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!!

Nothing Like Good Old 4H Fun!!

Wednesday night marked our county's first 4H Horse Project meeting of the year! We were a little late in the year to be having our first meeting but it's been a transition to say the least! This year I have taken over as the Project Leader for the group and I have to say I have NO idea what I'm doing when it comes to running a group like this!! I did not grow up in 4H, I always wanted to join but it didn't really fit our lives as kids I guess.... So my kiddo's have been member's for many years now! All of this came about as my friend Cowboy S was the leader and really the man is stretched for time in every aspect of his life so that's where I came in! He is our "Superintendent" so he helps me with ideas and any questions I have, he really is a great asset to our kids so I am very glad he stayed on! In addition I also have a gal from our county but different club than ours, she called me a couple of months ago and offered to help so that has been AWESOME!! I totally love her! She is so much like me....Might get dangerous LOL! We have lots planned for the kiddo's but our first meeting was grooming. We decided to go with that as we weren't sure how many "horseless" kids we have so some of them may not know the basics. I was so thrilled that everyone signed up for the project was there!!

Cowboy S never passes a dare....Think he's a bit big for the pony?!






























Our next meeting we will be covering trail riding and trail safety as our first outing we have planned is a ride to move some cattle across the Chickaskia River in May!! I am SO excited for this! I think it will be an absolute BLAST for the kiddo's!!













This was HILARIOUS!! We sent the girls to load up one of Cowboy S's horses and next thing we know it's taking all 4 of them to close the door LOL!! Best part is they already had the divider closed so PJ wasn't getting out!

I've Been Tagged!!

So I've been tagged! Yes I do love being tagged for fun things, and this one is fun!! So Leah over at Livin' It Up Country tagged me for this; The rules are to post your tenth picture that you downloaded into picaso or photo folder and then blog about it. Then tag 5 others to do the same. If you wish to play along please do so if not that is OK. Well I do wish to play along!!



This would have been last Spring in March when the Hubby started halter breaking DD's steer!! This was lots of fun let me tell ya LOL!! A pretty typical way of halter breaking a steer would be tying it to a donkey for a couple of days and after it's been kicked 1,589,675 times it will quickly follow wherever you lead it! BUT of course we don't own a donkey so we improvise around here.....

















Of course all didn't go as planned after this, we didn't get to work with Midnight as much as we should have but much to our surprise he was NOT a handful come fair time! Which was really good news since he weighed approx 1050 lbs and DD weighed all of 65 lbs!!


















So in following the tag rules I shall now nominate my 5 bloggers to participate in this fun!! And of course if you don't want to play then we all understand!!

LeAnna over at Thoughts and Whatnots

Rachel over at Once Upon A Miracle

Mama H over at The Hohman Homestead

Paint Girl over at Adventures of the Painted Creek Farm

Kit over at Gizzards & Calf Fries

Wordless Wednesday

J and I at our 4H Banquet..




Secretary ~ J, and President and VP of our 4H club..



J getting his savings bond for being crowned King at our County Fair for 2009!!

Whoo-Hoo we have Royalty in the Family now!!

So last night I left you a little picture of J with a sash on...Yes there is a story with that:) I'm sure all county fair's do this but our 4H club nominated J for King of the fair this year. Well from the get go he wasn't real thrilled about it, he actually at one point said he was going to throw everything on purpose...Well we had a little talk about respect and making a good name for our club, and I think he got the hint LOL!! So it was a week ago last Thursday that J says to me "hey mom, when are we supposed to turn in my stuff for fair King"?? OH CRAP!!! I totally forgot and the judging was the following morning!! So we went to work putting together his huge packet of papers and a story about himself along with pictures to document his accomplishments..

So that following morning was a Friday and he had to go have lunch with the group of nominee's (which consisted of 3 boys and 2 girls) and the judges. Well I was told that he was chatting a storm with the judges which is no surprise to me LOL!! Then next came their speech, which we were a little nervous about because he didn't write anything down he was just going off what he had in his head!! So he did manage to get his speech done, he had a few blurbs and quiet moments while he kind of froze, but he apologized to the judges then carried on. So then the next step was private interviews with the judges. So he went in and had his interview and they actually told him they were proud of him because he just joined 4H a few years ago and at his age most kids were getting out of it. So the competition for him was a kid that is a senior this year and he had a TON of accomplishments and he had a long speech but it was kind of monotone...Then another nice young man who has great accomplishments as well but he was very shy. So I basically told J that he would win if they went off of personality but if they went by the books and papers then the senior would probably win. Which is what I expected to happen.

J the King!! He's not bored I promise!!!!!!!!



Well last Wednesday night was the announcing of the winners but I had a problem...My Granny's Birthday was that day and we had made plans to get together to have a dinner for her and I totally didn't remember that they fell on the same night... So my dear SIL offered to record it for me so I could at least see it, because she knew it was killing me to not see it. Well I called J before I left town to tell him good luck and he was basically like "what? Where are you going"? He did not realize that they fell on the same night to...Poor kid I know it hurt him because he is used to me being there for everything!!

OK since when do the Kings text while doing there duties!! I had to tell him to shut it off LOL!



So anyhow my SIL was to text me as soon as they did the announcement.....So there I sit in my Aunt's house and my phone goes off with the message that says "He Won"!! I kind of yelled Whoo-Hoo, then I went outside and sat down and cried for a little while LOL!! Yes I am a softy, see I was sure the other kid would win because of his age and experience so when J won I was so sad not to be there!!

J working the Sheep show



So his duties as King consisted of handing out ribbons, selling things at the fair booth, riding in the parade. Oh and much more, he was quite the trooper in doing it all by himself since the crowned Queen had an animal in virtually every class so she wasn't out with him much LOL!! But he had a great week and will be the King till the crown the new one next year...So here we live with royalty BA HA HA LOL!!!!!!!!!!!

King and Queen's ride through the Parade!!