Blog 10

As I have said before, my boyfriend’s family raises show pigs. Since I have known his family for so long pigs are like second nature to me. I could not count how many different pig shows I have been to or how many times I have been asked by my boyfriend’s dad Mike what I think is right and what I think is wrong with certain pigs at the shows almost as a test to see what I have remembered and what I have forgotten. Show pig sales are taking place this month more readily because a lot of the county fairs are coming up. They had theirs a couple weekends ago and we have another one in Columbia City this next weekend.

At the most current one, a man, that I have never seen before came up and started asking me questions about some of the Duroc’s and York’s that were in the far pins. So we walked over and asked me which pigs I thought were the best. I tell him all of them, obviously. Then I ask him which he would rather show a gilt, barrow, or boar. You can tell at this time he has no idea what is going on, but it seems that he does not believe me that I know what I am talking about either. I tell him boars are very hard to show, that you have to be very careful with them because they can get very aggressive when with other boars. I suggested a gilt would probably be the best for a county 4-H. I also tell him that it is his own personal choice which one he chooses. That most judges will look at the legs and the shoulders and hams on any show pig. He says thank you and then walks away.

As I was making my rounds answering questions to some of the individuals I had went by and heard the guy that I was helping previously say that I did not know what I was talking about “because I was a girl.” I went and said something to my boyfriend Jesse and asked who the guy was. Jesse did not know either so I went and talked to Mike. Well come to find out the guy lives down the road about five miles and did the same thing to Kathy, Jesse’s mom, last year. Mike said that he has a “thing” against women because when he was younger everything he did he was beat by a woman. Kudos to us! :)