Pigs popular at the fair

COEUR d'ALENE - Pigs have a bad reputation, and not just for stinking. But talking with people who know pigs best, those who raise them and love them, helps others to get past all that.

Take Teresa Balderrama, swine superintendent at the North Idaho Fair at the Kootenai County Fairgrounds. She said pigs are very intelligent animals, who can be fun to be around.

"You can teach a pig just about anything you can teach a dog," she said Saturday. "You can look at their faces and see they're always thinking about something."

Pigs can live up to 20 years, and they never stop growing. They can weigh in the 800-pound range, if they don't become bacon and pork chops too soon.

Pigs aren't really a dirty animal, said Balderrama, of Hayden.

"They'll only mess in one corner of their pen," she said.

And they only wallow in mud to keep themselves cool. They don't sweat. The mud also becomes their sunblock, which keeps their pigskin from getting burned, she said.

Some people see dollar signs in pigs.

They make those who raise them a quick and easy buck. A prospective pig farmer can buy a piglet for $75 to $100, and they'll eventually sell for about $2.25 per pound.

They can grow to 200 pounds in five months, eating about six pounds of food per day. They'll gain a pound for every three pounds of feed.

"That's two pounds a day," she said.

Pigs will eat meat, along with anything else people put in front of them. They could start eating a shirt or pair of pants if someone is standing too close and they squeal for food if ignored long enough.

There are 137 pigs at the fair this year, making them the most common animal at the fair. The pigs there have been entered into either quality or fitting and showing competitions.

Terry Sverdsten, of Cataldo, was out checking on the pigs Saturday night at the fair. He always visits the pigs during the fair.

He raised Chester white pigs when he was a boy, and showed them at the fair in the early 1940s.

"They're very smart and so much fun to be around," he said. "They're so clean. They won't mess in the house."

He's always felt a connection with pigs, he said. He's noticed pigs have some of his own traits.

"They're very nosey," he said. "They always want to know what's going on."

David Beveridge, of Newman Lake, has gotten his two daughters, 13-year-old Kelsey and 11-year-old Brooke, into raising pigs.

"It's academic," he said. "I want my girls to do something like this, rather than hang out at the mall and have boys chase them around."

Which either says a lot for pigs or says little about boys at the mall.

Jason and Annaka Smith of Blanchard also got their kids into raising pigs to teach some life lessons about hard work, responsibility and self reliance.

Jason Smith said, "Your pig pen is only as dirty as your kids let it be."

His son, 10-year-old Blake Smith, said, "They're very nice."

He said he likes petting his pig, Gray.

Blake's sister, 13-year-old Cynthia, has forged a bond with her pig, Gloria. So it'll be hard to see Gloria sold off, knowing she'll be helping others make BLTs.

"Every time I come to see her she talks to me," Cynthia said.

The fair concludes today.