograph
requirements.
Please attach all photos on a separate sheet of paper
Photos can be actual photos, color copies on standard paper or black and white copies on
standard paper. They can be taken with any type of device, ie: cell phone camera, film camera,
digital camera, iPad, etc.
2015-2016
Owned Bred Born & Raised Project
Cristen Clark
Runnells 4H
Advanced
Table of Contents
OBBR Project Summary Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
OBBR Project Sow Packet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
OBBR Project Essay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
OBBR Project Reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Delete these friendly tidbits in red after you complete your Table of Contents!
1) Once you compile your OBBR Project, please add page numbers, with the Summary Page as page 1.
2) If you include more than one Sow Packet, please:
 copy and paste the line
 specify page numbers
 label packets according to sow tag number i.e. OBBR Project Sow Packet #
 Photography pages each get page numbers, too!
OBBR PROJECT SUMMARY PAGE
Page 1 of 1
Participant Name: Cristen Clark Phone: 515-999-9999
County:
Polk
Age:
18 Grade (2015-2016 school year):
12
Years in 4-H:
8 Project Arena:
Swine
Years Enrolled Showing Swine:
4
Years Enrolled Showing OBBR Project:
1
Physical Address of Home Farm (Name, Street address, City):
1234 ABC Avenue Runnells, IA 50237
Are all sows and farrowing and growing facilities on your home farm: YES
NO
If no or ‘yes and no’, please explain and provide physical address: We have farrowing and
ready to farrow sows at our house and gestating and open sows at my in laws home which is 2
miles away. Harry and Sandra Clark 5678 XYZ Street Runnells, Iowa 50237
Are growing facilities on your home farm:
If no, please explain:
YES
NO
How many times per day or week is the project participant spending with their OBBR project
sows/pigs?
2 Hours Per Day
7 Days Per Week
OBBR Project Glimpse
What two goals did you set for yourself for the OBBR Project?
1.
My primary goal is to learn more about farrowing from my friend, Day One Care expert,
Erin Brenneman. She is coming to farrow my next litter of pigs with me and I hope to gain lots
of knowledge from her about day one care for a newborn piglet.
2.
I would like to become better at record keeping and organizing the details of each sow
that we have on our farm.
What was your favorite part about the OBBR project? Answer in complete sentences.
My favorite part of the OBBR project has been working with my family in the barns and
documenting the progress of our sows and litters of pigs so we can come back, years down the
road and see all of the hard work we have done. We also now have records and a baseline to
compare our genetics to, in the future, which is important as we strive to make a better hog. I
have learned more about each sow due to the fact that I’ve kept detailed records about her and
discussing with my family why we kept her and want to continue on with her genetics. The best
part of this project for me has been the ability to record the process of what it takes to show
your own pigs that you have bred your own sows to and farrowed their babies to show at the
fair. It is a lot of work, but within that comes many rewards, if not in ribbons: in hard work and
dedication, the very things that make us better people.
OBBR PROJECT SUMMARY PAGE PHOTOGRAPHY
Please include one picture of you, on your farm, with your pigs. Please descriptively caption the
photo.
Photo Caption: I love to be around pigs. It is a new fun experience for me, as I didn’t grow up raising
them. We raised beef cattle instead. Pigs are a fun project to be involved in, and the people in the barn
are the kindest you’ll find.
OBBR PROJECT SOW PACKET
*This is a multi-page document.
OBBR PROJECT: SOW OWNERSHIP PAGE
Sow ID 19-2 aka: "Curly"
*You need one multipage “OBBR Project Sow Packet” for each sow you farrow for the OBBR
Project.
SOW OWNERSHIP
Please complete #1-7. When necessary, answer in complete sentences. Write enough to
completely answer the questions asked. The Word Document will expand as you type.
Identification
1. Notch/Name & Age: 19-2 aka: "Curly" Born on: 12-23-2014
Ownership
2. How did you come to own her? We purchased Curly’s grand dam, from Hillman Shroeder of
Sauk City, WI, several years ago. Her name was “Queenie”. Queenie was the mother of
“Sandra” who is a “All Wheel Drive” daughter. Sandra is Curly’s dam. Curly is a “Best Shot”, out
of Thompson Bros. Genetics.
3. Did you farrow her on your farm or purchase her? Curly was farrowed on our farm, on
12/23/14. She arrived during a family Christmas party, and yes we left early.
If farrowed, please indicate when she was farrowed and identify her sire.
Sire "Best Shot" from Thompson Bros. Genetics
OR herd sire
If purchased, please indicate when and where she was purchased from.
Description
4. What are her maternal characteristics i.e. what makes this sow a good mother?
Curly comes from a long line of very productive Yorkshire sows, and a large litter. She has
excellent teat quality and is comfortable in her design.
5. How is her temperament?
Curly has the best temperament of any sow we’ve ever had on our farm. She has an
interesting story too. She wasn’t one of the top gilts in the pen, but bloomed later in her aging
and joined the pigs as a ‘keeper’. From day one on our place, she’s been quiet and calm. She’s
the same way with her babies. She lowers herself slowly in the crate and has a nice chant when
she nurses her pigs.
6. Why did you select this gilt/sow to keep back (or purchase) for breeding purposes? What
qualities does she possess that will help make your pigs better?
Curly comes from a line of genetics that we wanted to keep on our farm. She has a great
design, plenty of bone, thickness to her middle and a level top. She has a great Yorkshire head
and heaviness to her ears which is said to be an indicator of productivity, (or an old wive’s tale).
She’s got great teat quality and the mothering capabilities are very strong in her pedigree. She
was supposed to be shown at the Iowa State Fair, but with a last minute injury to her foot
coupled by the Seneca Valley Virus being present in the Swine Barn at the Fair, we didn’t want
to risk taking her to the show, because there was no pig worth dragging those types of viruses
back to our entire herd for.
OBBR PROJECT SOW PACKET: SOW OWNERSHIP PHOTOGRAPHY PAGE
Please include two pictures of your sow, please be sure you are in one of them.
Photo Caption: Photo #1: This will always be one of my favorite pictures of my daughter
walking this gilt. It was a beautiful sunny day out and after we walked all of the pigs, we played
catch, then got out the lawn chairs and had popscicles.
Photo #2: Here is a picture of when Curly got out of her pen (she jumped the fence, believe it or
not) a week prior to having her pigs. She came into the heated garage and laid down. We lured
her back into her pen in the machine shed with a bit of feed.
OBBR PROJECT SOW PACKET: BREEDING PAGE
Sow ID 19-2 aka: "Curly"
BREEDING
Please complete #1-6. When necessary, answer in complete sentences. Write enough to
completely answer the questions asked. The document will expand as you type.
Breeding Details
1. Breeding Date: Tuesday, September 1st at 8:00 PM , Wednesday September 2nd at 8:00 PM
2. Settled on First Service? Yes
If no, how many services?
Method of Breeding
3. What method of breeding was used? Artificial Insemination
OR Natural
If Artificial Insemination (A.I.) is used, include:
 A dated semen bill from the boar stud used, included with photo page.
 Photo of the service sire, included and labeled on photo page.
If natural breeding is used, include:
 A photo of the boar used on the farm, included and labeled on photo page.
Chosen Sire for Breeding
4. Answer in 3-4 complete sentences.
If A.I. breeding, why did you use the specific sire you chose? What will this specific sire bring to
the next generation to make a better hog? I thought that “Power Up” complemented Curly
very well, in terms of design and structure. His sire (“Power On”) is a proven sire from Chuck
and Ben Olesen, consistently siring structurally correct animals. I wanted to be mindful to
breed her to a boar that was up on his pasterns. Power Up’s mother is one of 5 sows that
anchors the herd at Jim Grimm’s Quality Purebreds. We made the trip to Maynard to see this
boar in person, and it was a worthwhile trip for sure.
If natural breeding, what about your herd sire makes him desirable to use to breed for the next
generation to make a better hog?
5. Answer in 2-3 sentences.
What did you learn from the A.I. or natural breeding process regarding this particular sow that
you did not know last year?
Since Curly is a gilt, we learned about her heat cycles and that she comes into heat just like
her dam did. She has two days of standing and despite a near disaster with UPS and receiving
warm semen, she stuck anyway. Moral of the story: Have semen shipped to the UPS store and
pick it up yourself.
OBBR PROJECT SOW PACKET: BREEDING PHOTOGRAPHY & DETAILS PAGE
If A.I.: Please include one picture of the service sire used for breeding this sow and include a
photo description. Also attach the semen bill to bottom of page.
If Natural: For sows who were bred naturally by a herdsire on the farm, please include a photo
of the herdsire and description.
Photo Caption: This is a picture of “Power Up”, the boar we used to A.I. Curly for her December litter.
He stands at Grimm’s Quality Purebreds in Maynard, Iowa.
If A.I. was used, please include receipt below, with a caption if necessary.
I will caption this semen bill because it is not the actual bill from Jim Grimm, rather a recent bill that
was on my countertop this morning before I presented the workshop for you guys! This bill is from some
semen that came from John Huinker that we are using on a Duroc sow here at home.
OBBR PROJECT SOW PACKET: GESTATION AND FARROWING PAGE
Sow ID 19-2 aka: "Curly"
GESTATION & FARROWING
Please complete #1-8. When necessary, answer in complete sentences. Write enough to
completely answer the questions asked. The Word Document will expand as you type.
Gestation & Farrowing Details
1. Breeding Date: September 1 and 2
2. How many total days gestation: 117 or 118 depending on which service she settled on.
3. Farrow Date: December 27th around 8:00 PM
4. Number Born Total: 9
5. Number Born Alive:
9
6. Total Number Weaned: I should have picked an earlier litter, we haven't weaned yet!
Gestation & Farrowing Process
7. Answer in 5-7 sentences.
(If you happened to miss the farrowing, tell why you missed it and what you discovered
when you arrived to a pen full of new babies.)
How did this sow handle pregnancy? When did you begin to notice signs that she may farrow
soon? How long did the farrowing process take? How did you handle the new babies? Did you
have to assist this sow in any way? If so, what did you learn about the process?
We were anticipating the arrival of this litter of Yorkshire pigs. Our family came into a
ferocious stomach bug over Christmas and we had to stay home from all gatherings. It wasn’t
the worst thing, because we planned on having babies arrive around Christmas, because she
was due on 12/24. Well, she finally laid down and had her pigs on 12/27. Have you ever heard
of the saying “a watched pot never boils”? She handled pregnancy quite well, hiding her belly
quite a bit. We were not sure how many pigs she’d have, and attributed it to the warmth of
semen we received. When we got her into the warm farrowing house, she dropped a bit.
Within the coming days we would still wonder how many pigs she’d have. She surprised us with
a nice even litter of 9 pigs. From start to finish, she had those 9 pigs in around 3 hours. The kids
and I dried each piglet off with Mistral powder and helped them find a teat to get their first
drink of colostrum. Curly needed no assistance in her farrowing. We learned that, like her
mother “Sandra”, she tends to farrow a couple of days late, yet on her own and with good
timing. (Not taking too long.)
OBBR PROJECT SOW PACKET: GESTATION AND FARROWING PHOTOGRAPHY
PAGE
Please include four pictures of the farrowing process. Project participant must be in two of the four
photos. Selfies are acceptable! Include photo descriptions.
Photo Captions: Photo #1: Curly is having her pigs, at this point she had two pigs born, in only a couple
of hours she had them all and had cleaned.
Photo #2: Here is a picture of the new babies, only one left to be born.
Photo #3: This is a picture of my son checking her to see if she has milk, a few hours before she pigged.
Milk was squirting everywhere and he thought it was quite funny.
Photo #4: Our favorite times as a family happen in the barn. This picture was taken during the farrowing,
Curly is in the first pen.
OBBR PROJECT SOW PACKET: RAISING PIGS PAGE
Sow ID 19-2 aka: "Curly"
RAISING PIGS
Please complete #1-6. Answer each question in 3-4 complete sentences, detailing and discussing
your methods of care for your growing pigs. The Word Document will expand as you type.
The Scoop on Raising Pigs
1. Please talk about ‘processing’ piglets.
Example: ear notching, tail docking, castration, etc.
We are looking to have answers provided that discuss how you processed your new piglets.
Did you give them iron? Clip their eye teeth? Etc. Were you afraid to do anything, such as
castrate them? Did someone help you overcome your fear, or teach you an easier way to get
the job done? Be creative in your answers.
2. How did you keep your pigs healthy, and if you dealt with illness, how did you treat it?
Example: veterinary consultation, responsible use of antibiotics, etc.
When you answer these questions, give good details and let us know who helped you through
the times if your sows got sick, or your growing pigs got sick at any stage of their life. What
knowledge will you carry on through to next year about keeping your pigs healthy or handling
them when they are sick?
3. How did you select the pigs from this litter to take to the Polk County Fair?
Example: What traits did the selected pigs have? Did you pen them separately after
selecting? Etc.
Tell us, in detail why you picked these pigs, and what you like most about them! This is your
time to brag! Also, if you could change them in any way, tell us how you would. Be honest in
this piece, this information will help you when choosing your sires for this sow next year. Only
the judges of the record books will see this document, not the actual show judge.
4. What did you feed them?
Example: What type of feed did you use and why? Did you put them on a self feeder?
Hand fed? Why? Etc.
This one pretty much explains itself, but tell us the little things you did that helped your pigs
eat better. Then, tell us what you fed them and why you chose that feed.
5. How did you prepare them for the show?
Example: What extra attention i.e. walking, washing, etc. did you have to pay to these
animals to prepare them for the show?
Tell us about all of the preparation you've done to get these pigs from this litter, show ready.
Were they receptive to being trained to drive? Did they have good dispositions? How much
extra attention did they need to get ready for the show?
OBBR PROJECT SOW PACKET: RAISING PIGS PHOTOGRAPHY PAGE:
Please include a minimum of four pictures of your growing pigs, in at least two different stages of
growth. Include photo descriptions.
Photo Captions:
Photo #1: Adjusting waterers in the nursery gets a lot of attention from new piglets. Having access to
fresh water is vital and we check each waterer twice per day to make sure it is functioning properly.
Photo #2: Getting ready to wean this litter of piglets. My daughter is the best pig catcher we have.
Photo #3: Everyone is taking a nap. Keeping heat lamps around for the little pigs to lay on helps keep
their body temperature up and keep them comfortable so they can grow better.
Photo #4: My son enjoys watching the little pigs get their breakfast, but often asks… "why can't we eat
first Mom?"
OBBR PROJECT ESSAY PAGE
Page 1 of 1
ESSAY
Craft an essay with an introduction, body and, conclusion that addresses your overall OBBR
Project experience. Please attach your essay on a separately labeled “OBBR Project Essay” page.
You may give a subtitle that hints at your overall learning i.e. OBBR Project Essay: Learning to
Let Go and Grow Up or OBBR Project Essay: The First Farrowing of Dear Daisy
For Novice OBBR Project Participants (4th-7th grade)
Write a 250 or more word essay (double-spaced, 12 pt. font) about your experience in
the Owned Bred Born & Raised Project this year.
For Advanced OBBR Project Participants (8th-12th grade)
Write a 500 or more word essay (double-spaced, 12 pt. font) about your experience in
the Owned Bred Born & Raised Project this year.
Essay Prompt
Write about your overall experience in the OBBR Project this year.
Questions to inspire essay ideas:
What did you learn? What skills or information did you learn this year that will help you
improve your project next year? What was your favorite part about raising your own
pigs this year? What was the most challenging part the OBBR project for you, this year?
Who inspired or helped you learn how to take better care of your pigs, and what did
they teach you? What was the most frustrating or sad day in the project? What was the
best or most exciting day in the project? How did your time commitment fluctuate
during the entire OBBR process and what did you learn about time management?
You may begin writing the essay portion of the project here. Have fun and be creative, let your
personality shine in this portion of your record book. This will help the judges get to know you better!
Use descriptive words and don't be afraid to tell us how passionate you are about raising pigs.
OBBR PROJECT REFERENCE PAGE
Page 1 of 1
REFERENCE
Choose an adult who is not related to you to serve as a reference for your work ethic, time
commitment, and learning growth in your OBBR Project. Please provide their contact
information below so the OBBR Project Committee can contact them.
Reference: Mr. John Smith
Reference’s Relationship to You:
Reference’s Phone:
Reference’s Email:
Friend, #RealPigFarming Mentor, Goes to my Church
515-999-9999
JohnSmith@Gmail.com