And The Race Is On....To Fatten Up Some Piggies!

Every year our county fair is a big deal and we absolutely love it!!! Every bit of it, even those moments when we think we're gonna lose it from all the stress involved LOL!! But this is something that our kids really look forward to, not just because they are showing animals that they have raised but because of all the other kids involved! J is showing for FFA and DD shows for 4H I can honestly say that last year during fair I don't think J spent one night at home! He spent every moment with his buds and doing his duties as County Fair King.

Piggies in the trailer awaiting their new home! J's pig is by the wall, his name is "Porkchop"!



DD checking them out



J standing on the scale to weigh them!





Last year both of the kids showed pigs and DD also showed her steer and did horses! As much as we would have loved for her to do beef again this year we did not find a steer in time for "tagging". So they will both show pigs and DD will of course do all of her horse stuff LOL!!











Our area as with much of the state and southern states have NOT had good pig litters this year... J really likes showing Hamps and DD really likes Duroc's, those are the breeds they showed last year and wanted to do them again this year. Unfortunately our breeder that we normally buy from has had a horrible year with hers so far. She has lost litters to Circovirus (a sow was carrying it and passed it to the litter), one sow sat on a litter, she has also lost at least 1 sow who got a small tear at her vulva and bled out! Her litter was saved. I can't even remember it all but she had another sow come down sick and they had to euthanize her. And this is the case for many breeding families! Many local sales were canceled this year due to lack of numbers and the sales that are going the pigs are going for way to much money!

Finally learning how to drink out of the barrel!



This one is the feeder, has an injured back foot from being stepped on by his mama :(
His name is "Chop's JR"



DD's pig Maggie




So we contacted a family that we have bought from years ago and they had 2 show pigs and 1 feeder left. They are all blue butts, which are not my favorite :( And they are all small! The smallest one was 40 lbs and the biggest was around 44 lbs I think, this is around 20 lbs lighter than our smallest one from last year! UGHH!! But at this point beggars can't be choosers so we are just happy to have some period! Now the force feeding begins! I think we figured these babies need to gain at least 2 lbs a day in order to make weight for the county fair... We will be worming in a few days and we will check their weight again.

Moving their new "house" to the pen






Notice DD's Sharpei and J's Aussie sticking their heads in being nosy!!