Friday, July 06, 2007
These pigs fly — down the homestretch
"These are athletes," said an announcer at the Salem Fair attraction. "Don’t kid yourself."
Want to go?
- What: Hedrick’s Racing Pigs
- Where: Salem Fair at Salem Civic Center
- When: Saturday and Sunday
- Time: 3, 5, 6:30, 8:45 and 10:15 p.m.
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The lulling sound of a white box fan hummed quietly.
The Hedrick Racing Pigs at the Salem Fair were resting an hour before race time June 28, opening day.
But something stirred them.
They opened their beady eyes when they heard footsteps come closer.
A man in blue overalls sat next to them. He opened a bag of Oreos and the pigs rolled to their feet.
A few snorted. A couple of them jumped over each other and tumbled. They couldn’t wait. They were hungry.
“They just fight over each other,” said Marcus Lanning, who fed the pigs.
The dozen white, brown and spotted pigs at the Salem Fair had never raced before last week. But they’re in prime shape, their owners say.
They’re eight to 10 weeks old and 30 to 40 pounds each. Any bigger, said race announcer Anna Small, and they wouldn’t be able to run anymore.
“Baby pigs love to run,” she said. “On the pen, they’ll run anywhere. We just harnessed that energy and gave them a direction.”
The piglets don’t need much coaxing. Just a couple of bags of Oreos before and after the race.
They like to run alongside the walls.
“These are athletes,” Small said. “Don’t kid yourself.”
However, the pigs have a relatively short racing life. They’ll race 50 times or so, Small said, or for about three months.
Most of them lead new lives at 4-H clubs in Kansas, where Hedrick Exotic Animal Farm is located.
“The 4-H kids like their big long, lean muscles,” Small said.
She owns a former racing pig named Lily, who is 3 years old and weighs more than 800 pounds.
“She’s ridiculously fat,” Small said.
Minutes before showtime, it began to rain at the Salem Fair.
The pigs didn’t mind. In fact, they preferred it.
But it didn’t rain for long. Lanning booted out four angry pigs out of a maroon trailer to the starting blocks. The dozen pigs competed in three separate races.
He placed numbered straps on their backs and got them ready.
Small introduced them with fake names such as “Britney Squeals.”
The horse racing bugle call echoed through the speakers.
“And they’re off,” Small shouted.
Some of the pigs didn’t know which way was forward. Others followed the metal rails to the finish line.
On a silver platter sat a bunch of Oreos. They ate them and went back into their cages.
