"This little Piggy went to Market..."

Pig 4H is becoming the norm at this Johnson household.  This year our pig population increased to 4 because we have 3 kids old enough to do 4H and we always buy a spare for our family.  This year we bought our pigs from our friends in Drummond.  Each of our kids pick out their pig of choice and pay for it themselves. The day the pigs were delivered was quite a family event!  Both kids and adults were excited to meet the new "Johnson additions"

One proud "daddy"!

Testing out their new environment.

Testing out their new baby pigs!

I have to admit, I think pigs are cute!

Each year brings new experiences because of new pigs with new personalities!  They come with their personalities just like new babies!  We had some fun highlights this year!  First of all, I became the new pig 4H leader for our group!  WHAT!?!  Do I know ANYTHING about being a pig leader?  UMMM...NO!  If you would have told me 20 years ago when I was in high school that I would be a pig 4H leader I would have fell over laughing!  NEVER in my dreams would I have thought such a crazy idea...but it happened and I learned probably just as much or more as the kids!  It is fun to be involved with my kids though with what they love doing!
This was Kallie's first year!  She was so excited!  She named her pig Charlotte!  Now Charlotte was quite an entertainer this year!  She was a RUNNER and a non-stop runner!  When we would get the pigs out to walk them, Charlotte would take off in a mad dash and would not stop!  The entertaining part was watching Kallie keep up with her!

Usually the pigs will all run at first, but then they get tired and stop.  But not Charlotte!  She ran until the day of the fair!

Malorie's pig, Whitton, got stuck under the barn (trying to sneak out) and got injured so he became our spare.  Bryce became his care taker!

Malorie took our spare, Pepper, and worked with her the rest of the summer!

Conner named his pig "SI"!  That is right-straight from Duck Dynasty!  And Si was hungry and lazy!  All he wanted to do was EAT all of the food and lay around!  But Conner had other intentions for him!  Conner was very diligent and patient teaching that pig to walk and gain muscle!  Every time we would get Si out he would grunt so loud and want back in!

This was my favorite picture!  It looks like we planned it...all 3 pigs with all 3 kids walking back to the barn, but let me reassure you...you CAN'T plan anything with a pig!  They have minds of their own!

Resting after a hard walk around our yard!  Our kids would walk them almost every day.  By the end of the summer when the pigs get this big and ready for the fair they are POOPED after their walk!

Another side note:these pigs were jumpers!  Two of them snuck out multiple times.  We couldn't figure out how they were doing it until we watched them jump OVER the gate!  I really didn't think pigs could "FLY" but now I almost believe it because our gate was high!  They looked like deer leaping over that gate!

The fair was great!  They all worked hard at getting their pigs cleaned and clipped to show at the fair!

Kallie was a little nervous since this was her first year.

Talking to the judge as the judge asks her questions about her pig.

She worked hard and received a BLUE ribbon!

They all got blues in show and quality.  Conner got 2nd in showman out of all of the pigs in his division!

They worked hard all summer and it paid off!  The auction went great and there were a lot of buyers and the kids came home happy with the results!

They also did well on their other entries into the fair and their pig books!

This year Brett talked Mitch into joining him for the annual fair horseshoe tournament!  They were quite competitive!

Their "cheerleaders"!

They didn't win, but I bet they will be back next year ready to get further in the competition!

Fair time is "FUN-TIME", but also a sigh of relief as we say goodbye to pigs until next spring when it all starts over again!