PROCEEDINGS IOWA FAIR MANAGERS ASSN. 167 



We happened to have a pure-bred hog breeder and also a banker on our 

 fair board. The one said he would donate a gilt, the other the cash to 

 buy one. From that start after talking the matter over with the county 

 agent we decided to call on the pure-bred hog breeders of the county and 

 ask their co-operation. The county agent and one of our directors visited 

 thirty-three hog breeders of the county and thirty-two of them gave gilts, 

 only one refusing. One young breeder said, "I think it's about time you 

 were getting to me. I want in on this." 



We did not ask the breeders to give their gilts. We sold them adver- 

 tising. The breeder's name and address, also the fact that he had do- 

 nated a gilt appeared in the County Farm Bureau paper with a circula- 

 tion of 1,500 copies, also in ten county newspapers who were glad to re- 

 ceive anything of this nature as news. Fifteen hunxired premium lists 

 were issued in which the same statement appeared. At the. fair, a card 

 was placd above each pen giving the breeder's name and address. 



The fair management decided to place two gilts in each of the sixteen 

 townships. The 32 gilts were delivered at the fair August 2d, 1920. We 

 held a judging contest by townships. The boy or girl having the highest 

 standing in their township got first choice, the next highest second choice. 

 There were 42 boys and 4 girls entered in the contest. Three of the girls 

 won pigs. The boy or girl signed a contract to care for and breed the 

 gilt to a good boar of the same breeding and return two pigs to the fair 

 association the next year. The sow and balance of the litter then became 

 the property of the boy or girl. 



This year 26 sows and their litters were brought back, six of the sows 

 failing to breed satisfactorily. We had 59 boys and girls in the judging 

 contest this year. We put out our 52 gilts in the same manner as last 

 year. The Rockwell City Fair now owns 58 purebred gilts and next year 

 will have at least one hundred. The Fair Board considered our pig club 

 the best feature we have had the past two years. Our county agent has 

 taken full charge of the club, and his assistant, Mr. Jones, who has had 

 charge of all club work in our county for the last two years, told me that 

 the fair's pig club amounted to more than all the rest of the clubs in the 

 county. 



We have been accused by one authority of taking advantage of the boys 

 and girls. He stated that for the investment of one pig the boy or girl 

 must give us two. We contend that the boy or girl invests nothing but 

 their feed and care. For example, one boy, Lester Michaels, received a 

 gilt at our fair in 1920. In 1921 he brought her back with a litter of eight. 

 He received $22.00 in premiums, and after leaving two pigs with the Fair 

 Association, he sold the six remaining pigs for $176.50. Later he sold the 

 sow with a litter of eight September pigs for $75.00. This makes a total 

 of $273.50 for his investment of feed and care during fourteen months. 

 Another boy won $49.00 in premiums; $36.50 in the open classes. One 

 boy had bad luck. His sow proved barren, and he sold her for $35.00. 

 We settled with him for one gilt which cost him $20.00. This gave the 

 boy $15.00 for his feed. This lad entered the contest again this year and 

 won a gilt. 



