DES MOINES, Iowa – Hundreds of hogs filled the pens in one of the barns on the Iowa State Fairgrounds and hundreds of young people from across the United States competed for ribbons at the World Pork Expo’s Junior National Swine Show.
This show happens every year, but a few weeks ago some doubted it would go forward as the H1N1 outbreak sent worry through the world and the hog industry.
But the expo stuck with the show after embracing beefed-up veterinary requirements and deciding that there was no reason to back away from it.
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That gave Cody Holmes of Labo, Kansas, a chance to win first in class for his crossbred pig.
“It felt good,” said Holmes.
People bringing pigs to the show had to get extra documentation from veterinarians at home and have them inspected by veterinarians on-site before the animals could be unloaded. Every pig was checked twice for signs of illness.
Veterinarian Shawn Nicholson was working at the unloading gate to the barn, checking in animals that were arriving.
“We had a lot of help, checked in a lot of hogs and healthwise everything looked good,” said Nicholson, a vet for the show since 2001.
Allan Holmes, Cody’s father, said he understood the need for rigorous vet checks at the show.
“An outbreak would be just catastrophic,” said Holmes. “We all understand this.”
The junior swine competition is popular with Iowa’s small hog producers and with youth from farms across the United States. Many farm youths raise a hog as part of a Future Farmers of America project and learn husbandry by raising hogs to be judged at national competitions.
The show has drawn some criticism from commercial hog farmers in past years, thousands of whom attend the World Pork Expo. They keep their distance from other producers’ hogs for fear of disease transmission.
The barns are filled with pig dung, straw and snorting pigs and there’s no real biosecurity other than the vet checks. For some hog producers, this show is the only way to see other hogs.
It drew visitors from as far away as Taiwan, the Philippines and Mexico.
