Sunday 13th: 4k Farms & Omaha Zoo
Today was a day for the books, and a day that I will probably remember for the rest of my life! Have you ever heard of the famous boar, “Hillbilly Bone”? Well, if you are into hogs then you’d surely know of him! Today we journeyed to Iowa just to see this pig, well the operation too! 
Owner and operator, Kurt gave us the grand tour of his whole operation! First we met the boars, which were huge! I had never seen a boar before but they were something spectacular, their body mass amounted more than mine, their tusks grew long with age, and their disposition was something of which I had not expected; these boars were very sweet, flashy, and well, fertile.
Kurt talked to us about Hillbilly Bone, his prize possession for quite some time informing us that one straw of his semen was worth about 500$! On average, it takes 2 straws of semen to bred a sow, so you could imagine how much this boar brings to the table! Kurt actually showed us how to service a boar, collect his semen, and get it ready for distribution.
After learning how to prepare the semen we took a trip up to the guilt pen where he was expecting a guilt in heat. Sure enough, there was! Kurt showed us how to breed a guilt, which was so very interesting, and extremely informative. We toured the rest of the farm, from young boars to newborn piglets. It was amazing how many animals he had in his operation, and even more amazing to hear the compassion in his voice when he talked about his animals, especially Hillbilly Bone, and his boar whom he named after his best friend. 
After a very thorough and enjoyable tour of the farm we were off to our next stop… the OMAHA ZOO! The zoo was a fun stop to make, however it was extremely hot, very spread out, and really easy to miss something! I had a great time seeing all the animals, and this trip really makes me want to go see the zoo when I get back home! 
Thanks for listening, and stay tuned for more updates from just another woman in agriculture via my blog and facebook!
