Prologue

 

It wasn’t like being late for the 4-H meeting held after school was the same thing as being late for class, but Bobby Belden felt the same sense of guilt as he slid into the classroom designated for their monthly 4-H club meeting. Today’s meeting was important; each of them would sign up for a project. He planned to follow in the footsteps of his older siblings and do a project on chickens. The Belden’s had always kept chickens, and he was anxious to get signed up and started. He knew the drill as well as he knew how to eat and sleep. The hatchery would mail a box poked with holes to the Sleepyside Post Office that contained a clutch of 3-week-old chicks. Hopefully there would be at least one rooster in the bunch and from then on you measured feed, egg production, and numerous other details until you arrived at the project's conclusion. He would select the best fowl from the lot to show at the fair. After the fair certain hens would be designated as egg-layers and the rest ..... the remaining chickens would end up on their table and they would try to forget how cute they had been when they first arrived. That was something you didn't want to remember when you sat down to eat a fried chicken dinner.

Sometimes he had the feeling that he had raised chickens most of his life, although his earliest memory of feeding them was when he was six. He knew that he could raise chickens successfully with very little effort. Slipping into the last row, he did his best to locate where his friends were sitting. Larry and Terry were both just a row in front of him and over a few seats. Since their older sister had never been involved in the 4-H program, they hadn’t settled on what program to select. They were whispering back and forth as the club’s adult volunteer wrapped up her instructions.

“Okay, now that I’ve discussed the various projects available and what your options are, each of you should have received a number when you signed in for the meeting. Since some projects are more popular than others, and the programs can fill up, we agreed to run today’s meeting as a lottery. Who has number one?”

A young girl hurried forward and it was no surprise to anyone that she signed up for one of the openings in the Awesome Equine Program. Numbers were called quickly, as the different students signed up for different programs – health and fitness, equine, dogs, rabbits, swine, cattle and of course poultry were all being taken. Bobby’s stomach sank as he looked at his number. He noticed several kids signing up in the poultry program. He’d take dogs, after all, they’d had Reddy for years and he could possibly learn some things they’d done wrong in his training. But the dog program was probably the most limited – relying on local vets to agree to assist the Cornell volunteers with the program. Please don't let me have to take a stupid rabbit, he thought to himself.

He finally managed to catch the eye of Larry Lynch. “What number?” he mouthed in his direction.

Larry pointed to his chest and held up one finger on his right hand, and four on his left. Larry was number fourteen. He then pointed at Terry and indicated in a similar manner that Terry was number twenty. Bobby looked at this number, he had to be the last one or close to the last one at number forty-two. No one was surprised that the dog program was the first to close, followed soon after by the horses. Bobby had briefly considered a beef cattle project but his father had shut him down emphatically when he broached the subject. Peter's response had been clear and succinct.

"Absolutely no cattle, Robert!" His eyes narrowed. "Not for beef or for dairy. We had enough experience with cows around here and we are NOT doing it again. I don't care if you select chickens or rabbits or even a horse, but do not sign up for cattle." He sighed loudly and glanced at his wife. "Honestly, Helen. Anything would be better than another crazy cow."

Naturally there were plenty of openings in the cattle project, but he had his orders. Despite the lenience his parents had shown him over the years, he knew better than to defy his father's instructions when he'd used that particular tone of voice.

He watched as Larry approached the project tables and was surprised to see him sign up for a swine project. When they'd talked about it at lunch, Larry had been adamant about wanting to do an equine project, with sheep or goats as his second choice. Terry was leaning the same way, although he had mentioned the cattle program. The two brothers agreed they would select the same animal project. To ease the strain on their smaller property, having similar projects would mean they could share the shelter obligations. Sure enough, when his number was called Terry also signed up for a swine project. Bobby leaned forward, anxious to talk to them, but not daring to break the rules the leader had given. There was enough noise and confusion with numbers being called, and questions being asked and answered, that conversation would have to wait until the sign-ups were complete. Once the horse program closed, the girls swarmed to poultry and rabbits. Every time a female went forward in front of him, he tried to send her a mind-altering message to sign up for rabbits.

Then it happened. They closed the poultry program at number 38 and Susan Chambers moved over to sign up for a sheep. Bobby glanced down at his information sheet. Sheep wouldn't be too bad, he thought to himself. Uncle Andrew raises sheep, he could give me plenty of advice and pointers. Not to mention, the lambs are pretty cute. He needed to decide.

"Number forty-two," called the leader. He stood up and hurried to the front as she called the next two numbers after him. Equine, dogs, and poultry programs were all closed. He knew better than to even contemplate cattle and that left him with the choice of sheep or goats, swine, or those silly rabbits. It was a no-brainer, he would do the same as his friends and moved in front of the swine table to sign-up. The first question took him by surprise.

"Are you interested in the empire hog feeder program or would you prefer the swine breeding program?"

"Uh .... " he stammered, not realizing there were multiple choices in the swine category. "It's been hard to decide. They both seem, uh ... interesting."

"The feeder project is good for a year," the Cornell student explained to the confused teenager. "It ends with the fair. But if you go with swine breeding program it'll take care of your project for next year as well. It's a two-year program."

Relieved to be given the option of a project that would last him through the remainder of his 4-H program, Bobby decided the choice was easy.

"I really am leaning toward the breeding program. It sounds much more interesting."

"Excellent!" The grad-student was clearly pleased with his choice. "I was beginning to think we wouldn't get any swine breeding projects this year."

"You mean I'm the only one?" Bobby asked in dismay.

"Yep, you're the only one. At least in this club."

Returning to his seat, Bobby stared at the program packet he had been handed. It was the same size as the packets that Larry and Terry had received which gave him hope that maybe the volunteer was wrong and the Lynch twins had signed up for the same program. Things wouldn't be too difficult if they were all working on the same thing. He only half listened to the speaker since he couldn't wait to see if he was right and they'd selected the feeder or breeder program.

In less than twenty minutes he had his answer. They'd both signed up for feeder hogs.

"Bobby, if we'd known you were going to do breeders we'd have signed up for those as well," Larry reassured him. "But this is cool, you can help us get our pen built and then we'll help you with your enclosure. It'll be awesome!"

"Does your dad know you're going to be raising hogs?" Bobby wanted to know. He had a sinking feeling that his dad wasn't going to be happy about pigs.

"He said we could sign up for any project so long we both signed up for the same one," Terry assured him. "The hog program is cool. Just think of the great pigs in history -- Wilbur, Babe, Porky, Miss Piggy ... " he was counting them off on his fingers.

"I take it you didn't just decide on this at the last minute? I thought sheep were your second choice."

"They were," Larry admitted. "But then we found out the big competition for the Sheep projects is a quiz-bowl. Really, who wants to be on Jeopardy for Sheep?"

"I guess we better go talk to our mentor," Terry said. "It looks like everyone is grouping up."

Bobby cheered up when he learned that the two both programs overlapped significantly. They would all tour a hog farm and pork production plant as well as listen to a presentation from a veterinarian. Even the hog show where they would finally purchase their animals would be the same. But the first order of business was to complete part one of their projects before the next month's meeting. Their parents would be required to review and approve the budget for their projects before they would visit any breeders or farms. After that review and approval, Cornell University would assign a graduate student to assist them with questions and getting started. Bobby had a sinking feeling that his father was going to consider a couple of pigs one step above crazy cows.