Cash, critters are basis of market program

SANDPOINT - Hunter Hendrix wears a green mask with red plastic eyes as he strolls across the Bonner County fairgrounds among a troop of boys with toy machine guns.

He calls himself a squad leader and yelps a command at a lieutenant.

"I recruited him," he says.

At 10 years old he is the epitome of unwound youth, his boyishness does not hint at the businessman inside.

Hunter, who has two pigs entered in a 4-H swine project this year raises pigs for a reason.

"Money," he says.

Many of the approximately 100 children enrolled in the county 4-H swine program at the Bonner County Fair that runs though Aug. 28 join to realize a profit, Nancy Wright, 4-H program coordinator said.

The swine program is one of the most well-attended programs she oversees, drawing around 100 kids annually compared to 50 in the sheep program and 30 in beef.

4-H market program popularity:

1. Swine
2. Sheep
3. Steer

"During the fair, the swine program is pretty popular," Wright said.

The camaraderie is also a draw, she said.

"It's a big group of kids working together."

The feeling of togetherness comes not just from the task of raising and caring for pigs, but the end result.

"A lot of them join because they think they can make money, then they learn it's a great time, and they get to show hogs in the arena," Wright said.

Showing hogs was not something 16-year-old Hannah Whitaker looked forward to when she started in the swine program six years ago.

"I was extremely nervous," the Laclede teenager said. "I thought going into the ring was something I was not going to be able to do."

Instead, she got a surprise. After a year or two of showing swine, parading pigs has become her passion.

"It turned into something I love," Hannah said. "It's something I look forward to doing every year."

Hunter wrestled with the same anxiety when he started.

"He got scared last year," his mother, Glenna, said.

Although his market hog, Road Runner, a 218-pound rooter with a couple black blotches on his otherwise pink hide, did not make weight this year, Hunter will take part in the fitting and showing event.

He brought the market pig, in addition to a breeder named Lighthouse, to the fair this year.

He is not overly worried about getting into the arena.

"I was a little nervous last year," the 10-year-old said. "It's just new. You haven't been doing something that's being watched by 100 people. It's stage fright. It always gets you."

When he learned that Road Runner did not weigh enough to be part of the annual pig auction - where 4-H youngsters learning animal husbandry earn cash for their labors - he was disappointed.

It shot down the initial goal that was supposed to follow the months of chores and toil.

Road Runner was born in mid-March, kind of a late litter, Hunter's mom said.

The pig started the program at 38 pounds and was on track most of the summer.

"When he didn't make weight, you should have seen me," Hunter says. "I was about to break up in tears."

Road Runner's sibling, a once-piglet named Señor Pork Chop, lies in a neighboring pen.

Señor Pork Chop belongs to Emily Navarra, who along with Hunter is a member of the Yodeling Coyotes 4-H club.

She understands Hunter's disappointment.

"My pig did not make weight last year," she said.

Unlike Hunter, who has to be coached in pig washing, Emily likes standing in a pen with Señor Pork Chop, a garden hose and a brush.

"I like giving my pig a bath," Emily said.

Wearing tennis-shoes, jeans and a white T-shirt, Hunter kneels in the pen next door, eyeing his buddies. They stand around the pig barn armed with toy machine guns and Ninja swords.

He scratches Lighthouse on the head with a stick because he cannot join them in play.

He must get dressed for his first arena appearance.

"My pigs really don't like bathing," he says. "That's not really my special area."

Swine fitting and showing starts at 9 a.m. today at the Bonner County Fairgrounds.