Most Pennsylvania Farm Show visitors don't experience more than a whiff or two of the hog barn. But it’s the center of family life for many who bring their show pigs.
Before you start snickering, watch the Facebook hog barn video below courtesy of WGAL television.
The video focuses on Beth Innerst and granddaughter Kailey, of Red Lion, Pa., prepping and showing Berkshire pigs at farm show. “It’s a snippet of life in the hog barn,” says Darlene Livingston, executive director of Pennsylvania Farm Link, who has shown hogs with three generations of her family — so far.
Even a hog barn can be a gathering place. “It's a room full of friends who have become family over the years,” Livingston says. “Beth, husband Greg of Red Lion, Pa., and I grew up together at farm show.”
That one-on-one trusted, farmer-to-farmer contact has covered many topics. “I’ve talked people through farm succession/transitions, financial issues, farm family communication issues and farm family crisis all while standing in the hog barn,” Livingston says. And there were shared prayers for friends, as well.
That, too, is a part of farm life, even in the quieter moments when the crowds leave.
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