108 Forty Years' Experience of a Practical Hog Man. 



animals on exhibition. This would avoid any unpleasant- 

 ness between exhibitors or between the exhibitor and the 

 judge. 



It is pretty hard for an experienced judge to step into a 

 ring of pigs showing in the under- six-months class and find 

 most of them of proper size and development, and others 

 showing by their* general make-up that they are far be- 

 yond six months old, even being old enough to show well 

 developed tusks, which every man knows are not developed 

 until after the pig is six months of age. The judge who 

 knows his business, while not inclined to quarrel with the 

 exhibitor over the age of his pigs, will quietly ignore them, 

 not considering them eligible to the class. This, of course, 

 generally causes the exhibitor to complain when he should 

 be quietly informed that his pigs are out of their class 

 owing to age, and unless he can prove by certificates of reg- 

 istry, properly signed by the Eecord Association, he 

 should not be allowed in the ring. For this reason I would 

 urge every prospective showman to always start out fully 

 prepared for such emergencies. Many is the time that 1 

 have asked the exhibitor, while acting as judge, the age of 

 his animal; he generally has an answer ready, and when 

 asked' if he has his registry papers with him, he replies 

 that he has them at home, but forgot to bring them, and 

 after passing around the ring once or twice, I again ask 

 the gentleman, "What did you tell me the age of this ani- 

 mal is?" and he would give an age entirely different. I 

 have done this on purpose to find out if the man was telling 

 the truth. You know it has been said that it takes an aw- 

 fully smart man to be a liar. 



Again, where registry papers are not absolutely insisted 

 upon, many exhibitors are inclined, when asked the age 

 of the under-a-year animals, to give you the date of Sep- 

 tember 1st to 3d, as their date of birth, and those in the 

 under-six-months class from March 1st to 3d. This of 

 course has to be taken by the judge as a fact, however much 

 he may feel it is not correct. 



This matter of showing pigs of uncertain ages is some- 

 what in disrepute. It simply puts the man that is doing 

 business right, up against an almost impossible chance of 

 winniii,^-, where older pigs than should be admitted to the 



