Sorry Big Tex, Big Pig Is the Real Hero of the State Fair

Lazing the days away at the State Fair of Texas is a very unbothered 1,000-pound Yorkshire boar named Boris. In a small pen next to the swine barn behind the Cotton Bowl, this mild-mannered, snooze-prone pig is a steadfast mascot for the livestock side of the fair. He doesn't do much but lie there, which is, frankly, the biggest attraction of all.

A fan keeps a cool breeze going, and his bed of hay provides a soft place for endless hours of naps in the shade. Fairgoers are continuously amazed at all Boris has to offer, just sleeping. Some children run to their parents. Adults gasp.

Perhaps file this under IYKYK. If you don't, well, you'll just have to go see for yourself.

About a week before the fair opened this year, we grabbed a few minutes with Daryl Real, senior vice president of livestock at the State Fair of Texas. We wanted to glean insight into the most-whispered-about character on the fairgrounds. We wanted to know more about the life of Boris:

It's about 10 days until the fair opens. How are things going for you as VP of livestock?
Every day is just a little busier, and the final week before the fair is just crazy because everything's coming together. You're trying to get all the spit shine on and ready to go.

What kind of pig is Boris?
Boris is a little bit like James Bond. There's someone else always playing Boris. Like how sometimes 007 was Sean Connery. There's been lots of 007s over the years. Boris is a stage name. But this year Boris will be a Yorkshire boar and he'll weigh right at about 1,000 pounds. And he's four years old — in his prime.

Is this State Fair of Texas spy always at the entrance of the swine barn?
Yes, ma'am.

Is there a reason y'all set him there? Is he an attraction?
He's definitely an attraction. I mean, we have people every year that come in and they ask "Hey, where's that big pig at? I want to see Big Pig."

He's actually more talked about than Big Tex, but I'd never tell him that. So, what does Boris eat in a day?
Boris can eat 20 pounds of feed in a day, which is typically corn- and soybean meal- based. So it'll be mainly ground corn, but have some soybean, and also, his feed is vitamin packed. It's got everything that he needs, a complete diet.

Is he a friendly pig? Do you think he enjoys seeing people?
Pigs are actually extremely gregarious animals and they like people. After a little while though, they're going to go rest. We all like people, and then we want to go be alone. So, if you come up to him while he's at the fair sometimes he'll be up and talking to people, he'll grunt and then other times he'll be laying down at the back of the pen taking a nap.

Sure, everyone's social battery gets low.
And he's a big pig, and when you're big, you have to take lots of naps.
Do people try to feed him things, like corny dogs?
Yes, we actually have a sign that we had made that says "Respect My Space" with a picture of a corn dog with a slash through it.

It would actually be awful to try to feed Boris a corny dog ...
Yeah, don't feed him a corny dog.

Do people toss things in his pen often?
Unfortunately, my employee who has been working for me for a long time, who loves to take care of Boris, has to clean the pen multiple times a day because somebody always thinks it would be really cool to feed him a funnel cake or a corny dog. Most people are pretty respectful, though, and there are actually two layers of fencing, so there's a fence for him and there's a little buffer fence to keep people back so that they can't do that as easily.

Where does he sleep at night? Does he go somewhere else?
No, he stays in that pen during the run of the fair. He has some exercise days ... it kind of depends on what else is going on at the fair on that particular day. There are days when we're rotating the animals in and out of the swine barn, but when there's a down day where we're changing over, we'll take him into the swine barn and give him some exercise on those days.

This is a tough question to ask, but does Boris live out his retirement days happily on a farm or does he wind up on a plate somewhere?
It just depends, just to be honest with you. It very much depends on what that value is for him moving forward. He may go back to the farm and continue to be a sire, but at some point they all will live their purpose and become food.