Breeding Opinion's About 4-H...

[GuineaPigParty]

What is your opinion about 4-H teaching kids and teens about breeding and showing?
This is the leader's guide on cavy's. It show's how to breed,show,care etc.

I have mixed feelings about this problem.
On one hand it is nice to see kids/teens getting involved with guinea pigs.

But on the other hand they are promoting breeding,purebreds and showing.
There is really no such thing as a purebred guinea pig. Guinea pigs are not like dogs or cats where the breed obvious in size,shape or color.

And as most of us know that there is no reason for breeding guinea pigs with all of these piggie's in shelters and rescues.

What do you think?

 

[CavyMama]

As you can imagine, we are not in favor of 4-H, for many of the reasons you mentioned. It promotes the unnecessary breeding of guinea pigs as well as showing, which is pointless and very stressful for them. As for getting kids involved with guinea pigs, there are many other ways to get them involved, like volunteering at a guinea pig rescue.

As you can also probably imagine, we cannot allow the link to their instructional manual.

 

[bpatters]

In this day and age, there's absolutely no reason for anyone, 4-H or not, to be breeding guinea pigs, or most other animals. 4-H was originally intended for rural kids to learn better practices of animal care and husbandry for the animals they needed on the farms. It's come a long way from that, and all downhill, in my opinion. If a 4-H kid wants to learn about guinea pig births, they can find a youtube to watch.

 

[ClemmyOddieIndy]

I keep rewriting what I want to say here, because I'm trying to say it nicely... but... I think 4-H is pointless. The "skills" you learn in 4-H are the skills all farm kids already know. The only one's learning anything are the kids who are not farm kids, which is not who 4-H is intended for. Why does a kid who lives in the middle of a city need to know how to raise a guinea pig to meet standards related to consumption of the animal. They do not. We do not consume guinea pigs, and therefore they serve no agricultural purpose, and should not be part of 4-H. Rabbits I can see an argument for, but not guinea pigs. Maybe, if we were in Ecuador I could see the guinea pig argument, but we are talking about this in a North American context.

 

[Kenna18155]

Oh, I just love to see the young folk nowadays getting involved in needlessly bringing suffering and stress against innocent animals by forcing them to become pregnant against their will! *note sarcasm*

And with the whole "kids getting involved" in guinea pigs, well, I don't like that either. If they like the cavies, there's a high chance they'll hop on over to their local pet store, but a cavy and a small cage, and cruddy food. They're kids. They shouldn't have pets in order to "teach responsibility." They shouldn't care for a live animal at all until they've proven themselves responsible.

And believe me, I understand. I'm a minor too. I was so happy when my brother surprised me with a pet piggy from PetSmart. She even came with a so-called "large" cage (two feet by one), some "high-quality" pellets, and a hidey tube with "safe" sample "bedding!" Oh yeah, and she was pregnant. She is still skittish even now. Luckily I did my research and got her in a C&C that exceeds the recommended size (12.5 sq ft for two cavies, woohoo!), provided veggies, and am working on getting Oxbow pellets.

If a pig was in the hands of a little kid who DOESN'T do their research like I did, maybe their pet won't be as lucky as Scarlet. And if they get a pregnant cavy like me and don't know how to care for a mother and babies before and after the birth... I don't even want to think about the possibilities.

Guinea pigs aren't toys. They shouldn't be entrusted to irresponsible children for any reason, let alone to breed. End of story.