Streator High FFA students describe lessons learned in hands-on Think OINK project

Waddles, her piglets doing well after recent birth

“I would have never guessed in a million years that I would see a pig give birth, but I didn’t think I’d be able to learn from that. A lot of the stuff I’ve learn in agriculture, I never thought I’d learn, but I did.”

—  Brayden Matsko, Streator High School sophomore

There’s a new family living in Streator, and while its place is a pig sty, the mother and children are very well cared for.

The Streator High School FFA’s Think OINK project has come to fruition with the delivery by Waddles, a purebred Chester White sow, of a total of 13 piglets. Though two were stillborn, the remaining 11 all are happy, healthy and in good hands with ag teacher and FFA sponsor Riley Hintzsche’s class, with the help of the sow’s owner, Sarah Brockman Mitchell.

While the live Facebook feed of the birth was cut short because of the length of time involved, there were several members of the class and several adult friends of the project on hand – while remaining socially distanced – to witness the birth in person and take part in the immediate care of the newborn piglets.

Waddles will remain with the class for about two more weeks and the piglets another week after that before returning to the Brockman farm in Verona.

“There were even some future students there to watch. It was really nice to have so many,” Hintzsche said. “The kids were very open to it all, having been there to see it in previous years or had seen it in some capacity, but some of them were like, ‘Oh, my God! That’s really wet!’ or ‘Wow! That came out really fast!’ It’s something they don’t often see, but we knew they were excited because of their vocalizations.

“Overall, the piglets are healthy. They were processed [given ear notches for identification, had their tails and teeth clipped, given vaccinations, etc.] within 24 hours by the kids with Sarah teaching them those things. It all went very well.”

The caretakers noticed at about 10 p.m. Tuesday the sow’s attitude had changed. While that “was common, Waddles was a little more dramatic than what I’ve been used to,” Hintzsche said with a chuckle. “She was extremely vocal, was moving around a lot. That’s when we knew that it would be soon.”

While the birth was successful – stillbirths are not uncommon with a litter that large – it was a little lengthier time-wise than normal. Hintzsche said it usually takes about 20 minutes per piglet, but Waddles took around 45 minutes per piglet. The labor process started at about 8 p.m., the first piglet was delivered at roughly 9 p.m. and the last at about 1:45 a.m. Wednesday.

It was the quick thinking of Hintzsche that saved the life of one of the piglets. The 35-pound sow inadvertently rolled over on top of one of the 6-pound newborns, and only the teacher’s quick action got it out before it was crushed or suffocated.

“It was a multihour process,” Hintzsche said, “but it was very much worth it, thanks to the Brockman Farms, Showtime Sires [in Newark, which donated the semen for the original insemination last fall] and Earlybird Feed [donor of the pre- and post-birth feed].”

Sophomore Alex Austin, one of the rural students in the class, has experienced the birth of cattle but not pigs on her family farm north of Streator. She found this farrowing process “very interesting” and said that “it’s crazy how much we don’t know about how animals give birth.”

“I watched some of it last year on video, but this year I was actually able to be a part of it and watch the birth in person, which was really awesome and a totally different experience,” Austin said. “In person, you see how the vet really takes care of the pig once it was out of the sow, how you clean it off, how to keep it away from the sow because you don’t know if the sow will nip at the piglet. You see all the steps you go through once the piglet is out of the sow.

“The way it happens was funny because at first, they come out one at a time every three or four minutes, then suddenly three would come out. You never knew when that was gonna happen, but then it was like, ‘Oh, my goodness! She’s having another one!’ … It’s a fascinating thing.”

The class was not able to take part in the insemination process performed last fall because of the pandemic, but other than that, the entire project came off without a hitch and provided a great learning experience for country and city kids alike.

SHS sophomore Brayden Matsko had seen the birth the year before so knew what to expect, but was surprised by how much he – as a city kid – learned not only from the Think OINK projects, but also from ag classes in general.

“I think it’s gross, just a little bit because they’re covered in, you know, pig slime, but you clean them off, and it’s cool to have this little life in front of you,” Matsko said. “You do really learn a lot. You see them born, you see them grow, you learn, ‘Oh, this one’s sick, what do we do about it?’

“My biggest takeaway from this is that you can probably learn from anything. Since starting at the high school, I would have never guessed in a million years that I would see a pig give birth, but I didn’t think I’d be able to learn from that. A lot of the stuff I’ve learn in agriculture, I never thought I’d learn, but I did. … I don’t plan a career in ag, but it’s just fun to be there, be a part of this and experience this.”