A22-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, January 2,<1999
Marsh’s Well-Brushed, Friendly Hogs Ready For Farm Show
ANDY ANDREWS
Lancaster Fanning Staff
HONEY BROOK (Chester Co.)
If you want to know why Tom
Marsh Jr. is so intent on doing well
at this year's junior swine competi
tion at the Farm Show, ask him
about the brush.
When Tom used to help his
brother, Eric Olsen, show at the
Chester County 4-H Swine Round
up and follow him to the state Farm
Show, Tom’s chores were simple:
wash down the hogs. And brush
them till they glowed.
Tom so fell in love with bogs as
a result of endless grooming
and seeing how much money was
gained through selling them
that he decided the hog business
could be for him.
This year, Tom will take a hog
to the annual competition, Tues
day, Jan. 12. at 8:30 a.m. in the
small arena of the Farm Show
Complex in Harrisburg. The
champion sale is scheduled Tliurs
day, Jan. 14. at 9 a.m. and the hog
sale continues at 1 p.m. the same
day in the small arena.
Eric, who is 20 years old, has
left his 4-H showing days behind.
But according to the Marsh family,
he has left behind a legacy on how
to prepare and show swine for
Tom.
Tom, 14, is the son of Tom Sr.
and Nancy Marsh, Honey Brook.
Tom Jr.’s sister, Brittany, 7,
isn’t far from staring her own 4-H
career and also plans to show
swine and, eventually, sheep.
For now, Tom has been busy
preparing the swine for show.
“I get a lot of fun from raising
hogs and learning to raise them
better,’’ said Tom of his experi
ences in the Chester County 4-H
Swine Club. According to his
father, there are 34 members of the
club in the county, “the biggest
4-H pig club we’ve ever had,” he
said.
Tom Jr.’s mother Nancy Marsh
is in her third year as president of
the Chester County 4-H Advisory
Committee and has served on the
board about six years.
Tom Jr. said that every year he
sells his hogs at roundup and
places the money in mutual funds.
While he is intent on saving for
future plans, he remains uncertain
about what to do though a future
in the hog business is high on his
wish list.
Tom and his father rely on the
expertise of M & M Zook Farm,
Gap, to provide show stock. M &
M Zook allows the hog finishers to
take a look at two dozen of their
feeder pigs before choosing four or
five that could be potential
champions.
Tom Sr. said that he wants to
allow “four different sets of eyes”
to inspect the hogs before they are
chosen for the show season. “We
have to be unanimous in what we
like,” he said.
Though this is the seventh year
for Farm Show participation, Tom
Jr. has always enjoyed the fun of
“brushing die pigs, having fun
brushing them down in the pen,
getting them ready,” he said.
This year at the roundup at the
Romano 4-H Center near Honey
Brook, Brittany, Tom Jr.’s sister,
sold Tom’s biggest pig this year
254 pounds. He’s been attending
roundup regularly since joining
4-H.
Brittany won’t become eligible
to be in roundup and Farm Show
until 2001, but she’ll be eligible at
the county roundup in the summer
of 2000.
Brittany said she doesn’t like the
size of the pigs, which can grow to
270 pounds before they’re sold.
They’re big, she said, and fast, and
“knock me over.”
One day a photographer came to
their house to take pictures of pigs
for a pig calendar. Fortunately
Tom Jr., who was about six years
old at the time, was small enough
that he could stay on top of a
700-pound boar long enough for
the photographer to get some pic
tures. The calendar, pig rider and
all, appeared in 1992.
Tom’s mother Nancy, also a
club leader, is from Havcrtown, a
suburb of Philadelphia. Though
she wasn’t raised showing pigs,
she devotes a lot of time to her
family’s involvement in 4-H. Tom
Sr. serves cm the 4-H board of
directors.
Tom Jr. is fascinated by hog's
behavior and how it feeds.
Since they put in a self feeder,
they noticed how the hogs take to
it. They also notice how a hog will
dig up roots and leave the ground
bare in their pens.
“But all the hogs are friendly,”
he said.
Tom spends a lot of time work
ing around the hog and brushing
them lets them know they ate
being cared for.
As a result, the hogs arc atten
tive and friendly. “They’re content
and easier to handle,” said Nancy.
She said that Tom Jr. will
scratch the bogs behind the ears
when they’re eating. “The hogs get
used to you, and you can get them
to go where you want to go,” she
said.
Tom Jr. won reserve champion
light heavyweight at the roundup
last year.
Tom Jr. is also involved in other
4-H projects other than hogs. His
favorite nonfarm activity is work
ing with the 4-H wildlife club.
Using photographs from maga
zines such as The Trapper, Field
and Stream, and Game News, Tom
dipped together a presentation of
foxes in four different seasons.
At last year’s banquet, Tom won
he Keystone Farm Credit Award
winner for oustanding junior
achievement in 4-H. At this past
summer’s county roundup at the
Romano Center, Tom won grand
champion wildlife project, grand
champion embryology project,
grand champion sewing project for
his quilted pillow, and grand
champion food and nutrition pro
ject for his homemade bread. He
was the only boy in the club in
which he sewed together and
quilted a pillow, according to Nan
cy, who operates her own business
at the house, Marsh Antiques and
Quilts.
Using his expertise as a retired
deputy wildlife conservation offic
er for the Pennsylvania Game
Commission who now operates his
own wildlife management busi
ness, Tom Sr. was able to work
with a local farm to obtain quail
eggs to hatch in the embryology
club.
What is Tom Jr.'s secret to fin
ishing a good hog?
“4-H tells you best ways to feed
them,” he said. “We mix our own
feed.”
They use shelled com, soybean
meal, and minerals with good
results. But Tom Sr. also noted
how important genetics are to fash
ioning a champion.
“If you have some of the worst
genetics and do the best job you
can at feeding and caring for it, it
won’t do you much good,” he said.
“But if you have some of the best
genetics and do an average job, it
Tom Marsh, 14, center, plans on brushing up a hog to take to this year’s Farm Show.
He’s the son of Tom Sr., right, and Nancy Marsh, Honey Brook. Tom Jr.’s sister, Brit
tany, 7, front, isn’t far from staring her own 4-H career, planning to show swine and,
eventually, sheep.
can still go down as a potential
champion.”
Tom Jr. entertains plans to go
into the hog business someday but
worries about the work and invest
ment of money to ensure blood
tested, pseudorabies-free hogs.
Tom Sr. noted that 4-H helps
members to look at the economics
and to be able to viably market
hogs.
4-H also teaches members the
hasi« business essentials and the
tenets to running a company.
Tom Jr. is in the Bth grade at
North Brandywine Middle School,
Coatesvillc. Brittany is in the first
grade at Kings Highway Elemen
tary School.
Tom enjoys social studies/
history, science, and algebra.
Brittany plans to someday show
sheep, but enjoys canning and
cooking and other 4-H projects.
Apply Now For Jersey Scholarships, Awards
LIBERTY (Bradford Co.)
It’s that time of year when
Jersey youth from across
Pennsylvania can stand up and
be recognized for their hard
work.
Awards and Scholarships will
be presented to outstanding
Jersey youth between the ages
of nine and 19 who owned a
Jersey calf, heifer or cow during
1998, at the PJCA annual meet
ing this spring. The deadline to
enter these contests is January
20, 1999.
First year Jersey owners can
compete for the First Year
Project Award. To be eligible, a
member must be between the
ages of eight and 12 and be a
member of an organized 4-H
club. To enter the contest, sub
mit the official project record
book along with a handwritten
story entitled “My First Jersey
Project Year.”
The PJCA will select out
standing Jersey achievers in
both the junior division, ages
nine to 13, and the senior cate
gory, ages 14-19. All applicants
must be the owners of one or
more registered Jerseys. Entry
“I get a lot of fun from raising hogs and learning to raise
them better,” said Tom Marsh Jr. of his experiences in the
Chester County 4-H Swine Club.
forms for this contest are avail
able from the youth coordinator.
Five finalists from each division
will be recognized at the annual
meeting. Previous winners in
the junior division are not
allowed to re-enter the contest,
while previous winners in the
senior division are eligible to re
enter, but only to be considered
for the state’s entry to the
national achievement contest.
Jersey youth of all ages are
invited to compete in the scrap
book contest. Scrapbooks sub
mitted are to include the contes
tant’s Jersey project(s) for 1998.
Scrapbooks will be evaluated on
the quality and quantity of the
contents. Artistic skill and cre
ativity will also be considered.
Yet another contest for young
Jersey owners to enter is the
Youth Production Contest.
Jersey juniors can nominate
their registered animals that
are on official DHI or DHIA test
by submitting official cow
records issued between 1/1/98
and 12/31/98. This form is
required to give officials a 305-
day 2X mature equivalent value
for the records submitted. The
records will be ranked according
to mature equivalent pounds of
proteins. Contestants are only
allowed to submit one record per
year. Top records will be for
warded to the National Jersey
Youth Production Contest.
Finally, Jersey Youth who are
attending college or who are
high school seniors planning to
enroll in college within one year
of high school graduation can
compete for one of two $2OO
scholarships. Applicants must
have been actively involved with
Jersey cattle for at least two
years. Previous scholarship win
ners are eligible to reapply for
these awards.
To be eligible for these
awards, the applicant or the
applicant’s family must be mem
bers of the Pennsylvania Jersey
Cattle Association.
Applications should be sent
to Patty Rassau, Youth Director,
473 Monroe Road, Sarver, PA
16055 or to David Norman,
PJCC secretary, RR 1, Box 30,
Liberty, PA 16930.
For more information, call
Rassau at 724-353-9681.