Tuesday, April 20, 2010

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!!












8 comments:

  1. "Porkchop" !!! I LOVE it!

    piggies are cute. Good luck with the weight gain

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  2. In the pic with the railroad crossing sign, is that a red tri aussie? Can't tell with the lightening, but it's gorgeous!!!
    One of the girls that used to work with me at the Vet was big into showing pigs, they are SOOOO cute when they are little! She'd have saga after saga with those critters though, and when she sold them after showing season was over, she'd get like $45 bucks for them. I never understood that, but I guess it's for the kids! ;)

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  3. Good luck with your piggies! Hope they grow good for you. When is your fair? We're getting ready for our sale this weekend, so have been busy with that and working on our garage. Love the swine project for kids.

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  4. the piggies are so sweet but i am not a pork eater so what lies ahead is sad for me....poor little thing with the back problem!

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  5. Look at the little oinkers!! They are so stinkin' cute! I can't believe they have to gain 2 lbs a day! Wow! How big do they have to be to show at county fair? I am sure you have said before, but I am a big space cadet!!

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  6. LeAnna~ That is my Red Merle Aussie :) He's the daddy to all of the recent pups! We are very fortunate in the community we live in, all of the kids get "premium" money donated by different community members/business's so they do end up with about enough to break even after purchase price and feed bill. Then we will keep one and sell the other 2 to families that ask us to raise them for meat :)

    WSOS~ Our fair will be the 2nd week of August. Good luck with your sale!! If I was closer I would definitely be there!!

    KK~ Well I can respect that :)

    PG~ They have to be a minimum weight of 220 lbs. So we've got a ways to go LOL!! We like them to be around 270-280 lbs

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  7. WAY Cool! I am so glad you guys are into 4-H I think it was just the best thing ever for me and my brother growing up. We did horses of course and turkeys, which we sold for meat at the end of the year. Great experiences.

    What cute little baby pork chops you have!!!

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  8. Hey! It's the 3 Little Pigs! hehe!

    This one went to the show
    This one was sold
    And this one....we ate!

    lol!

    Have fun with 'em!


    ~Lisa

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