Hi Everyone,

I am am planning a trip to Texas the last weekend in September. If any of you need Arizona Hogs please give me a call in the next few weeks so we can get everything worked out.

I also have a friend attending the upcoming the Southwestern NJSA Show next week. He is happy to make some stops along the way. Let us know as soon as you can!

More to come- Ryan

Hello Everyone,

I am sorry it has been so long since my last blog. Things have not changed much for us. We are still really busy! Stacey is working full time, so Trent is spending half his days with my sister and nephews and the other half with me at the farm. It is so fun having my son at the farm with me. Together we feed, breed, clean and evaluate hogs. Trent has a little show whip that he walks around the barn with. He will be ready to show in no time!

In the last month a lot has been going on:

First of all-Trent turned 1!! We had a pool party for him, but after swimming he fell asleep and missed out on cake and presents. The San Joaquin County Fair was in June. W-D had Champion FFA Hamp, Reserve Champion FFA, Champion FFA York, FFA Reserve Champion Cross, 4-H Champion and Reserve Champion Chester. Congrats to all the kids for all their hard work and thank you for representing us so well!

I attended the Honor Show VIP Event in June, which was a lot of fun. I had the opportunity to talk with a lot of people and learn even more about our industry.

Our nephew Aaron participated in another Jackpot show this past weekend. It was a two day show and he won showmanship both days. Keep up the good work Aaron! He also had Grand Champion one day and Reserve Champion the other.

This past weekend I was asked to come and visit the Everett Alvarez FFA chapter. We had a practice show to go over showmanship, then we evaluated each one of their pigs and went over a feeding program. The students seemed to have a lot of questions and I think they learned a lot. When the clinic was over Stacey and I took Trent to the beach for the first time. He loved the water and playing in the sand.

If any of you ever have any questions, feel free to call or email me. I often have people send me a picture of their hog, and then I can evaluate it and give some feeding tips. Our email is: wdswinefarm@yahoo.com

KEEP YOUR PIGS COOL IN THIS HEAT!!!

Since I am at the World Pork Expo this week, I wanted to take the time to acknowledge our nephew Aaron Kerlee. Aaron is eleven years old and a member of the California Jr. Livestock Association. He has been traveling to shows since January. Aaron shows hogs at jackpots bred by W-D Swine Farm. He has been fortunate to have won every Junior Showmanship Contest he has entered this year. He was first place at the Ca. Pork Producers Association, Red Wave Classic, Western Bonanza A & B, Circle of Champions, Monterey Bay Classic, and the MJC Showmaster Classic. He has also added a Supreme and Reserve Supreme Championship to his hog points over the past few months. Aaron is currently leading the state points in showmanship, is second in his age division for the jackpot, and is fifth in the over-all hog division.

We are so proud of Aaron and wish him the best of luck for the rest of show season!

This week has been so hectic for Stacey and I. My Dad had knee replacement surgery yesterday. He usually helps me at the farm but is unable to for several months now. In just two days I have a whole new appreciation for my Dad and all he does for our farm as well as for my family. Stacey and my sister Maddi have been really taking care of Dad since I have been busy getting ready for Expo.

We are leaving town on Sunday and hoping to be there by Tuesday. I am the only adult going so we will have to drive as long as I can and then get a room for the night. If you are at the show and have any feeding questions, feel free to come see me.

It has been really hot here so I every evening I go back to the farms to turn off sprinklers, fans and roll up curtains. If any of you have hogs in the heat right now, I recommend making sure they have plenty of cool water and a shade over them. You can also apply sunscreen to their skin to be sure they don’t get sunburned.

Have a safe trip everyone as you travel to World Pork Expo!

Hello everyone! Stacey, Trent and I made our rounds this week to check out some of the hogs we sold in our January “Kick Off Sale.” Our first stop was Porterville County Fair. We sold the Porterville FFA 30 hogs, and they had great success. They won 15 out of the 17 classes, including Champion Hampshire, Champion Duroc, Champion and Reserve Champion AOB and Reserve FFA!

Then we made our way to Chowchilla County Fair. One of the Chester hogs we sold in our January sale was 4-H Champion and Reserve Champion Overall. It was very exciting to see a Judge use a Chester!

The Modesto Junior College put on their annual Jackpot show this past weekend. We had 3 of the 5 class winners in the Prospect division, Champion Prospect and Reserve Champion Overall.

It was a fun and very successful week for us! Check out our website for more Champion Pictures and upcoming events!! www.wdswinefarm.com

Have a great week everyone!

Well we just finished another busy weekend. On Saturday we got up early to get chores done and then had to drive 4 hours to a sale down in Southern California. Stacey and I took 10 pigs to the “Best of the West” Sale in Nipomo, CA. It was a good solid sale with a great turn out. The local Honor Representative was there sending a bag of feed home with each pig, which was wonderful!

Sunday was the Champion Choice Sale at the Modesto Junior College. We had 15 of the 100 pigs in this sale. The sale went really well, and also had a great turn out. There was a nice set of hogs and I think all the kids will do very well this year.

The rest of the week will be busy for us as well. Selling pigs, breeding and the usual chores will keep me busy until Thursday when we all leave for the Grand National Cow Palace Show in San Fransisco, CA. We will have a few kids showing our pigs in the 4-H and FFA show, and we wish them all Good Luck!! After the show is over on Saturday, I will be flying to Portland, OR to do an Honor Clinic and to auction a sale. This will all take place on Sunday, April 5th. Since I will be out of town, my Dad will be taking care of the farm and selling pigs for me over the weekend.

This past weekend was the NJSA Western Regional show. W-D was proud to have the Champion Landrace Barrow, Champion Duroc Barrow, Champion Hamp Gilt and Reserve Supreme Gilt.

Stacey has also been working on moving our website to www.wdswinefarm.com

Check it out!!

Stacey and I went to one of our local jackpots this weekend (Feb. 14) and watched one of our purebred Duroc Barrows win the show! It was exciting to see a Duroc win the show. This week I am planning to breed a few hogs that are coming into heat and also wean some litters.

I got news today that Big Screen sired the Champion Hampshire at San Antonio!

This coming weekend (Feb. 14) we are attending a local Jackpot show, Western Bonanza. We sold a few pigs that will be shown there so we like to go and support our customers. We will drive down on Friday and then come home Saturday after the show….just in time to sell pigs to a 4-H member on Sunday.

In the mean time, I will be answering phone calls about pigs and feed, taking some pigs to the sales yard, picking up shavings for the show barn and taking care of the daily chores.