Editor’s Note: Commodity Carnival is an educational experience developed by CME Group and 4-H focused on managing the business risks associated with producing and bringing a hog to market. The learning activity is appearing at county and state fairs across the country this year. This is the first in a series of coverage on the event and how youth are learning the role of commodities markets. Bartholomew County, Indiana 4-H member Brooke Stafford writes about her recent experience with Commodity Carnival.
Working the Commodity Carnival at the Bartholomew County 4-H fair was something I have never experienced. Children of all ages were enjoying learning about how hard it is to make money raising livestock. Of course, they were all enticed by the cute stress ball pig they would receive if they made a profit, but even if the kids didn't win a pig they still smiled and thanked us for letting them play.
The game involves the kids filling plastic eggs, which represent the livestock they are raising, with corn and soybeans and other inputs that make up the cost of raising a pig. Then they use their egg on the Pig-Linko board (similar to the "Price Is Right" Plinko game) to determine the final market value of their pig. They laughed as we told them they needed to feed their pig more because it was hungry (their eggs didn't weigh enough to play Pig-Linko). The other items used to fill the eggs represented different costs you might have to pay when raising livestock, these costs included transportation, health care for the animal, energy costs, etc. Most of them were ecstatic when they weighed their eggs and the scale read numbers above 40 grams. I had one child look at me with the most amazed look on her face and said, "My pig weighs 37 pounds!" I tried hard not to laugh as I explained to her that it was measured in grams and they were much smaller than pounds.
What the kids were really learning when they filled their eggs was that there is a lot of risk involved in raising livestock. Farmers don't have an exact price to pay when raising an animal because there are so many factors that can make the cost increase or decrease. One animal may become sick and need vaccines, while others may be perfectly healthy. Gas prices can rise causing the cost for transportation to increase. Feed costs have risen in the past few years, which makes it difficult for farmers to pay for animal feed. These are all risks that livestock owners take.
We weighed the kids' eggs, and told them how much they needed to make in order for their livestock animal to profit when being sold at market. We watched them send their egg down the Pig-Linko board, as they passed through the different risk-factors and problems that could occur while raising your animal. We spent time talking about some of those that could happen as the egg (pig) dropped. As this happened, you could tell they were almost willing their eggs to drop in the big money slots so they could receive a stress ball pig. The excitement of the game and the chance of winning the prize made many of the kids that participated run off and grab their friends and return later to play again. We had multiple parents/adults comment on how fun and educational the game was for both kids and adults. Just like in the real world, raising livestock for money involves risk, and you don't always get what you expected.
This video gives a glimpse of how the game works:
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