September 2011 - Iowa Pork Producers Association

2011 Iowa State Fair Summary
Swine barn
features new educational exhibits
The Iowa Pork Producers Association has long used the
swine barn at the Iowa State Fair as a place to promote
pork production and share information about hogs and
key production practices.
finishing pigs, as well as sows. The display had bins of
corn, soybean meal, dried distillers grains and vitamins/
minerals that could be mixed according to the rations
shown on the colorful board above the station.
Fairgoers were able to learn about the different growth
stages of hogs. A large wall display had four-color
cutouts depicting newborn piglets, four-week old pigs,
eight-week-old pigs, market hogs, gilts/young sows and
boars and their average weights at those stages. The
display was titled “Look how fast we grow.”
Children also could browse through a large story book
about pork production that featured Aaron and Trish
Cook, 2010 IPPA Pork All-Americans from Winthrop in
Buchanan County.
IPPA also posted displays of the 2010 producer award
winners around the swine barn.
The feed mixing station featured the ingredients in swine diets.
This year’s fair featured new kid-friendly exhibits that
offered educational activities, including a feed station,
a large pork story book and a large wall display that
highlighted the various growth stages of hogs.
“With thousands of people visiting the swine barn each
day of the fair to look at pigs, watch the various hog shows
or to see the big boar, it’s an excellent opportunity to try to
educate consumers about hogs and what pork producers
do,” said Joyce Hoppes, IPPA consumer information
director.
The feed station, which was co-sponsored by Kent Feeds,
showed the rations that make up the diet of nursery and
This display showed the different growth stages of hogs.
SEPTEMBER 2011
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