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this was so totally copied from my dA journal. it's a complete review of my week at the fair.

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day 1: weigh-in and cleaning

this day was the moment of truth for me. my pig had been light all throughout the time I'd had him. he started at 14 pounds, when at that time he should've been around 30. for months, I've been feeding him a special mixture of pig food, calf milk replacer, hard boiled eggs, and beer. these things all had the carbs and protein he needed to make weight. not only did he love it, but it worked! my pig weighed in at 233 pounds, surpassing the minimum weight of 220. I was beyond happy! all my work payed off! >3<

the rest of the day was spent washing my pig, preparing him for public viewing and shows. this was his first time being washed, and let me tell you, he HATED IT. oh dear, he screamed SO LOUDLY. x_____x;; I thought my ears would break! I washed him 3 times in one day, each time focusing on different parts of his body. then I spent some time working on his ears with baby wipes, which he didn't mind at all because he was asleep most of the time. XD;;

other eventful things yesterday included my little brother Cody's pig putting my entire knee in his mouth. what. the. heck. I AM NOT EDIBLE LOLOLOL. I also got to meet Cody's "girlfriend". she raises pigs, too, and she's a total sweetie. and I saw the cutest baby goat! he was all soft and fuzzy and absolutely ADORABLE. omg I want a baby goat. ;3; <333

day 2: quality judging + beef + possible return of my almost stomach ulcer

today was my first show, quality judging! this is where you find out just how good your pig is, and for me, a chance to practice for the fitting and showing competition tomorrow.

because my pig is light, I was in one of the very first classes of pigs. there were 10 pigs, including mine, all of a similar weight. when I first got into the ring, my pig took off running because another pig ran. I was thinking, "oh gosh, this is how he's going to be in the show ring? this is horrible!" but boy, was I wrong. after that little stint, he was an angel. he didn't run off again, he didn't stay against the gate, and didn't get into fights. he was more cooperative than I ever expected him to be! I did a great job of standing up straight, smiling, and making eye contact with the judge, something I've had trouble with in past years. in my opinion, I'm going to do AMAZING in fitting an showing.

anyway, I ended up getting 7th place and taking a blue ribbon. the judge said that my pig had good length, but lacked muscle definition. I didn't mind, though. I never expected to go very far in quality. while I was raising my pig, I was more focused on getting him up to weight than getting him all muscle-y. I'm happy with the outcome of this show!

later I watched the beef show. it was very interesting! I really want to raise a steer in the future, and this is a great way to learn about them. a lot of the steers were crazy, probably because of the weird weather we had today, and I saw quite a few kids get dragged around by their animals. still, I learned a lot!


day 3: fitting and showing + I'm awesome + icky weather

this was the day I had a feeling I'd do well in after my performance in quality judging... and I was right!

even though I was in one of the later classes, my day still started extremely early. and man, the weather was HORRIBLE. it was all rainy and gross, and generally a bad day for a show. luckily, the show is inside, but still, rain makes it hard to wash the pigs (the wash racks are outside). I had my coffee, then helped my brother put fresh bedding in the pen and gave the pigs food and water. after that, it was cleaning time yet again. my pig hated it just as much as before. D:

I watched my brother in his show. he made it into the finals, taking 1st place in his class. then I prepared myself for the show. I got all pretty and stuff, and put the finishing touches on my pig. X3

my pig and I showed to the best of our ability, and like my brother and his pig, we got 1st place! we made it into the finals!

after that I watched some of the other classes, and then watched the beef fitting and showing, which was a lot of fun.

the finals were fun, not overly stressful, and very challenging. we didn't place in the top four. my pig was tired and didn't want to move. I had no trouble getting him to stop and set up, but after that he just wanted to stand there and eat pine shavings. XD;; I don't blame him; we'd had a long day.

my brother didn't place in the finals either. in the end, both of our pigs did exactly the same in both classes. only in his finals, his pig wanted to move a bit too much, while mine didn't want to move at all.

even though we didn't place, my pig is still a champion in my eyes!

day 4: free time + fair food + where the hell did my shovel and broom go?

this was the day where I just got to relax and enjoy the fair. pretty uneventful. I took a few well-deserved naps after the pigs were taken care of. between naps, I wandered around the fair (thankfully, the weather was nicer than the previous days). I ate some fair food. namely, the berry-kabobs. I had one that had strawberries covered in white and milk chocolate~ it was delicious! >3<

this was also the day that started the trend of stealing my broom and shovel. seriously, people need to quit doing that. D<

day 5: auction + CHICKENS + Budweiser Clydesdale's

that morning was the auction. I got a good amount of money, considering how bad the economy is. $2.60 a pound. I did the math, and subtracting my expenses, I made about $350. ;3

after that, I looked around the fair some more. I looked at the chickens, and they are, in my opinion, some of the cutest animals ever~ I want to raise a chicken for the fair next year!

I also saw the Budweiser Clydesdale's. they're the biggest horses I've ever seen! and they're so pretty, too. <3 they weigh, like, 2000 pounds. o____o that's, like, as big as an elephant!


day 6: hypnotized + disappearing broom AGAIN + bye-bye piggy

this was the last day of the fair. while I was glad it had almost ended, it was sad, because that meant I had to leave my pig forever. ;3;

that afternoon, I got hypnotized on stage! seriously, it was amazing. I don't remember a whole lot of what happened, but apparently I danced and sang to the spongebob theme song and fell asleep on multiple people (they fell asleep on me too lol). I surprised myself by going up on stage. normally I wouldn't have the courage to do that. it was so much fun, though! after the hypnotism was over, I felt really refreshed, like I'd just had a really good night's sleep. o3o

people kept on stealing our stuff. we managed to find our shovel, but we never found the broom. :/ why would someone steal a broom, anyway?

the rest of the day was depressing. I had my parents get my pig loaded up for me, because I knew that if I had to do it, I'd cry. :C after the pigs were loaded out, we tore down the decorations and pens and headed home. then we had dinner. yum yum.