Hog Heaven

By Allison Brophy Champion

Published: July 10, 2008

A lamb bleats in protest as the last of its wooly coat falls to the dusty floor. In the next barn over, cows make a racket, mooing in unison at times.

There are pigs here also, but most of them are still sleeping Thursday morning, opening day at the 2008 Culpeper-Madison-Rappahannock Farm Show.

It smells of earth and animals inside Culpeper Agricultural Enterprises on U.S. 29 and there’s an embedded sense of agricultural tradition.

“I’ve been showing since I was 9,” said 19-year-old Whitney Fincham of Stevensburg. “I do pigs, have done beef too.”

A decade later, what keeps her coming back?

“It’s the people,” said Fincham. “It’s like a big family.”

Local young people and their families have cared for and displayed livestock at the Farm Show for some 50 years now.
In all, about 150 exhibitors will participate in 2008’s five-day event, ending Monday night with a big livestock auction.

All events are free and open to the public with the exception of a draft horse show Saturday afternoon at 1 in the main ring; then, admission is $5 per person.

Away from the morning sun, a slight breeze filtered through the many animal bins Thursday. The atmosphere was welcoming and relaxed though exhibitors stayed close to their prized animals.

J.T. Bailey, 12, wandered off with a friend for a moment, leaving behind an impressively neat pen of pigs, his “Rocky Top Hog Squad,” so named for his family’s Culpeper farm.

“A gilt is a female pig that has not yet had baby pigs,” one sign read, and another, “A boar is a male pig that has not yet been castrated.”

On a nearby fencepost, Bailey had arranged four sets of dog tags, etched with the pig’s names, and four accompanying fluorescent green camouflage helmets. He got the idea for his Hog Squad from a video game.

The pigs, which Bailey has cared for since January, won’t get much bigger than their approximate 350-pound girth, he said, “because they’re not going to be alive much longer.”

He tries not to get too attached to his animals and the rising eighth grader, a home-schooled student, realizes the reality of raising livestock eventually means sale and slaughter.

“It’s kind of hard sometimes because you play with them and stuff. Like this year, these pigs have gotten really attached to me,” Bailey said, running a hand over Captain Bravo’s head.

It’s his fourth year showing pigs at the Farm Show; he’s a member of the 4-H Swine Club.

The best part about the event, Bailey said, is being around his friends — and the animals. He said he’ll sell his hogs Monday, but was unsure how much cash they would bring.

“It all depends. With the economy and how money’s been tight with everyone, it’s kind of hard to say,” he said.

Perhaps he won’t be too sad though when the pigs do sell.

“I’m hoping to buy a dirt bike,” Bailey said with a sidelong glance at mom, standing nearby.

Farm Show Chairman Ricky Bennett told exhibitors at Thursday’s morning meeting to be sure and thank all the buyers.

“Because right now, as ya’ll know, the support is getting hard to find,” he said. “The only other thing I can tell you is just look around and thank your parents for having you here. I know it’s a lot of work all through the year, but it’s not just you the individual, it’s a family effort.”

That’s certainly true for the Gough family of Rapidan.

Thursday morning, mom Melissa, 37, clipped the last of the wool from a market lamb raised by her 11-year-old daughter Makayla.

The lamb, though not in pain, bleated loudly as mom finished the job.

“They don’t like being touched close to their heads,” said Melissa, “but we’re clipping him, getting him slick for the show tomorrow.”

A 1988 graduate of Culpeper County High School, she remembered her years showing livestock at the Farm Fair. Her husband did as well, and it’s a tradition they’ve passed onto their three daughters and son.

“We live on a big farm so they have fun raising the animals,” she said.

It’s also about responsibility.

“That’s the best thing,” said Melissa, who helps her husband raise grain, hay and cattle on the farm. “They know they’ve got to take care of them. They know the animals depend on them.”

Daughter Makayla, a rising sixth grader at Floyd T. Binns Middle School, didn’t have much to say about raising and showing her sheep and pigs other than, “It’s fun working with animals,” including the 14 chickens she cares for daily.

Longtime Farm Show co-organizer Andy Anderson, 4-H leader and a part-time beef farmer from Reva, said the annual event was an “opportunity” for young people to raise animals. It takes hard work and dedication, he said.

“In order for the animal to be successfully raised, they have to take care of it. That means going out and feeding it and doing everything for it,” he said. “If they don’t feed it right, the animal doesn’t grow like it should and when it comes time for showing you can tell the ones that have worked with their animals and the ones that haven’t.”

Like many other adults on site at the Ag Center, fifth generation farmer Jim Eggborn, 52, grew up showing animals at the Farm Show. Now, he serves on the event’s board of directors.

Eggborn brought watermelon to share with exhibitors on opening day. His daughter would show her hogs later.

Farming is an institution for the Eggborns.

“Family’s owned the land up in Rixeyville since 1832,” said Jim. “Very proud of that. Very fortunate to keep it going and I hope the next generation does. Don’t know yet, but we hope he does.”

The drought of recent years brought hard times to the farm, Eggborn said, and with the economy floundering it takes alternative enterprises to keep it afloat.

“Very tough,” he said. “But there’s always one thing in common, like the Bible says: it’s feast or famine. In the time I’ve been farming, same as my father, I’ve had a whole lot more feast than famine.”

Allison Brophy Champion can be reached at 825-0771 ext. 101 or