When you load your hogs for the fair, avoid mixing hogs that haven't previously been together in order to avoid fighting. Also, avoid mixing smaller pigs with larger pigs to avoid injury. Either load early in the morning or late at night to avoid hot weather and to keep your hogs from overheating.
If you must load during the day in extremely hot weather, bed your truck or trailer with sand or wood shavings and wet down both the pigs and the bedding to provide a cooling effect on their ride to the fair. Continue to check the pigs periodically on the way to the fair and take measures to make sure the pigs do not overheat during the ride.
Once you get to the fair, bed the pens with wood shavings and allow your animals to rest for an extended period of time. Give your pigs a small drink and leave them alone.
Take your pigs to the wash rack after they have rested and wash them. Give them approximately one-half of their normal feeding and another drink of water. Let them rest the remainder
of the evening and check on them periodically to make sure they are not fighting with other hogs.
Keep the area in front of and around your pens neat and clean to make your animals look their best while on exhibition. Get your hogs processed for the fair with the least amount of stress as possible and you will have a distinct advantage on show day. If your fair allows, take your animals into the show ring and let them exercise for awhile. This will allow the animals to become accustomed to the show ring and also help them to loosen up prior to the show.
