It’s crunch time for the students participating in the
Healdsburg Future Farmers Country Fair, and at the Bucher family
dairy, three young women are working feverishly to make sure their
hogs will be ready for the big day.
Hannah Bucher, Jannalee Lopez, and Kelli Menghini each raise
hogs on the Bucher property. In total they have 5 barrows (neutered
males) and 1 gilt (female).
The students—two sophomores and a junior at Healdsburg High
School—have been raising the hogs since February. “At first, they
were really little, only 50 pounds or so,” sophomore Hannah Bucher
said. “It was pretty relaxing, just feeding them out of a
bucket.”
But now that the fair is approaching, the weight of the hog
becomes all-important. A hog must weigh at least 220 pounds to
qualify for the auction and that weight only qualifies the hog for
the lightweight class.
Ten days before the official weigh-in, Bucher’s gilt weighed 195
pounds. “I didn’t expect to have weight problems,” Bucher said.
Three pounds of feed generally equals one pound of weight gain for
the pig. Bucher had been weighing her hogs, calculating the amount
of feed required to reach the proper weight, and feeding them
accordingly, so she was surprised when her gilt came up short.
“Now we’re basically feeding her as much as she can eat,” Bucher
said.
Junior Kelli Menghini’s hogs were well over the required 220
pounds, with one likely to fall in the midweight and one likely to
fall in the heavyweight class. Still, she agreed that the last
month was the hardest.
“You definitely spend a lot more time with the pigs the last
month,” Menghini said. “You have to get the scale out once or twice
a week, and watch your weight really closely. And you have to
organize all the supplies that you’re going to need for the
fair.”
Sophomore Jannalee Lopez agreed. “We’re actually cutting the
food down a little,” Lopez said. “One’s around 265 pounds now, and
I want to be able to see his muscle.”
Weight isn’t the only thing these young women have to worry
about: they also have to train their two-hundred pound pigs to walk
for the judges with only a cane or stick to guide them.
“I just use the cane to tap them behind the ears,” Bucher said.
Menghini uses a length of PVC pipe, which weighs less than a cane
and is easier for her to maneuver, enabling her to guide them with
a light, quick touch.
As the days count down, the workload increases and time
management becomes tough. Lopez, who also plays softball and
babysits, said that she spends approximately two and a half hours
every day walking, training, washing, and feeding her two Hampshire
barrows.
Bucher sometimes felt the sting of long days. “It’s hard when
you get home late after a softball game and you still have to go
take care of the hogs,” she said.
“But I’ve learned so much about worming them, feeding them, and
weighing them.”
The students don’t slack on schoolwork or sports, so social time
is the first thing to go. “I haven’t seen my friends in like two
weeks!” Menghini said. “But I’m excited and ready for the
fair.”
The fair, which tends to fall right before finals, will be a
work heavy weekend for all of the participants. The students will
be busy disinfecting their stalls before the animals even arrive.
Then, once the animals are safely checked in on Wednesday morning,
the real work begins: cleaning the pen every day, making sure they
have access to fresh food and water, shampooing the pigs to ensure
that they will be picture perfect for the judges and auction, and
then actually showing the animals.
While it’s full of work, the fair atmosphere is one of
friendship and community.
“Basically, you watch each other’s backs,” Menghini said. “If
someone hasn’t fed their pig yet and it’s 9 o’clock, you help them.
We all help each other out.”
While at the fair, no parental help is permitted, but parents
often play a big role in the days leading up to the fair.
“Kelli doesn’t drive yet,” Bob Menghini, her dad, said. Since
the Menghinis live in town, Bob drives her out to two different
locations to tend to her four hogs. (Kelli is also raising two hogs
on a separate property for the Sonoma County Fair.)
The driving alone takes half an hour every day, and Bob’s
chauffer skills are essential. But Bob is quick to give Kelli
credit. “Anything that needs to be done, she does it all,” he said.
“It definitely teaches responsibility. Animals can’t feed
themselves. You have to take care of them,” he said, and looked
proudly at his daughter.
