Elise Anderson has raised pigs since she was 8 years old, and at least three generations of her family have produced pork in rural Nebraska. When Anderson joined the Lyons-Decatur FFA chapter in 2018, a swine entrepreneurship supervised agricultural experience (SAE) was a natural fit.
Anderson started by breeding, farrowing, and raising market hogs. Although she continued to enjoy taking care of pigs with her family, she soon found additional interests in food science, plant science, dairy cattle judging, and agritourism.
“FFA really helped foster my love of learning,” Anderson says. “I love to soak up new information about any topic, but especially agriculture.”
As Anderson became more involved in FFA and other high school activities, she realized she needed to simplify her swine project. Checking the farrowing house at 2 a.m. wasn’t practical anymore, she says, so she sold her breeding herd and started buying weaned pigs. She fed …