120—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, September 6,1980
Vicki Rice puts
Vicki Rice, of R 7 Lebanon, changed careers from
dentai assistant to farmer. She keeps up-to-date
on the hog industry through reading and through
the efforts of the Purina representatives.
“I love the baby pigs,” comments Vicki. The
Rices also have 5 Appaloosa horses, 20 head of
cattle, 6 dogs, and numerous cats.
Vicki and Ken Rice are proud to be farmers and hog producers and aren’t
afraid to let everybody know.
heart into hogs
BY SHEILA MILLER
LEBANON - “What’s a
nice girl like you doing in a
place like this’” is a
question that is tempting to
ask Vicki Rice of R 7
Lebanon.
Vicki, like many women
today, has taken an active
role m farming with hogs
being her realm in the agri
business world.
Stepping inside her office
located in the Rice’s new
farrowing barn constructed
m the Spring of 1979, you
can’t help but wonder why
this 5’7%” tall young
woman, who looks more like
a fashion model than a
farmer, has so much interest
in the swine industry.
Vicki strolls past a poster
of her favonte televison
puppet star, Miss Piggy, and
dips her boots into a pan of
disinfectant before she opens
the door to the unit.
Muttering how she needs
to invest m a pair of boots
without holes, she proceeds
into her pork production
house. She tells how she and
her husband Kenneth got
started in the hog business
just three years ago and
have progressed to the point
where they were recognized
nationally by the Ralston
Purina Company in their
newsletter to producers last
month.
Actually, the Rices
stumbled into the swine
industry almost ac
cidentally. Although the two
of them grew up in Lan
caster County, neither one of
them grew up on a farm.
After they were married,
Ken began lus carreer with
the Lebanon Bell Telephone
Company, while Vicki spent
13 years working as a dental
assistant for Dr. Roy K.
Yeager in Lititz.
In 1973, the couple pur
chased 15 acres of land in
South Lebanon Township,
most of which was wooded.
The following year found
them building their home
and putting up a bam for
their Appaloosa horses.
“Ken always wanted a
farm,” says Vicki, “And I
always refused to be a
farmer’s wife.
“But, soon after we moved
in, Ken decided to raise a
calf, so we bought one and
raised it. Now we have about
20 head of Polled Herefords
and Angus.
“Then one day a pig
walked into our hves he
just wandered in from the
woods.”
This exploring porker was
none other than ‘Arnold’, 45
pounds of curiosity. He
managed to snort his way
into the Rice’s hearts and
stayed there until he
weighed about 300 pounds.
“He was just like a dog,”
explains Vicki, confessing
Arnold was more of a pet
than a pig. Everything was
going fme for Arnold until
one day he mistakenly
tangled with another Rice
pet, the Dalmatian dog,
Butch.
Recalling her first
marketing lesson, Vicki
admits there were a few
tears shed for Arnold who
“was sold and became pork
chops but not for us.”
After Arnold and their first
taste of the swine industry,
the Rices developed an
appetitite to pursue a career
m farming.
“We studied different
types of operations that
would work on a small
acreage and that could
eventually be financially
supporting for both of us to
stay home,” Vicki ex
plain. She adds that since
she was the one who was
selected to stay home m the
first round, she opted for
pigs over chickens.
Now, Vicki is in charge of
their farrowing operation set
up with 130 Landrace x
Yorkshire sows farrowing
continuously.
Her complete operation is
under one roof. The
gestation and breeding
portion is one big area of the
building, with the farrowing
area and nursery located m
separate wings.
The entire house is
equipped with gravity flow
manure gutters that carry
all the manure to a holding
pond outside. These gutters
are flushed once a week,
says Vicki as she demon
strates how easy it is to just
open the plug and let it flow.
A neighboring farmer uses
the manure and takes care of
pumping out the holding
pond, she says.
Vicki tells how the sows m
the gestation area are all on
individually controlled
rations with individual
waterers. They doze lazily
on their sides, oblivious to
the visitors.
Walking back the aisle to
the breeding area Vicki
explains how her breeding
program calls for Duroc x
Hampshire crossbred boars
to service her sows,
resulting m the optimum
four-way cross
“I hand breed the sows
twice to different boars,”
says Vicki. She points out
that the boar is selected that
best fits the size of the sow.
The most recent addition to
their boar inventory is an 8-
month-old named
Honeybunch he’ll be
servicing her younger sows.
When asked if she has any
trouble catching the sows
that are in heat, Vicki leans
on the railings of the
breeding pens and studies
the boars who are roaming
behind the crated sows.
“After the pigs are weaned
off the sows, I stress them to
bring them into heat faster,”
says Vicki. “I put one boar in
with three sows and I leave
them together for three
days.
“During those three days,
they’re fed only twice on
two mornings They have to
fight for feed, so all that
pushing and shoving stresses
them an brings them in heat
on the fourth or fifth day
(Turn to Page 021)
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Not for those with weak stomachs Vicki
handies the injections and tail dockings, along with
the castrating chores.
Handling the boars is no problem, says Vicki.
Most of them like to have their backs scratched,
like her newest born "Honeybunch”.
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