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!

Hello everyone…I am home from judging San Antonio and I’m finally getting a chance to update you all on how things are going. My family and I had a great time in San Antonio. The show was very impressive. It was such an honor to be asked to judge that quality of animals for the youth of Texas. I must say my wife and I were amazed with the participation. To see such a large number of youth involved in such a great activity was wonderful. Thank you to everyone who participated and to all of the staff.

My wife and I have been trying to rent our home in town so that we can move to our other home that is on the farm property. When I got home from San Antonio we found a family that was interested. This past weekend we spent getting the new house ready for us and packing up the current home. We are very eager to raise our boys in the country. This is going to be a big transition for us…but a very happy one!

Speaking of “BOYS”…..yes we are having another boy!!! We have decided to name him Kaden Kenneth Watje. We are expecting Kaden to arrive in July-somewhere between the CA State Fair and our local County Fair.

This past weekend was the start of jackpot season here in California. I was impressed to see the amount of kids and quality of hogs out there. Saturday was the Pork Spectacular which is put on by our CA Pork Producers Association. A few kids showed hogs there, and we ended up with the Reserve Progress exhibited by Maddi Kiser and Champion Market Hog exhibited by Lindsay Tasos. Lindsay also won Showmanship at this event.

Sunday was the Fresno State Red Wave Jackpot where we had Champion Market Barrow (also exhibited by Lindsay Tasos). Our nephews also participated in the Red Wave. This year Aaron has a steer and Kyle has a lamb. Kyle has the Champion Prospect Lamb and Aaron won showmanship again with his steer. Keep up the good work boys!!

Overall it was a great weekend. Congrats to all the kids who participated and good luck at the upcoming shows.

This week we will be getting ready for San Antonio. I will be judging the Berkshire, Spot, Poland China, Dark Crossbred and the Yorkshire show. I fly out on Saturday morning with my wife and Trent. They will fly home on Tuesday and I will be home later that week. It was such an honor to be asked to judge this show. I am really looking forward to seeing the quality of animals there.

As most of you know we recently hosted our 13th Annual “Kick Off Sale.” The sale consisted of 70 sheep and 80 hogs. Overall the sale was a huge success. Mark Johnson and Kent Bennigton flew out and put together some very educational Lamb and Hog show clinics. Everyone who participated in these clinics was very impressed. We would like to thank Mark, Kent and Honor Show Chow Feeds for all of their support towards our sale.

After our sale we had everyone over for some food and football. It was so nice to get to spend some time with our friends and family that had worked so hard to help us with our sale. Thanks again!!

Hi Everyone,

Our Annual Kick off Sale is coming up this Saturday. It is going to be a hectic week getting things ready. We clipped our sale hogs yesterday and the set sure does look good. Tomorrow my Dad and I will set the sale order and tag the pigs. On Friday we will finish setting up for the sale and haul the pigs to the Fairgrounds. I hope to see all of you on Saturday. The educational clinic is going to be great! Below is the sale and clinic information. If you have any more questions feel free to call me at 209.604.2082 or email at wdswinefarm@yahoo.com.

13th Annual

W-D KICK OFF SALE

Stanislaus County Fairgrounds, Turlock CA

January 16, 2010

HONOR SHOW FEED IS PUTTING ON TWO MANAGEMENT & NUTRITION CLINICS IN ADDITION TO OUR ANNUAL SALE:

Lamb Clinic-9 am (Mark Johnson)

Hog Clinic-9:45 am (Kent Bennignton)

W-D KICK OFF SALE INFORMATION:

Preview-9 am

Lamb Sale-11 am

Hog Sale-1 pm

Each pig sold goes home with 1 bag of Honor Show Chow PRELUDE 409

Top 40 lambs sold go home with 1 bag of Honor Show Chow Showlamb Grower DX

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. We had a great time celebrating with friends this year. I had just got home from Fall Classic in Oklahoma so we were not up for another long drive. It was nice to be able to stay home and relax.

We hauled our online sale pigs to Fall Classic - everyone seemed to be very happy with their hogs. We also showed a crossbred boar at Fall Classic that was 4th in class. Lean Value purchased the boar.

We also recently found out that we are going to be having another baby. The baby is due July 2010. I am sure I will update you with any exciting information along the way. Stacey can’t wait to find out if it is a boy or a girl. I think we have a few more weeks before we will know that information.

Our Christmas tree is up and the house is decorated…the inside of the house. I don’t do lights outside. My house is too tall in some areas and it makes me nervous to get up there. Stacey is very disappointed about this and says I have to get over it when our kids are bigger!