My name is Lauren Miller. I am a 4th-year senior member of San Benancio 4-H, where I hold

executive office as Recording Secretary and raise show pigs. 

Recently, I bought the pig that I will be showing at the Salinas Valley Fair in May from Linda Ferrasci. The Ferrasci’s are a family-owned and operated breeder that most members of my club's swine projects have been going to for the past two years. This year, I ended up with a Hampshire gilt (gilt meaning female pig who has not yet produced a litter) named Mabel. She might be one of my favorite pigs I have had thus far because of her energetic personality. She is such a sweet and well-behaved pig.

As I raise her for the next four months, I have a growing list of responsibilities. At this point, I spot-clean her pen every other day and walk her for 10-15 minutes every day. As time passes, I will have to start portioning out her meals and feeding her twice a day to make sure she stays within the SVF’s required weight range (200 lbs—270 lbs), as well as walking her for longer amounts of time.

As far as walking your pig goes, it’s very different from walking any other animal. To walk your

pig you use a long, stiff whip to tap your pig in certain areas around its body to guide it. The point of this is to train your pig to obey you when you guide it around the show ring at the fair. When training your pig to walk, you want to train them to obey the commands you give them with the whip, maintain a steady and controlled pace, walk with their head up, be able to navigate in and out of gates in a controlled manner, and much more.

The Fair, as well as the weeks leading up to it, are always a very exciting time for those raising

animals. In the weeks preceding the fair, you wash your pig very well and clip their hair in different areas to make it look as clean and presentable as possible.

The weekend before the fair, your swine project will get together at the fairgrounds to set up and decorate your pig's stalls. This is also the day that you would drop off your still projects to be judged. A still project is a physical work such as a photo, piece of art, homemade baked or canned goods, or woodwork that is entered into the fair along with your animals because the fair requires you to enter at least one still exhibit to be able to show your animal.

Early the week of the fair, you bring your pig to the fairgrounds along with your tack to weigh in

your animal. Weigh-in day is when they put your pig on a scale to determine if it is within the required range. If your animal is too heavy or too light, you will not be able to show it at the fair.

Then, a day or two later, there will be the first show of three, where you will show off your animal. The first show is called Market, where the judge will judge your pig based on its physical appearance. The second show is showmanship, where the judge will judge you based on how your pig behaves in the arena and how you handle it. This is the show where you get to show off all the work you’ve been doing with your pig. The third and final show of the fair is the auction, where you show your pig to buyers. 

During the auction, you walk your pig through holding pens according to the lot number you were assigned when you weighed in and wait for your turn to show. When you get up to the arena, you have about 45 seconds to a minute on stage before the auctioneer calls out the final bid on your animal, and it is sold. 

After that you take your pig back to its pen and get to celebrate the past 4 and half months of hard work with your friends and family.

The next day, you take down your pen decorations and your tack and say goodbye to your pig.

Saying that last goodbye to your pig is always bittersweet, but the life lessons, work ethic, responsibility, and sense of accomplishment you walk away with is definitely worth it.