I love competitive people. I really do. You know the ones. They’re the ones at the show that everyone hates, accuses of cheating, make up stories about because they can’t seem to beat them. The ones that outwork, out-hustle and outperform the majority of the folks in the barn. The ones that constantly finish at or near the top. The ones that push the boundaries and inspire show officials to create new rules. Nothing seems to shine the spotlight on the real competitive families quite like the county fair.
Does that competitive fire sometimes result in people crossing the line? You bet it does! That’s why we have drug-testing and other rules in place to ensure that animals are raised ethically with food safety always in mind. Are some county fair rules ridiculous? I am sure there are shows throughout the country with any number of unnecessary and ridiculous rules, often times put in place by well-intentioned officials trying to do something to “level the playing field”. I know often times it seems like the competitive families are being targeted by show rules. I think sometimes though, that isn’t really the case. One needs to keep in mind, especially at county fairs, that resources are often limited. Fair officials need to make sure that every child is afforded the same opportunity to utilize the resources at the fair’s disposal.
In recent times, it’s become a trendy thing at pig shows to set up a grooming pen, similar to what you might find in the cattle or sheep barns. These pens feature a green carpet, LED lights all around, a blower, clippers, paint, adhesive……everything you’d need to make that pig look beautiful. There was one set up across the aisle from our pens at the Southwest Type Conference this year, and it was fabulous! Let’s look at what’s required to do this. First, you need a spare pen. Then you need access to electricity to run your lights, blower and clippers. At major shows, this could be feasible for any participant that chooses to do it. At county fairs however? I would guess that most county fairs don’t have the extra pen space or electrical outlets to allow every family or 4H club to set up a grooming pen. That’s really where “leveling the playing field” comes into play.
If one or two of the competitive families in the barn set up grooming pens, every other family in the barn should have the opportunity to do the same. Now it’s likely that many of them won’t and have no interest in doing so. However there are some that would, but pen space and lack of electrical outlets won’t allow it. Using our own county fair as an example, there is a rule in place prohibiting the use of fans and other electrical appliances. It isn’t meant to be punitive to families that want to take their animal care up a notch. There just simply aren’t any outlets in the barn, no room to put in generators and no way to ensure that pigs won’t munch on an electrical cord. Despite that, there were innovative people in the barn with fans and blowers. While I admire their tenacity, this is a case where the competitiveness led them to cross a line. It’s the kind of thing that creates the “rules don’t apply to me” perception.
Another issue at our own county fair is pen space in the swine barn. Our show numbers are far lower than years past, when we used to have 500 barrows in our show. Back then, every exhibitor had to put two pigs in each pen, and we had to utilize space in the sheep barn as well in order to fit all the hogs in. There were no tack pens. No grooming pens. There simply wasn’t room. Breeding stock was brought to the fair a day earlier, shown and released to make room for the incoming barrows. Now, with only about 300 barrows in the show, there is room in the barn to bring the breeding stock for the week and show them on the same day as the barrows. Even so, there aren’t enough pens in the barn to house only one pig per pen and have tack and grooming pens. Most families need to house 2 pigs per pen. If they weren’t housed together at home or need to be fed separately, pen dividers are used. However as I wandered through the barn one morning, I couldn’t help but notice a couple of 4H clubs that had only a single pig in nearly every one of their allotted pens. Meanwhile the club with the largest swine project, taking up a huge portion of the barn, had two pigs in almost every one of their allotted pens. It’s a recurring theme every year. Some families sign up breeding stock that they don’t have or at least don’t intend to bring, so that their club will be allotted enough pens to ensure they can put only one barrow in each pen. This is done at the expense of the other exhibitors who just bring their two barrows and don’t sign up any fictitious breeding gilts. There have been attempts to curb this with rule changes, but unfortunately I feel the only way to stop it is to go back to a separate breeding show with those animals released before the barrows are brought in. That would ensure that the resources (pen space) can be distributed fairly among all the exhibitors. Since each exhibitor can only show two barrows, it would be impossible to sign up a third to gain pen space. Perhaps it’s too simplistic a solution, and I’m sure there would be someone who would still figure out a way to get extra pens.
The point is that there is a way to be ultra-competitive while still being fair and courteous to the other participants. I was quite pleased to notice that the grand-champion barrow at our county this year came from a family and a 4H club that seems to set the standard at our county fair. Competitive, yet courteous. They’re a big family with a lot of barrows at the show, and every one of them was housed two per pen with a divider between them. There was no grooming pen, no blower, no fans, yet they had that barrow looking great. They didn’t need to push the boundaries or bend/break the rules in order to win the top prize. It makes it really easy to cheer for them, and takes away some of the sting of not winning it ourselves! After all, we’re one of those competitive families too!!