Katie Nino says Buster, a Duroc Barrow hog, is quite a pig.
“He just eats and he’s growing like crazy,” she said. “I have to keep him the right weight with a special diet and exercise every single day.”
Nino is the recipient of the Heritage Hog, an honor that comes with the responsibility of raising the animal to be auctioned off at the San Benito County Fair in a few weeks to support the Heritage Foundation. But in addition to raising the pig, she is also serving as a spokesperson for the foundation and doing outreach to the community.
One of the things Nino has done in recent months is meet with 4-H groups, the San Benito High School Ag Boosters and FFA students. She is a member of Cienega 4-H.
“A lot of people aren’t aware of what (the Heritage Foundation) is,” she said. “They ask, ‘What do you do? What is it for? Will we see the improvements or will they be behind the scenes?’”
Started in 2009, the San Benito County Heritage Foundation is focused on improving Bolado Park and its facilities through capital projects. As state funding for fairgrounds diminish, Richard McAbee, a foundation board member, said the group wants to make sure the fairgrounds remain viable for future generations.
“We are trying to do some big (projects,) but we are waiting for the fair to come up with their master plan,” McAbee said.
Nino said the foundation is paying for several improvements residents will see at the fairgrounds if they attend the San Benito County Fair, Sept. 28-30.
“They just put in a bunch of circulation fans in the livestock arena,” she said, adding that they painted buildings and will also have bathroom renovations done before the fair. “They are visible improvements people can see right here, right now.”
One of the most visible fundraisers for the nonprofit is the heritage hog auction. McAbee said through the years since it was founded, they have raised more than $50,000. A big chunk of that money came in last year when Reno May, then a senior at Anzar High School, collected $31,595.
In addition to raising the hog, the students sell auction buyer certificates to members of 4-H and FFA. Instead of giving a gift basket to the purchasers of their animal projects at the fair, the students can buy a certificate that shows a donation was made to the Heritage Foundation in honor of the buyer.
The foundation accepts applications each year and for the last two years looked at students who were incoming seniors. The applicants submitted information about their grade-point average and involvement in 4-H or FFA along with essays, and went through an interview process.
This year’s hog was donated by Nathan Copp, from Powerhouse, and the feed is being donated by McAbee Feed.
“At first I thought ‘Oh my gosh (May) set the bar so high,” Nino said. “But I visited all the places and I’ve sent out 250 personal letters to people this year that I am doing the Heritage Hog. … The money is definitely coming in and the interest is there.”
She said she has high hopes that her fundraising efforts will outpace May and “hopefully it keeps increasing over the next few years.”
Nino, a senior at Notre Dame in Salinas, said the fairgrounds are near and dear to her family.
“I’ve always participated in the fair,” she said. “I raised 11 pigs. I heard a lot about the cutbacks to the fair and a lot of people losing their fairs. I really wanted to help keep the fair going. It’s such a good organization for kids my age.”
This year she will be auctioning off her heritage hog, Buster, on Sept. 29 at 10 a.m. She is also raising a steer to show this year and she said she enters some other categories such as cooking, sewing, or arts and crafts each year.
She has bonded with Buster, though she said in some years the pigs she has raised haven’t been as loveable.
“It depends on the hog,” she said. “You don’t think about them having such personalities, but everyone has a different personality. Some are absolutely horrible and really mean.”
Aside from eating so much she’s had to put him on a special diet while fellow 4-H members who board their pigs in her family’s barn are trying to get their pigs up to weight, she said he likes to play with her dogs.
“I take him outside and he goes crazy,” she said, of him running in circles and snorting as though he were barking like her Australian shepherd and shih tzu poodle mix. “They all roll in the mud together.”
As the recipient of the heritage hog, Nino will get a scholarship from the Heritage Foundation when she graduates next year.
“For college, I’m thinking of going down south or the big city,” she said. “It will be a big change not feeding horses, pigs, sheep and cows. It’s going to be so different.”
For more information on the Heritage Foundation, visit www.sbcheritagefoundation.com. For 4-H or FFA students who would like to purchase an auction buyer certificate, they may call Katie or Tracy Nino at 902-0567 or visit McAbee Feed in Hollister or Tres Pinos Ranch Supply and Feed.
