Raising a Hog for the County Fair

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Garrett Price is raising a hog for his first time this year.  He’s raising it for competition at the Angelina County Fair in just over a month.  

Garrett Price is 13 and in the 7th grade at Central Junior High. He enjoys science, being outside and fishing. This is his second year in 4-H and his first year showing a hog. Garrett says his favorite part is seeing his project grow and develop. 

Obviously his least favorite part is cleaning the pen.

Garrett Price just after selecting his hog, Blackjack, to raise for the Angelina County Fair. Blackjack is now close to 200 lbs. and can be seen at the George H. Henderson Jr. Expo Center on Friday, April 21.

His mom Jennifer Jones says her favorite part of my kids participating in Youth Fair is watching their excitement the day of the show after all the hard work they have put into their projects.

“I hope they take away a love of animals and a work ethic that they will take with them as they grow into adults,” she said.

There are 118 other exhibitors such as Garrett that are raising their own swine project. This is by far the largest livestock division in this year’s County Fair. Raising and showing a champion pig requires dedication, hard work and a little luck.

Pigs raised for this year’s show were entered and received an ear tag on Saturday, Jan. 14 at the George H. Henderson Jr. EXPO Center. From that point until the hog show on Friday morning, March 21 youth exhibitors and their families have been carefully feeding and raising their project.  

Exhibitors usually select their animals when the pigs are eight to 10 weeks old and weigh from 40 to 80 pounds. The challenge is to try to predict what that feeder pig will look like at market weight, which is about 250 pounds or six months of age.

Once at home, pigs are given prime attention. The most important nutrient is clean water. Checking the water is a daily task. Nutrients and feed intake are monitored closely and there is lots of competition among feed companies to provide the best blended feed to raise a champion.

Garret’s pig, named Blackjack, didn’t weigh much over 50 lbs. when he purchased her, but now is close to 200 lbs.  

Hogs may weigh no less than 220 lbs. and no more than 270 lbs. at the official weigh-in. Entries that fail to meet these weights will be disqualified.

Exhibitors practice walking them with a “bat” or “whip” which they use to tap on the shoulders to direct which way the hogs will walk in the show ring. While it may look like chaos with pigs meandering around, the better showmen will keep their hog in front of the judge much longer than others so that they may get a better look.

The Angelina County Fair allows exhibitors to show either a barrow (castrated male) or gilt (young female). If you watch the show, you’ll notice that gilts are heavily favored in the competition and, as such, are shown by most everyone. Garrett’s hog Blackjack is a gilt.

The judge will be looking at several aspects before placing the class. You will hear him speak of things like: soundness, condition, muscling.

In order for Blackjack to place high enough to make the auction, he will need to move around easily, have the right level of condition (read “fat cover”) and have plenty of dimension down her top and in her ham.

Garrett and the other exhibitors in the hog show will compete on Friday, April 21 at 8 a.m. in the morning. Only the top 56 hogs will be sold at auction on Saturday, April 22.  

Cary Sims
Cary Sims is the County Extension Agent for agriculture and natural resources for Angelina County. His email address is cw-sims@tamu.edu Educational programs of the Texas AgriLife Extension Service are open to all people without regard to race, color, sex, disability, religion, age, or national origin.

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