our first stock show

baylee has been raising a pig for his first stock show. he decided he wanted a duroc, how he knew the different kinds was beyond me. but, he knew what he wanted and that is what we got. luckily for us since we were new to this whole ordeal, a guy lee works with LOVES this kinda stuff. so, tyler was on the look out for a duroc. at the end of october we became the proud owners of a pig.

a pig named doug. doug's mom weighed about 1,000 pounds. so when we got this cute little 50 pound (i think that was about his original weight) pig, i made sure that all 3 of the boys got in the pen with him so he could get used to them. there is not telling how big he could get. so the boys played with him everyday when we'd go check on him.

and doug ate a lot. and he got big. and on january 23rd baylee showed doug in their first (and for doug his last) stock show.

i never in my wildest dreams would have guessed how much work goes into showing a pig. payton and tayte had a good ol' time hanging out at the ag barn.

payton was so excited because his best friend "coltkeys" had a sister showing pigs too, so they ran all over the place in hog heaven.

tayte turned into a monkey and every time i looked at him he was climbing on the bars, just swinging away.

so, we (and by we i mean lee) moved doug from the pens to the ag barn on thursday afternoon. thursday evening we (this we is baylee and lee) had to wash doug. baylee washed his sides and that was about it. which makes me wonder how well he is bathing himself? anyway, he wouldn't really scrub anywhere else all that great, so lee grabbed the brush and got the rest of doug presentable. now, we wait so doug can be weighed.

getting 113 pigs weighed was interesting to watch. people standing arounding, people opening/closing pens for the coming and going of the pigs, others driving pigs, and pigs driving people. controlled chaos. doug weighed in at 218 pounds. and ended up in the lightweight class. he was 5 pounds shy of the heavy weights. so both classes were really close. after that it was just a waiting game.

friday they showed all other animals, so it was just a matter of making sure doug ate and had water. and then that evening they clipped him. i guess it never dawned on me that you should give a pig a haircut (there isn't a book about that, lol), but you do. and that was an experience. some people just cut their pigs hair in the pen they are in. tyler suggested we don't do that because it can poke him when he lays down and irritate his skin. we don't want to have a pig with irritated skin now do we. so we (and by we i mean lee and tyler) took doug to the cage set up for clipping. and snouted him. since, i didn't know what this meant i'm sure someone reading this won't know either. you take a rope and wrap it around the upper part of his snout, and pull real snug. then you take the other end and tie it to the end of the cage. and pigs don't really like this. so doug squealled. a lot. and finally after he calmed down some tyler cut his hair. baylee did about 2 swipes and wasn't so good at it and tyler took over again.

so, saturday morning baylee showed his pig. he walked around keeping doug moving. he did a great job. and if you were like me and have never been to a stock show you really have to pay attention to the judge because he is sneaky. he walks up to a kid and puts the number of fingers out that tells what place they got. and i'm not sure if he gets low because it's a bunch of kids but, it's almost like he is trying to hide his hands. anyway, baylee got first in his class. he was so glad. that meant he got to show again after the second class of durocs.
since he got first they put you in a holding pen like this waiting to show again. and this thing is big enough for one pig and one kid. nothing more, nothing less. and while we waited one of the pigs tried to climb out of there. i never knew pigs could climb, but they can.

baylee showed for best of breed and WON. he was grinning from ear to ear. and someone told me that the 1st place from the light weight class rarely beats the 1st place from the heavy weight class. but, really it was just 5 pounds difference between classes.

and baylee's first showing was in class 5. there were 20 classes. so now it was a waiting game again.

baylee got to show again for grand champion. well, i heard a hundred times that durocs never win grand champion, so i wasn't holding my breathe. and the judge never really even looked at doug during this round. as soon as baylee and doug got in the showing area, doug and another pig to into it. so the guys with the big red boards separated them. and it was downhill from there for baylee and doug. doug kept trying to get out of there, i don't blame him he was attacked by another pig. at least that's my version. so the guys with the red boards kept hitting him with their board and pissing him off. and poor baylee couldn't get enough strength to push him away and get him walking.

and with all those pigs it was mass chaos. everyone of them trying to get their pig over in front of the judge. looking pleadingly at him.

but, for his first show baylee did a fabulous job. and he even wants to show again next year.

i now i have 3 boys who are way to attached to this pig. friday night they all 3 were in their beds crying because they didn't want to "lose" doug. crap.

tara