We’ve talked about selection and breeding, but what I haven’t elaborated on is the timeframe that we ideally want to do this. Gilt selection takes place around 20 weeks, this gives us a good look at how they’ve developed and gives us the opportunity to measure their growth. Once we’ve selected, we’ll seperate them and bring them to our breeding area so we can watch them for the first signs of coming into heat. We generally want to have them bred by the time they’re 28-30 weeks old, at which stag

Meet Martha! She is a crossbred pig. She will be entered into the breeding gilt to eventually become a mama. She is being raised by Addy Wagner, a 3rd generation 4H-er who is twelve years old. Addy is planning on showing Martha next year at the state fair. She also breeds cattle and goats on a working farm in Carroll County. Martha’s sister won her class at the Carroll County and her full sibling brother from last year’s litter won reserve champion cross-bred at the Maryland State Fair. | WMAR-2