Pig Showing: The Pros and Cons

I show pigs in 4H. It sounds really unpleasant, and it sort of is, but it is also kind of fun. Sometimes. I do like showing pigs more than I like showing goats, because pigs are easier, and I just love my goats too much to properly train them, because I feel so bad when they get all upset when you first start. They're too cute for their own good. It's true.

So, moving along, pigs: the pros and cons. I'll add a rating of between 1 and 5 for each one, 1 being the lowest and 5 being the highest, so that at the end, I can add up the points and see which one outweighs the other.

Pros:

1. Pigs are super easy to show. (3)

2. You get money for pigs. (5)

3. I do well with showing pigs. I got first place for both of my pigs one year. (4)

4. My dad obsessively breeds pigs, so I always have really nice pigs, and I'm able to enter the homegrown classes and such. (4)

5. Pigs don't require very much loving attention. They just want food, so it's not as if I have to cuddle them, or anything. (2.5)

6. You have to bathe them the night before the show, which is sometimes fun, especially when you spray random people with the hose. (2)


Cons:

1. You have to clean their pen, and they like to spill water a lot, so it is messy and the wheelbarrow is heavy. (3)

2. You have to wake up early for the show. (4)

3. Before you go in for your class, they have all of the kids and their pigs jammed into a tiny little space called a 'holding pen'. Holding pens suck. Your pig runs all over the place, and you have to climb over all of the other pigs to keep up with them. Often times, the pigs get into fights. The pigs are all pooping and peeing, adding an extra obstacle to dodge. (5)

4. In the show ring, all pigs seem to have a fetish with running to the corner and standing there, digging in the dirt, and they refuse to move from there. (3)

5. Pigs also like to run all over the place when they finally get into the open after being stuck in the holding pen, so you have to try and keep up with them while maintaining an aloof showing presence to show that you don't panic when your pig goes insane. (2)

6. You have to wash your pig the night before the show. While this has some fun aspects to it, it mostly sucks. You have to get your pig into the wash pen, and then scrub them through the metal bars of the pen they're in, and sometimes the pigs dislike getting sprayed with water, and then they try to bite your face off. And you get really wet. (3)

So, how did the scores add up? Let's see...the Pros scored 20.5 points, and the Cons scored...20 points! It looks like the Pros got it! And now you know: Showing pigs sucks, but 0.5 points less than it is awesome.