Smart, hardworking kids flock to Iowa for 'big show'
This year's Junior National show at the Expo World Pork Des Moines has a 1812 record entries, an irony, because the number of hog farmers has decreased dramatically nationwide in the last half century.
In Iowa, the nation's leading hog-producing state, the number of hog producers has declined by more than 100,000 in the 1950s to about 8300 today, according to the Ministry of Iowa Agriculture.
Various commentators have lamented the aging of the livestock industry, but you know nothing of the activity in the barn at the State Fair, where children of all ages swarming around the barns to work with their animals.
"I can not explain it," said Chris Brazel of Ligonier, Indiana, to support the growth of young pigs to see his 11-year-old son, Zachary, wash a pig before the show junior. "We have here every year. For us it's like Little League baseball, I guess. "
Brazel noted that "it is a way for children to compete without being able to jump out of the gym.It's about working hard and being smart. It's the right thing. "
Another participant in the show juniors, 18, Simons Tana Tipton, Indiana, brought a golden Yorkshire Pork Expo in its fifth year.
"It's always the big show. You work hard for it, "said Simons.
Jodi Sterle, who teaches animal science at Texas A & M University and works with junior events, noted the growth showing juniors.
"This has always been a family affair," Sterle said. "This is something families do together. You see moms and dads and all the children together.They spend months raising pigs and prepare, then go to the show and competition. It makes families closer. "
The Pork Expo Junior show attracted entries from 26 states and Sterle was not surprised.
"We will have about 26,000 children showing pigs at various shows this summer," Sterle said. "Pork Expo is a wonderful event because it gives children a chance to accelerate from the county or even state fairs."
Many children literally grew up with the Pork Expo.
"We've stayed here every year since 1990," said Randy Tuthill Wyoming, Illinois, Who came with his wife, Angela, and son Trace, 13, and Cade, 11. "We would not miss it."
"Trace was just 6 months when we have him brought to his first show," said Angela, nodding to the young now, as he held out a pig in the barn before Friday Show Open.
The Tuthill are somewhat unusual among the exhibitors at Expo pork because they raise Berkshire pigs for breeding stock to sell in the Chinese market.
Irvings Farm Fresh Berkshire Pork | Get Cooking Edmonton
If I’m cooking with pork, I’m cooking with Irvings Farm Fresh! The quality and range of pork cuts and products from Irvings Farm is without equal in our farmers’ markets and shops. Which is why it’s the pork of choice for so many chefs in town.
A couple of weeks ago I drove out to Round Hill to meet Nicola and Alan Irving on their farm and to take a tour of their operation. Their black Berkshire pigs almost stole the show: they’re friendly and inquisitive, and exceptionally happy in their Round Hill pasture. The Irvings clearly enjoy tending their pigs, and handle them extensively to minimize the animals’ stress. And it shows!
But the Irvings’ own story was the biggest inspiration for me: in just five years their business has grown from sausage-making with bought-in meat to a full-scale farm with its own meat processing facility that services markets and restaurants all over Edmonton and beyond.
Along with their two young children, the Irvings arrived in Alberta, from the UK, in July 2005. And they quickly discovered that the kind of sausages they enjoyed back in England were hard to find in their new home. They were making their start on an acreage in Vimy, when with the help of a neighbour Nicola started learning some sausage-making techniques. By 2006 Nicola was producing the first Irvings Farm Fresh sausages … lean and delicious, without fillers and additives, her sausages were an instant success.
Soon the Irvings were raising their own pigs. They chose Berkshire Pigs from the start. A Heritage variety better known in the UK, Berkshire Pigs yield a premium pork that’s high in flavour and marbled with fat. It’s a rich, delicious, juicy meat that is known as kurobuta , or black gold, in Japan, where it’s prized as much as Kobe beef.
With a growing business, plus pigs of their own, the Irvings soon outgrew their Vimy acreage. So in September 2008 they moved their family, and their farm, to Round Hill. They bought a 78 acre farm with 25 acres of pasture, ideal for their Berkshire pigs. And early in 2009 they opened their brand new meat processing facility too. They’ve continued to invest in this impressive facility, and it in turn has allowed them to expand to a point where they’ve had to hire employees, both full and part-time.
I first discovered Irvings Farm pork at Old Strathcona Farmers’ Market not long after moving to Edmonton in 2009. With my British background, I was drawn to their back bacon and sausages, and to their gammon steaks and hams too. The Irvings’ back bacon is a real treat, and I urge you to try it. It’s cut from the loin, unlike streaky bacon, which is cut from the belly. Cured onsite and vacuum–packed, it has a 4 week shelf-life. But it’s so good that it’s unlikely to wait that long in your fridge!
Berkshire Hog Producers Photos - Bookshelf
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