A 4-H Pig Story with Purpose

In the world of raising junior livestock, the projects often have a way of testing you. Sometimes it’s the hours spent walking a stubborn lamb. Other times, it’s the late-night feedings in the heat or the cold. And sometimes, it’s a pig that decides at the most inopportune moment that the show ring is the last place on Earth it wants to be.

That was the scene for 10-year-old Flint Van Buren of Grace, Idaho, at this year’s Caribou County Fair. His barrow, Stitch, had been a handful from the start.

“He was pretty stout,” Flint’s mom, Nicky Van Buren, said with a chuckle, “but stubborn as all get-out. Always had been.”

Flint worked with him as much as he could, balancing chores with wrestling season, state tournaments, and football practice. Still, Stitch had his own ideas.

This year, despite Stitch’s unpredictable moments, Flint saw major improvement from his first year. He earned Reserve Champion in his junior showmanship class. Stitch was on his best behavior until the final five minutes; and in market classes, Flint’s hard work paid off with Grand Champion in his weight class and third Overall Market Hog in the barn.

“It was more successful than we thought it might be,” Nicky said. “It just makes us want to work harder to prove this small family can do it.”

When show day came, the crowd filled the stands and the air buzzed with auction anticipation. Pigs entered the show ring proud and polished. When it was Flint’s turn for showmanship, Stitch made it through most of the class, but in the last five minutes, he was done.

“He lasted one show,” Nicky explained. “Then he just wanted to stay in the corner and scream. Poor Flint did so good, but that pig shut down so quick.”

The noise was so loud, she said, “you couldn’t hear anything over him. It was just, ‘Get this pig out of the arena as fast as you can.’”

If this year’s pig was a challenge, last year’s was the opposite. Piggy Smalls, Flint’s first 4-H project, was mellow, affectionate, and adored belly scratches. He’d melt into the dirt whenever Flint rubbed his side.

“More like a dog than a pig,” Nicky recalled. “Always happy to see Flint at the barn door.”

But it wasn’t Piggy Smalls’ gentle personality that made him unforgettable. It was what happened when Flint decided to sell him.

They were a 4-H first-year family in 2024, joining the Muddy Buddies 4-H Club and learning the ropes alongside their son. Nicky had grown up showing horses but never pigs. Flint’s dad had raised pigs for meat, but he’d never shown livestock in the 4-H arena.

“We just thought it would be good for him,” Nicky said. “It’s got a lot of lessons he can carry on for the rest of his life.”

They purchased from breeders Melissa and Casey Archibald, along with their two sons, Colt and Ty, who run a small and well-regarded program.

“They’ve raised good pigs and helped us with every hurdle we’ve had to cross while learning the ropes,” Nicky said.

It started with a bit of parental exasperation. “He was getting a little preteen attitude,” Nicky said, “and I told him, ‘Fine, I’ll just take your pig since we bought it and sell it to donate the money.’”

It was half-joke, half-frustration. But Flint took it seriously.

Around that time, the family learned that one of Flint’s football and wrestling buddies, 10-year-old Krew Hemmert, had been diagnosed with B-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Krew’s mom, Becky, remembers the whirlwind: a week at Bible camp, swelling in Krew’s feet and face, a rush to the ER, and then a life-changing helicopter ride to Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City.

“By Monday,” she said, “he was in surgery. His bone marrow blast came back at a 98 percent leukemia rate.”

Flint didn’t hesitate. “He just decided he wanted to donate,” Nicky said. “We asked him, ‘Are you sure? You’ve worked so hard on this.’ But he was dead set.”

At the Caribou County Fair auction, Piggy Smalls wasn’t the grand champion. He wasn’t the reserve champion. But when he stepped into the sale ring, the room shifted.

Bidding started at $3,800, offered by local fertilizer company Itafos. Then something remarkable happened.

Itafos announced they’d donate the pig back to be sold again, and bumped their bid to $5,000. Next came Jorgensen Farms at $3,500, followed by Bear River Electric at $3,300. Then came the “boosts,” as local businesses added extra cash to the final sale. By the time it was over, Piggy Smalls had brought in around $12,000.

“It was overwhelming,” Nicky said. “For a 9-year-old to decide on his own to do that … he just wanted to help. He wasn’t looking for a pat on the back.”

Because ‘I could, and I wanted to’

Fast-forward a year. Ag advocate and cattleman Kaid Panek had been collecting letters from kids around the country, highlighting youth doing good in their communities. Flint’s mom reached out; her son wanted to hand-deliver a letter.

Panek vaguely remembered last year’s story. But when Flint arrived and he asked why a 9-year-old would give away the proceeds from his first 4-H animal, Flint didn’t pause: “Because I could, and I wanted to,” he said.

“That’s what got me,” Panek said later. “He wasn’t looking for anything in return. He found someone in need and acted. I couldn’t get that quote out of my head.”

Panek decided to make sure the community remembered too. Quietly, he called in friends and sponsors: Trans Ova Genetics, Molly Manufacturing, Tracer Minerals, and others.

“Within hours,” he said, “we had enough to buy that pig for more than the grand champion.”

Panek wanted it to be a surprise. “I called his mom and said, ‘Hey, just to let you know, I want to be able to tell his story if I could.’ She said that was fine. I kept it under my hat. I bit my tongue so many times in those two weeks between talking to Flint and the sale.”

Behind the scenes, he lined up more than just one big bid.

“I had a couple people in the background saying, ‘Chase me up to at least four grand so he doesn’t get bought for less than he deserves.’”

On sale day, the plan nearly turned into a bidding war. “There was another guy in the crowd (no relation at all) who was going to make me work for it every step of the way,” Panek said with a laugh. “That’s what made it so cool: The whole ag industry united for a good cause.”

In the barn before the sale, Flint was guessing what might happen. “He said, ‘Do you think I’ll make a lot of money? Maybe $2,000 — that’s a lot,’ ” Nicky recalled.

Once the bidding started, it quickly blew past that number. Flint got Stitch back in the pen afterward, still trying to process it all. “He was trying to hold back tears,” Nicky said. “When he found out Kaid bought it — it hit him.”

Later, she told Panek that when Flint sat down to write his thank-you, he was almost at a loss for words. “Pretty speechless,” Panek said. “Couldn’t believe it happened to him.”

The final tally? $4,500, plus extra funds Panek had set aside for other youth projects.

But it was never about the dollar figure.

“It wasn’t about the pig. The pig is a conduit; a gateway to this whole thing. It was about Flint being Flint, and why we wanted to pool money together and invest in his future,” explained Panek.

With the leftover funds, Panek headed to Afton, Wyoming, where he’d heard about two brothers in 4-H who’d been through a rough time. They’d shown turkeys, and not just any turkeys — they’d taken grand and reserve champion.

“I wanted to stay incognito,” Panek said, “but word gets out when buyers show up.” He bought the reserve champion outright, put a generous boost on the grand champion, and left knowing those boys, and their club, would feel the same lift Flint had felt in Grace.

For Flint, the connection to Panek has been more than just financial.

“There’s something about Kaid,” Nicky said. “We’ve barely met him, but if Flint sees him — on the phone, in person — he points him out. It’s like he’s become a role model without even trying.”

Flint even picked out a Lego set for Panek’s son, Kreed, as part of his buyer’s gift.

“Kreed’s gonna be my best friend,” Flint told his mom. “We’re gonna show together.”

Looking ahead and continuing to pay it forward

Now, Flint is talking about breeding show pigs, raising a donation pig for next year, and maybe building his own barn. His little sister just turned 8 and will be eligible for 4-H next season.

And he’s not stopping there. This year, before Stitch ever set foot in the show ring, Flint was already thinking of new ways to pay kindness forward. If a buyer had chosen to give him back his pig after the sale, he planned to get it butchered and give all the meat away.

“Even though saying goodbye to his pigs is the hardest part, he still wanted to do something for someone else,” Nicky said. “That’s just how his mind works now.”

The barn may still be a dream, the pigs may still have their stubborn days, but the lesson is set.

“It was never about Piggy Smalls,” Panek said. “And it wasn’t about Stitch. It was about remembering the kid who did something for no other reason than … because he could, and he wanted to.”

Heidi Crnkovic, is the Associate Editor for AGDAILY. She is a New Mexico native with deep-seated roots in the Southwest and a passion for all things agriculture.