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77 °F Forecast | Road Cams Thursday, September 16, 2004 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal How To Guide Wellness Connection Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Rogue Valley's Finest EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People MARKETPLACE Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Classifieds Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend July 22, 2004 Elizabeth Niedermeyer, 16, of the Applegate, keeps an eye on the judge while she leads pig Stitch through the 4-H Swine Showmanship. The judge can signal a correctable flaw on a pig by the merest of glances. Mail Tribune / Jim Craven A big day for pigs Oinks were the dominant chatter during swine showmanship judging at the Jackson County Fair By BILL VARBLE Mail Tribune The Barker Barn is a world of pigs — pigs dozing in the dirt, pigs with names like Lester and Waggles and Babe being driven with sticks or turned with hand-held "crowder boards," pigpens tagged with club names like the Table Rock Rooters, the Mudjestic Swine, the Wagner Valley Pig Punchers. There is a chorus of oinking. There is no bad smell. Now and again the soft oinking is broken by a cry of "Pig coming!" as 250 pounds of berserk porker goes squealing and slamming through the aisles. Elizabeth Niedermeyer is at home here. The 16-year-old grew up on her family’s farm near Applegate, lived around pigs her whole life, has entered a pig in the Jackson County Fair for the seventh straight year. She says her entry, a blue butt named Stitch, is a good pig. "Pigs are a lot like people," she says. "They’re smart and cute. It’s like training a dog." Advertisement Entering a pig in the fair is a lot like life: challenging, sometimes fun, sometimes sad, and — if you’re paying attention — full of lessons. Rachel Myren, 42, is a neighbor of Elizabeth’s family, but her history differs sharply. While the Niedermeyers have raised pigs here for 100 years, Myren and her daughter Heidi Chatham, 16, moved to the Applegate Valley from Santa Rosa, Calif., a year ago. "We had enough of the city," she says. "We always wanted to live on a farm." Stitch and Elvis Oswald Jr., Heidi’s pig, also a blue butt, share a crowded pen with a Hampshire, or Hamp, named Sarah Jessica Porker. Pigs are intelligent and clean by nature, Elizabeth (and any pig person) will tell you. And highly individual. A pig can be passive or aggressive, nervous or mellow, happy or sad, inquisitive, even moody. "He’s been good," she says of Stitch. "He’s calm. Some pigs are psycho." Stitch, in fact, might be dreaming, his big snout on the cool dirt, his pink tail dangling as he catches some beauty rest. Stitch and his porcine pals in the Applegate Swine club were born in January. They now weigh 220 to 270 pounds. They cannot dream that their short, pampered lives are about to end. Their fates will be sealed when they are sold at auction Wednesday night for about $200 to $700 each. They are not bought to be pets. Pigs are shown three times at the fair, once for showmanship, once for market and finally for sale. The showmanship event, held Wednesday morning, is a complex interplay of person, pig and judge. It appears at first like a large number of scrubbed-looking young people with sticks driving a large number of scrubbed-looking pigs aimlessly around the floor of the Olsrud Pavilion. But what kids are doing is trying to control their pigs and show them off to best advantage in front of a judge — with style. But despite or maybe because of their vaunted intelligence, pigs have minds of their own. Judge Scott Williamson, a professor of animal husbandry at California State University at Fresno, projects a no-nonsense attitude. "A stick is not a whip to drive the pig," he tells the young farmers. "It is an extension of your arm." The idea is to keep your pig in front of Williamson, close enough to be seen, but without getting within, say, 10 feet of the far-sighted judge. "I’m not seeing any pigs," he tells an early group when pigs shy away. He faults contestants for coming too close, for having dirt on their pigs, for not making eye contact. The reason he’s a tough taskmaster, he says, is to help these kids get better. Back at the Barker Barn, Elizabeth readies both Stitch and herself for the showmanship trial. As much as she loves farm life and animals, she’s not planning on going into farming. "My dad gets up at 4 and works until 9," she says. "And it’s tough financially." "These people would give you the shirt off their backs," Myren says. "But there’s never enough time, never enough money." Pigs like Stitch, used to just a sponge bath at home, get daily hose baths at the fair. Stitch has been shaved and sports his summer do of short bristles. A pig with all four hooves on the ground, he prefers Suave, a cheap shampoo, to the fancy stuff. Elizabeth will put a ribbon on his tail for the auction, but not showmanship. Heidi will put a bow tie on Elvis. Rachel Myren braids Elizabeth’s hair. Elizabeth gets nervous. Stitch chills. Elizabeth uses a stick to guide him to a bath stall, hoses and shampoos him with a whitening shampoo. He shakes like a dog, water flying. He is so good it’s like the best bath Elizabeth has ever given to a pig, she says. Back in the pen he waits with a wet towel on his back like a boxer before a fight. Elizabeth has changed from shorts to jeans and a Western shirt. The tension mounts. Then the public address system calls class three senior showmen, Elizabeth’s category, and a dozen grunting pigs are driven into a chute that funnels them into the arena in front of the judge and the crowd. There is cheering, then hunkered, fiercely concentrating figures driving pigs around the arena while trying for eye contact with the judge. Williamson may signal a correctable flaw like dirt on an animal by the merest of glances, so it’s about paying attention. Stitch seems to shy from the judge. Not good. Then he’s shying from other pigs, going against the flow, a Wrong-Way Corrigan of blue butts. He steps on Elizabeth’s foot. Maddeningly, he seeks out the arena corners. Siberia. Pigs get smarter the second day of competition. Who wouldn’t rather be back napping in a nice cool pen? Late in the round Elizabeth manages to maneuver a reluctant Stitch in front of Williamson twice with eye contact. It is too little too late. "I thought he was going to do real good, but he just didn’t do it," Elizabeth says back in the barn. Still, Stitch gets a blue ribbon, as does Elvis, a sort of honorable mention entitling them to be in the auction. Apparently unconcerned with his performance, Stitch happily wolfs down what figures to be his last box of blueberries in this life. Elizabeth will put the money she gets from selling Stitch into her college fund. But first she’ll say good-bye. "It’s really sad," Elizabeth says. "It’s like a best friend. I’ll pet him. Probably give him a little hug. "But I get over it in a couple days." Reach reporter Bill Varble at 776-4478 or e-mail [email protected] Today’s fair schedule 8:30 a.m.: FFA and 4-H Market Steer Judging, Olsrud. 9 a.m.: English Equitation, Isola. Noon: Brothers/Jugglers, Dinner Theater. 1 p.m.: Birds of Wonderment, Fountain Plaza. 2:30 p.m.: Ask Me Later, Fountain Plaza. 3 p.m.: Southern Oregon Idol Contest, Chaisson Park; Brothers/Jugglers, Dinner Theater; Meat Goat Showmanship, Olsrud. 4 p.m.: Birds of Wonderment, Fountain Plaza. 4:30 p.m.: Suzy Haner, Dinner Theater. 5 p.m.: Rogue Valley School of Gymnastics/Cheerleading, Fountain Plaza; Hunt Seat Tryouts, Isola; Market Goat Classes followed by Breeding Classes, Olsrud. 6 p.m.: Brothers/Jugglers, Dinner Theater; Hunt Seat Classes, Isola; Gunny Sack Races, Fountain Plaza. 7 p.m.: Select Grand Champion Market Steer, Olsrud; Mother/Daughter Look-A-Like Contest, Fountain Plaza. 7:30 p.m.: Left of Centre, Headline Stage; Suzy Haner, Dinner Theater; 4-H Club Steer Herd Selection, Olsrud. 8:30 p.m.: Richard Marx, Headline Stage; Skibber & Zip, Fountain Plaza. 9 p.m.: Beau Berry Band, Fountain Plaza; Bridge Boys, Dinner Theater. 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