Fair Pigs?

Ruby and Jaws have been living in the same pen for over a month now.  We haven't seen Jaws show much interest in Ruby yet so we are hopeful that she may come into season this month.  The significance of that can be explained with two words - fair pigs.

Many people who sell fair pigs use AI in order to time their litters.  Others have enough sows that they can guarantee at least a few of their litters will be fair pigs.  We have one sow and one boar.  We have chosen to allow them to mate when it suits them, within reason.  But fair pigs are an awesome thing!

Fair pigs need to be born the end of December or beginning of January so that they are at butcher age the beginning of August (for our fair).  People pay a premium for fair pigs.  Many people actually order their piglets from fancy farms outside of the area - spending lots of money to "buy" their way into ribbons.  Our 4-H group really focuses on the entire experience and most of the kids buy local pigs.  But fair pigs generally go for $150 a piece as opposed to regular butcher pigs that are sold at $75 a piece.

There are a few things that we will have to do to make sure our piglets are good for fair pigs.  First, we will need to make sure that they have access to free-choice grain.  We will build a small creep feeder so that the piglets can eat without momma getting it.  Second, we will work to socialize the piglets from the beginning.  That means spending time with the piglets EVERY day.  Sounds like fun, right?  But remember, it will be January when we start this whole thing.

The biggest benefit for us to have fair pigs is that we have two boys who will be showing pigs next year.  K and M will both be taking pigs to fair and selling them at auction.  In addition, we will have Z raising the backup pigs - so that he doesn't feel left out.  There are always people interested in buying backup pigs at the fair, so we will be able to create a savings account for Z for the following year.  With our pigs giving us fair pigs, we will be able to choose the best out of the litter and not have to purchase piglets from someone else.  I haven't decided whether or not we would sell piglets at $150 or a little less (just because we know how hard it is to afford them for some).  Maybe we will create a scholarship for a piglet.  That'd be cool.