At 1,420 pounds, this year's Big Boar is an Iowa State Fair record breaker
Finnegan may have backed onto the scale, but he didn’t back into the title of the Iowa State Fair’s biggest boar.
In fact, Finnegan is the new recordholder at 1,420 pounds, 85 pounds heavier than Reggie, the previous recordholder of 1,335 pounds, set in 2012. He's also more than 400 pounds heftier than last year's winner, Sasquatch, who weighed 1,012 pounds.
Despite the best efforts of several assistants, Finnegan, the last contestant of the day, was reluctant to get on the scale, ultimately being turned around and backed into the pen to be weighed.
“He’s just not used to the surroundings. He’s funny that way,” owner Bryan Britt of Monticello said of Finnegan’s trepidations of being weighed.
The new record holder prevailed in a field that included seven entrants. The second-biggest boar weighed in at 1,114 pounds and was from Woodbury County.
Who won the Big Ram contest at the Iowa State Fair?
Whip, a ram owned by Craig Fetters of rural Lucas, flirted with the 500-pound mark, ultimately settling at 498 pounds to take the title. He weighed nearly 40 pounds more than the second place ram at 460 pounds in a field of seven contestants.
The winning ram fell short of the State Fair record of 507 pounds, set in 2014.
All about Finnegan, the record-breaking Big Boar at the Iowa State Fair
Britt said Finnegan’s breeding is one-quarter Landrace, one-quarter large white and one-half Duroc, and the new recordholder was singled out for stardom at just two days old.
“I look for big frames, and he had it. He definitely wasn’t a runt,” Britt said, explaining that the bigger frame is needed to carry all of the eventual weight.
Finnegan reached his record weight through a steady diet of corn and soybeans along with a “secret” ingredient to make it sweeter. He eats about 24 pounds of feed a day, Britt said.
Although one would guess Finnegan eats about anything put in front of him, that would not be the case.
“He is the most finicky pig I’ve ever had,” Britt said, wearing a green T-shirt bearing Finnegan’s name.
“And he likes to sleep,” Britt added.
And as for the name?
“Well, you need a pig with a big frame but you also need a little luck,” Britt said.
Britt uses artificial semination to impregnate his sows, but Finnegan, now retired, was used as a “stimulation boar” in the past where he would be brought in close to sows to determine if they are in heat.
“All he (Finnegan) really had to do was smell good and look pretty,” Britt said.
Finnegan is not the first boar leading Britt to the winner’s circle. Britt took the title in 2019 with a 1,254-pound boar named Captain.
Big Ram winner at Iowa State Fair bulks up with basic diet of hay, corn
Fetters said his big ram is 5 years old and is passing his genetics on, including a yearling son being shown at the fair that already tips the scales at 350 pounds.
Whip reached his championship weight with a diet of hay and corn.
As for just missing the 500-pound mark, Fetters said, “Maybe I should have given him some more water” before the weigh-in.
Kevin Baskins is the metro jobs reporter at the Des Moines Register.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Meet the Big Boar and Big Ram winners at the Iowa State Fair
