The California State Fair has wrapped up. WD was proud to have bred the 4-H Champion Market Hog and the FFA Champion Market Hog. Going into the final drive we had a guarantee win. The FFA Champion, Lindsay Tasos exhibited the Supreme Champion Market Hog.

Following State Fair was our County Fair. Kyle Mendes exhibited the Reserve Champion Market Hog with a WD bred crossbred. This was Kyle’s last year showing so we were very happy for him to have done so well.

Next week I will be heading to the Indiana State Fair….Stacey and the boys will be in Boston and Rhode Island. Her brother is graduating from the Navy and then returning to the Dental program at Tufts. They will be spending the week with him.

Trent will be starting Pre-School on August 25th. Time goes by so fast. He is really excited about going to school. We took him this week and he picked out a matching firetruck lunch box and thermos. Drew is now a year old and still crawling! In no time he will be running around with his brother. Stacey says then they can both go to the farm with me.

I can’t believe March is almost over. We had a busy month….like always! WD participated in the NSR show in Belton, TX. Unfortunately our Landrace boar hurt his leg, so we were unable to show him. He has been in our show barn since he was a baby. Trent called him Chester…even though he was a Landrace. He was very sweet to Trent and they had become pretty good buddies. We did however have a great time in Belton. Most of the shows we attend are considered our “vacation.” We flew in as a family and enjoyed our time away from our daily routine.

When we got home we participated in the CA Pork Producers Show where we exhibited the Reserve Champion Crossbred Boar. Jim McCoy was the judge and ended up taking the boar home with him.

The following week I flew to Mercedes, Texas to judge a show. I was very impressed with the quality of animals there at the show, as well as with the staff running the show. After the show I had the opportunity to speak with a few individuals about our Honor Show Chow feeding program.

Last time I wrote I had mentioned our trips to Chico for Trent. We did take him last month and we had a great report. We will only need to make that trip every two months now. Both of the boys are doing great. Drew is crawling all over the house…usually he just crawls after Stacey crying for her to hold him! Trent was invited to a birthday party in April. He is so excited to go. He has the invitation in his room and keeps telling Stacey that they need to go buy a birthday present.

Continue to check our website or facebook for updates and pictures. I am always available to answer emails regarding feeding or caring of your animal.

This month has flown by! We started the month with an Ambassador trip to San Antonio, TX. We had a great time getting away with the Ambassador’s and other Honor Show Chow friends.

The month continued with jackpots, selling pigs and lots of feeding pigs and cleaning pens. This weekend is the MJC Champion Choice Project Pig Sale. We plan to sell approx 15 hogs in this sale. If your looking for a hog for a June, July or August Fair be sure to stop by. If you can’t make it then I am happy to take a bid for you over the phone prior to the event. The hogs will sell at 1pm at the new Beef Unit.

After the sale we are going to head up North to visit my Mom in Chico and to take Trent to a doctors appointment. He was born very pigeon toed so we have been seeing a special chiropractor for the past several months. As a baby we took him to see three different doctors and they all told us to wait until he was older and his bones had grown stronger. When we were introduced to this doctor, his opinion was that we should have taken care of it as an infant. We started seeing him once a week and now we go once a month. This doctor has made such a difference for Trent. I am sharing this story with you all because we were so disappointed in the run around we originally got and lack of support from our pediatricians. We had never thought to try a chiropractor. It is a long 6 hour drive round trip…but well worth it!!

This past weekend I had a group come to purchase project hogs. The kids were very interested in our program, the hogs, their sires and our feeding program. It was my pleasure to show them around. My wife and I answer emails year round regarding feeding. If you ever have a question about your hog or how to feed it, please feel free to email me with your questions and/or pictures of your project.

In addition, we will be leaving for Belton TEXAS on March 2nd. We plan to take two crossbred boars and one landrace boar. The hogs are looking good and we are excited to participate in this show.

WD will be hosting an online sale this Friday, February 25th. The sale can be viewed at showpig.com and will run from 8 am to 9 pm EST. We are featuring 5 crossbred gilts all sired by Drop Shot. Please take a look at the pictures and call or email me with any additional questions. These hogs are the right age for World Pork Expo, Jackpots, and would make ideal replacement gilts. Ryan: 209-604-2082.

Happy New Year everyone!! We had a great Christmas with our family and friends. Trent is starting to really understand the meaning of Christmas…well in his own way at least. He was so excited to put the tree up and to decorate the house. It was the first year he was excited to sit on Santa’s lap and tell him what he wanted. On the wish list was a big tractor and trailer….he got both!! Drew of course is still too young but he still managed to have a few gifts under the tree….formula and baby food!!

This past year flew by, we are already preparing for our 14th Annual Kick Off Sale. The sale will take place January 15, 2011 at the Stanislaus County Fairgrounds. Honor Show Chow Feed is hosting two educational clinics. A lamb clinic to take place at 9 am with Clay Weber and a hog clinic at 10 am with Bryan Vaughn.

We are really excited about our hogs for the sale this year. Our Drop Shot boar has made quite and impression Nation Wide. The latest being Drop Shot’s son: the $37,000 Crossbred Boar we sold at Fall Classic in Duncan, OK. All of the hogs in the Kick off Sale will be sired by Drop Shot or one of our other service sires. Each hog sold in the sale, and the top 40 lambs will go home with a bag of Honor Show Chow Feed. Thank you to Honor Show Chow for that donation.

For more information about our program please visit our website at www.wdswinefarm.com or give us a call. Ryan is happy to go over the hogs with anyone on the phone or the day of the sale. If you are unable to make the sale, we are also taking bids in advance. We hope to see you all there!!

Our baby boy finally arrived!

Drew Brandon Watje was born July 27, 2010 at 8:57 pm. He weighed 8 lbs 3 oz and was 20.5 inches long.

Everyone is doing great and Trent loves being a big brother.

We just got home from the 2010 California State Fair. Once again W-D and Honor had the Supreme Champion Market Hog, exhibited by Maddie Kiser. We are so proud of Maddie and her family. We would like to thank them for all their hard work and dedication to us and to their project. They always represent W-D and Honor in the best way. As soon as we get pictures we will post them on the website.

W-D also wants to acknowledge Kyle Mendes for exhibiting the FFA Champion Duroc and Kendall Vierra with the FFA Champion Crossbred.

In addition, our nephew Aaron Kerlee showed the 4-H Champion British Steer. Aaron has had his steer for the past year and been feeding Honor Show Chow feed. Aaron also participated in Round Robin at State Fair and won!!!

Our nephew Kyle Kerlee won Round Robin last year at our County Fair and participated in the County Best at State Fair, where he also won this year’s Golden Bear. Congrats to both boys!

We are expecting the arrival of our son any day now. We are all very excited to meet him and will keep you posted with that news.

All four buildings made it to their new home…safe and sound! What an incredible day. After four years of hard work we finally have progress.

We still have a lot of work to do, but this was a major step in the right direction.

The Major League Pig Sale was a success. We had a safe trip and the hogs sold really well. The trip was a family vacation and Trent did so well driving in the car for 36 hours each way! At the sale he helped me feed and water the hogs and sell a few. We were all happy to get home and back to work on moving our farm….which will be happening on Friday!! We will be sure to post pictures of the move.

We have some sales coming up…here is the information. Hope to see you all there!

“Konda’s Show Barn” Sale

Terra-Bella CA (Near Porterville)

Saturday, May 22nd

Preview-9 am

Sale-11 am

Featuring approx 40 hogs for your August/September/October shows.

Other consignors include: Modesto Jr. College and Bar-One Hogs

After that we will be getting ready to take hogs to another sale in Rosenburg, TX for the “Major League Pig Sale”

Saturday, May 29th

Preview-10 am

Sale-1 pm

Please email or call us with any questions regarding the sales. We will be making a few stops in route to Texas so if you need hogs please get in touch with us soon.

wdswinefarm@yahoo.com OR 209.604.2542

Thank you!

Wow..a lot has been going on since I last posted a blog. I got home from San Antonio and my wife had rented out our house in town. We had two weeks to move to our house, which is located on the farm property. I must say moving with a pregnant wife and a toddler…lots and lots of hard work! We are finally settled in our home and working hard at getting our hogs settled in their new home as well.

We recently attended the MJC Champion Choice Sale which was very successful. The MJC staff and students did a wonderful job putting on their sale again this year. It has been an honor for me to be a part of that sale for so many years.

On May 22nd we will be having a sale in Porterville, CA then May 29th we will be in Texas. More information about these sales will be posted on our website as it gets closer.

Some of our major jackpots have been wrapping up and I want to say congrats to all the kids for their hard work. Our customers have been representing W-D very well and we are proud of you. Keep up the good work!