Racing livestock take center stage

Some might see them as the early ingredients of a bacon burger; lazy and unmotivated meat machines. But those of the porcine and bovine persuasion have a competitive side to them.

And the winning desires of some pigs and bulls were in full evidence at Wednesday night’s edition of the Iredell County Agricultural Fair.

The pig races were held at various times during night at the makeshift Hogway Speedway on the Midway at the center of the fair’s amusement portion.

The races were more in the spirit of a maze-less rat maze in that the animals sped - which is a relative term when talking about pigs - around a small oval in attempts to be the first one to reach a small pile of cheese treats.

“But this is part of the fair,” said Paula Cline, the mother of sons Lee, 5, and Avery, 7. “You have to see the pig races when you go to the fair.”

The pigs were decked out in in the colors and numbers of NASCAR drivers, and the Clines said they were going to pull for the number 44 pig, Hoggy Jarrett, as they were fully against the 24 pig, Piggy Gordon.

John and Jean Benfield had been coming to the fair for years. They both said they had seen the pig races in years past, and they were quite impressed by their porky prowess.
“It’s a lot of fun,” said John Benfield. “They really get down and run.”

Jean Benfield also liked the racing ducks who made an appearance.

“It’s hard to believe ducks can race,” she said. “But they really do. They just go as fast as the their legs can take them.”

The Hogway Speedway also had a running of some billy goats.

“They were all adorable,” said Lori Rash. “I’d never seen them before, and in that one race, I didn’t think that one with the big belly was going to make it.”

They all did but the good money, if bets were allowed, would have been on number 44. Hammy Hamlin took two of the four races.

At the fair’s arena, a more serious and dangerous sport got under way as night fell.

A professional bull-riding event attracted a crowd of several hundred people.

Most were there for the manliness of the competition, which is male against male, except one male weighs about 200 pounds and the other nearly 10 times that amount.

“There’s just something about a man and a bull when you put them together,” said Tasha Ervin of Statesville. “It’s just one trying to outdo the other.“

In most cases on Wednesday night, it was the bull that won.

“There is a lot of getting bucked off in this sport,” said Stephanie Johnson, whose father, Terry Johnson, was the clown at Wednesday’s ride, and her younger brother, 13-year-old Brandon, was making his debut ride. “It is a dangerous sport, but I think it kind of gets in your blood.“

Stephanie Johnson said her father had been riding bulls for many years but is now too old to do it.

“He’s 42, and sometimes he has trouble just getting up in the morning,” she said. “He has taken a lot of falls and one time had his face smashed when the bull pulled him right into his head.“

Josh Bradshaw is a Statesville cowboy who had planned on entering Wednesday’s event but pulled out when he learned it did not have a big purse.

Bradshaw said he fully understands the danger but the lure of the sport’s excitement outweighs it.

“It’s the biggest thrill you can get,” he said. “I love doing it. The money is a plus, but the thrill is something that is in my heart, and I love it.”

On the face of it, bull riding is about as uncomplicated as a sport can get.

The rider sits on the bull while the animal is in the gate. He secures one hand inside a rope affixed to the bull’s back. the gate opens and the rider has to to stay on the bull for eight seconds.

“That’s an eternity when you are on a ton of wild bull,” the announcer said as the event started.

Only two of the first 12 riders lasted that seemingly short period of time, and one of them was not counted because the bull was too tame.

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