Although the county fair is still over three months away, the preparation has long been in the works. Our Farmerette (youngest) and Farmer Rick loaded the pigs up in the pig box (very large crate with air holes drilled in it), closed the tailgate on the truck, and headed off to the fairgrounds to weigh them in for her market class that will occur at the fair. It's a good thing that Farmer Rick is rather strong because trying to lift 90 pounds of squealing, stinking, wiggling pig is not an easy thing to do! After loading the two up in the box, he had to come in the house and clean up, put clean(er) clothes on before he would jump in the farm truck and take off. He would have to do the same thing at the fairgrounds, but atleast he'd be starting out clean.
When they arrive at the fairgounds, each pig's ear tag is recorded. They then receive another eartag that identifies them as Farmerette's for the specific class she will be showing in. Once each pig is weighed, they are entered in a record that will show their beginning weight, and then their ending weight when they again weigh-in at fairtime. There is a proficiency and rate of gain award that is given at the fair that goes to the participant who demonstrates the most rate of gain, yet stays within industry guidelines for market weight.
Once the pigs were brought home, they were already snuggled down in the straw bedding in their crate, and of course, didn't want to leave the crate. Farmerette and I had to clean the pig pens anyway, so they were able to stay in their snuggly little nest for awhile. There's one thing for sure - I hate cleaning pig pens. I'd rather clean 20 horse stalls before cleaning one pig pen. But the job has to be done. Farmer Rick was working on oil and filter changes for the tractors, so it was up to us to do the dirty work. Yuck! Thank goodness for a skid steer! It still took an hour, but we managed to get everything all cleaned up, re-bedded and ready to go for the pigs once they were unloaded. We adjusted the feeder to a new height, filled the water dish and rounded up Farmer Rick to open the crate and once again, get all dirty and stinky as he lifted each pig from the bed of the crate into their nice clean pen. Believe me - the pen doesn't stay clean for long, but atleast it's a start!
After evening milking, we stopped in to see if the hogs had settled into their surroundings again. Sure enough, they had snuffled down in their bedding and were actually snoring! Content, bellies full, comfortable and warm - what more could they ask for!
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