Headed for stardom at the fair
Grants woman raises prize winning pigs

Penny McDougal takes time out to give one of her little piglets a little TLC. (Photo by Jerry Wilson/Independent)

By Jim Tiffin
Staff Writer

GRANTS — The pregnant mother was having a hard time delivering. The baby was so big mom was exhausted from trying to push it out so it endangered that baby and the four others waiting to be born.

Penny McDaugle, who was watching this happen, did the only thing she could she reached in and pulled the baby out.

It turned out to be a very large Duroc baby pig, the third of a litter of seven.

"It was about 4 a.m. and it took about 10 minutes to get him out," she says.

"He was in the womb so long, it was getting to the point where the mother pig just couldn't push anymore he was so big," McDaugle says.

"The red Duroc is the largest of the litter and he is so beautiful," she says.

Baby pigs abound right now at Just Rite Farms outside of Grants and all are headed to the Bi-County Fair Labor Day weekend, she says.

Two of McDaugle's sows had litters totaling 19 baby pigs and they will be ready to be bid on by area 4-Hers from Cibola and McKinley counties by mid March.

"We are down this year in the number of pigs. Last year we had 39 and the year before that we had 54," she says.

Some of McDaugle's sows have aged so that they are not good for breeding any longer, she says.

"This is a rebuilding year."

The McDaugles have been in the pig-breeding business for five years and plan to expand into dogs, horses and goats, specifically miniatures.

They already have a miniature goat that is pregnant and a mini Doberman Pinscher.

"We will be putting in a kennel here in the next two months and will be breeding miniature pinschers, Yorkshire terriers and boxers," McDaugle says.

Why? was the question.

"I don't know," was the answer.

"I just wanted to go into the dog-breeding business," she says.

As far as the pig business is concerned, her children used to be in 4-H and the family raised pigs for years. Now that the kids have all grown up and gone, McDaugle says she likes being around the 4-Hers, it keeps her young and she wants to help area youth be able to afford pigs for show without traveling hundreds of miles and spending a lot of money.

Her pigs usually sell for about $200, some a little more, some a little less. And, she usually sells all of her pigs. with only 19 this year, instead of the close to 60 or so she is used to having, the competition will be fierce among area 4-Hers to get a Just Rite Farms pig.

The sows are bred with artificial insemination.

And how does McDaugle get pigs that win ribbons and help 4-Hers earn money for college? From a catalog.

"I have catalogs of pig farms that have boars that the sperm is collected from for artificial insemination," she says.

"For example, if I have a crossbreed sow, usually a cross between a Hampshire and a Yorskhire, and it has really good body and conformation but has short legs, I want to get baby pigs with longer legs.

"So, I call the farms in the catalog and tell them what I have and what I want and they always know which boar I need for breeding," she says.

"I keep a board here to know when the sows are ready to breed. When they are ready they stand up in front of the board and don't move, they're like a statue," she says.

The boar farms will ship overnight what McDaugle needs and she can then inseminate the sows.

"I can get some of the top boars in the United States," she says.

The 4-Hers are allowed to come to the farm and observe all the baby pigs. Then if they see one they like, they can bid on it in March when the auction begins, McDaugle says.

"I have a silent auction that goes for several days," she says.

"It's more fair that way. If a kid sees a pig they want, they can see what is bid on it and can bid $5 higher," she says.

Knowing that some Cibola and McKinley counties 4-Hers often have had to go to Estancia, Albuquerque and even Oklahoma to get pigs, offering this service to the area youth seemed like a good idea, she says.

"And it usually costs less too."

All of her pigs are grain fed which puts lean muscle on the pigs that are kept in clean pens.

"Pigs are clean animals, the mudhole stories are myths," she says.

"In a pen a pig will usually pick out one spot to go to the bathroom and only use that spot all the time," she says.

"Keeping the pens clean and dry also keeps down the smell that goes with muddy pens," she says.

— To contact reporter Jim Tiffin call 287-2197 or e-mail: jtiffin@blackmesa-isp.net.