Boar Buddy Better Than Store-Bought

Boar Buddy Better Than Store-Bought HOG EQUIPMENT & IDEAS Hog Equipment & Ideas (351) 19-5-8 "I really don't know why, but it works better than some commercial models you'd pay $400 or more for," says Ralph T. Oldham about A.I. dummies he makes out of old tires mounted on wooden stands. Called the "Boar Collection Buddy," Oldham's dummy won the $1,000 first prize in the World Pork Congress Inventions Contest sponsored by the "National Hog Farmer" and National Pork Producers Council. The Louisiana pork producer got the idea for a more effective dummy after he began A.I. breeding a few years ago. "At first we constructed dummies out of water heaters, pipe, planks and PVC pipe," he explains. "They all looked good to us but boars refused to mount them. We eventually purchased a rather expensive commercial dummy, also with unsatisfactory results. "Then last year on a boar buying trip I noticed two young boars mounting the tires on a skid steer loader that had been left in the pen." Oldham put together his first Boar Collection Buddy as soon as he returned home. He builds a 2-ft. high stand out of treated lumber and then mounts an old well worn tire on top. Oldham says 24-in. truck tires seem to work best. "In more thana year's use with over 30 boars, not a single boar has refused to mount it," Oldham says. "All training usually amounts to is pointing the boar toward it and getting out of the way." A "Boar Collection Buddy" costs about $10 to build. Contact FARM SHOW Followup: Ralph Oldham, Oak Grove Pork Farm, P.O. Box 1223, Oak Grove, La. 71263 (ph 318-428-2980).

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