Late Nights-Early Mornings and Anticipation

All year these kiddos have been working for something.  Looking forward to it.  Talking about it.  Planning for it.  Snapping about it. Anticipating it.....The Illinois State Fair 2016.

It's our little tradition to pack our trailers and trucks and campers and hotel rooms full of food and stuff, moms and dads and lots of kids.  And lots of food.  Did I say lots of food?  Lots of kids eat lots of food.  We set up shop at the Illinois State Fair!

Yes, it's about showing the animals that we have been working on.

Yes, it's the big crescendo before school starts.

Yes, it's fair food, and 4H milkshakes.

But a big part of it is these 9 kids right here and how blessed they are to have each other in their lives.

See, their moms have been friends for at least 167 years.  There dads were all AGRs (fraternity boyzzzzzz) and friends (2 at ISU and one U of I alum, but an AGR is and AGR:) 

  You see, this crew, we are deep and wide and long.  A win for one is a win for all.  Likewise a tough loss for one in the ring echos through the camp.

These kids rush from the cattle show ring to the sheep and over to the swine ring watching each other do their thing. Each willing to wash, carry or trim or lead the other's animal if needed.  Each loving each other in a genuine, unpretentious way that makes their mamas and daddies proud.  

Friends since birth.  Through thick and thin.

YEAH!  IT'S ALMOST HERE!!!  

ISF 2016!!

SSS

(Sorry so sappy, I blame it on these photos we shot last year that keep popping up.)

10 Things Everyone Should Know About Pigs

Today, I thought I'd share a real, just as it is,  shot at life with a small herd of show pigs.  

 

1. Showing pigs is addictive, just as a warning, if you try, you might just love it! 

2. Our show pigs are always born in January or February of the show year and shown in the summer.

3. Our pigs ultimately end up in our freezer come fall.

4.  Show pigs have a good life.  They are cared for very, very well.

5. We don't breed our own pigs, but buy them in the spring and sell them for meat or breeding in the fall. We let someone else, who loves to go out in January and February to care for a ginormous grouchy sow as she gives birth to 152 babies (not really 152, but many) have that pleasure.

6. Pigs each have their own personalities with likes and dislikes as well as eating/drinking/pooping habits.  Like human babies, eating/drinking/pooping = important to monitor.

7. Show pigs make for some fantastic bacon on a lazy Saturday morning in January when breeders are schlepping water to a ginormous sow laying under a heat lamp with 152 babies. I'm gorging myself with thick, black pepper laden slices of bacon.  

8. Our show pigs make some great convenience food when I cook a pork burger in 7 minutes flat to feed MY 152 babies and their friends.

9. Pigs prefer to drink from a nipple system in their pens.  (I should post some pictures of that.  Pink curly pigs' tongues around that nipple contraption is a funny thang!) Also, the word nipple makes me giggle.  

10. Pigs like you to scratch their bellies, rub behind their ears and lay with them in their pens, while the fans blow on the two of you. 

11. (Bonus) Pigs are smart.

My oldest son was playing hide and seek at the 4H fair with his buddy.  I think hiding next to a 250 lb hunka hunka of love is a great hiding spot, don't you?  Thanks to my good friend for catching the moment with her camera.

 

This is Boss Hogg. We heart Boss Hogg.  He is a gentle giant.  He loves the kids.  He is kind.  He is big.  He is pink.  (technically he is white, but it's my story, he is pink.) 

 

Show Em Your Piggies

Oh the joys of living in the country.  Hog Shows. Swine Shows. Pig Shows.  Whatever you call them, they are a blast. This is our oldest and she wanted to show pigs a few years back.  What's any good set of parents to do, but dive in!

When you show pigs you need MANY items to get going.  One of these things is "bling bling" jeans and a shiny belt.  For the record, this belt doesn't cut the mustard, but is going to have to do (says mom.) Look at that cool clip to clip of her number, yup, gotta have one of those special clips too!!

We are at national show here that is held at the Illinois State Fairgrounds. There were over 1000 pigs here for this event.  Pretty awesome I'd say!  The temperature is 102 so that's rough on all these pigs who are already out of their element by being at the show, but you know what? PIGS DON'T SWEAT!  So you gotta keep them cool or they keel over.  Read---very bad deal for show pigs to die! 

Look at all of those fans!  The barns weren't really all THAT hot, with all of the fans going.  The kids and adults were very, very busy watering down and washing off the pigs to keep them cool during this heat.  

The picture above is just one of the reasons we dove into this pig showing business.  Daddy and daughter sweating it out, working hard, taking care of something outside of themselves.  We walk, feed and wash these pigs 2-3 times a day.  That's what SUMMER BREAK is for us. You know what, we love it!  It's teaching hard work and responsibility and animal husbandry.  Love it.

 The show ring is the center of it all.  We primp, wash, clip, spray, feed, water, walk, exercise and weigh the pigs in anticipation of the moments spent in the ring.  The showmanship is important too.  Presenting the pigs just so to the judge.  Such a fun dance it all is! We don't have the best of the best hogs.  We are just beginners, but we are still competitive even at a big show like this.  At county fairs, now that's more comfortable territory, but it is all great!

Little man is always right there in the heat of it all.  A pig bit his tiny arm this summer trying to eat the marshmallow he was holding. Luckily he just had a little bruise on his arm, but he was m.a.d. that the pig slobbered on his flip flop.  Though he will tell you each time he sees a pig in a picture book: "pig bite you," that doesn't stop him.  He's in it to win it.  Or maybe I should say, he's in it because we are.  Slopping the hogs with dad looks fun doesn't it?

Though the middle guy doesn't want to show pigs this year, and didn't want a pig of his own, he is there to help.  (A bit of parenting advice from me: buy your kid a hog sprayer like this.  I mostly only see orange ones, and it's probably not safety tested but it's worth HOURS of entertainment for kids of all ages.)  We are making this a true family event, where we all have a role, we all work hard, we all take care of the livestock and each other.  Most of all why we love it...we are doing it together!