8/6/14 PEDv pushed swine show entry numbers down

  • By Nick Sabo
  • August 6, 2014
  • 386
                        
SUMMARY: Cost of a hog project may have been biggest factor The swine show had fewer entries this year, mainly due to a deadly virus that has driven up the cost of procuring a show animal. In terms of entries, the swine show is the largest show at the Holmes County Fair. Kids can buy a piglet in January and have a 220 pound prize hog by August, in time for the fair. However, just as porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDv) has driven up the price of pork at the supermarket, so too has the price of a show hog gone up, Tim Feikert, a Holmes County Agricultural Society member who is also on the senior fair swine committee, said. Many of the pigs that show at the fair are purchased as projects from breeders who specialize in show pigs, Feikert said, and breeders are having a hard time this year because of PEDv as well. “Pigs to buy are a little scarcer this year. The whole pig population is down due to that virus,” Feikert said. “So, show pigs are more. Of course, you can go to an auction and take your chances. One family here did that and their pigs are looking good.” This year’s show had 158 entries, down from 180 on average in past years. There were no reported cases of PEDv in Holmes County, Eric Strouse, also a Holmes County Agricultural Society member with a seat on senior fair swine committee, said. Strouse said the highly contagious nature of PEDv had the fairboard taking precautions just the same. Instead of bringing all the hog projects in to be tagged at one central location as usual, DNA testing was done at home. Strouse said the lower numbers can also be attributed to the fact that kids in 4-H and FFA are often busy, involved in other summer activities. Members of the junior fairboard said they were unaware of anyone who had planned to do a hog project this year but decided to back out because of cost or other reasons related to PEDv. More likely, there were fewer who decided to add a hog project. Junior fairboard member Leon Williams said the virus was discussed among his club, Doughty Valley, but everyone who wanted to do a hog project were able to. “Our group talked about it, but that was it,” Williams said. “Some were worried their animals would get sick.” As PEDv reached its peak in mid-winter, the fairboard thought about canceling the swine show, Feikert said. “We talked about not even having it, but we wanted to have a show,” Feikert said. “I think most of the kids who showed last year are back this year. You show a pig one year, you’ll be back again.”


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