COUNTYWIDE : This Little Pig Stayed at Home

Just a few months ago, Shortcake the Pig was an unknown--a child’s 4-H project destined for the slaughterhouse. After a short flirt with fame as runner-up in the pig competition at last July’s Orange County Fair, she was placed on the auction block.

But Shortcake got lucky. The Orange County Fair Board had chosen a salute to pigs and strawberries as the theme for the 1990 fair. When fair officials went searching for a female pig to play mascot, they remembered Shortcake’s especially winning and patient personality. So Shortcake was purchased by the fair--and the rival pig that bested her for Grand Champion ended up as bacon on someone’s breakfast table.

Now Shortcake’s name is in lights. Last week the 400-pound Yorkshire crossbred gave birth to six little piglets. The marquee at the fairgrounds entrance flashes the message: “It’s a sixpack! Congratulations Shortcake!”

The piglets, three males and three females, were born just a day over the standard pig gestation period of three months, three weeks and three days, according to Linda Conway, a spokeswoman for the Orange County Fair.

And since the slogan for the 1990 fair is “Very, Berry Extraordinary,” the piglets were named after strawberry desserts. The males are named Berry, Jamin’ and Popover. The females are Parfait, Tart and Cheesecake.

Although the fair is still a long time away, Shortcake and her family have already appeared on television, and dozens of schoolchildren have filed by her pen at the fairgrounds to see her newborns.

As predicted, the busy mother and celebrity is taking it all in stride. She nudges and snorts at the six pink creatures with curly tails and tiny trotters who swarm around her at mealtime. After eating their fill, the piglets snuggle up, often in groups of three, for a nap under a warming light in the corner of the pen.

Occasionally Shortcake and her family receive a special visit from her previous owner, 10-year-old Elizabeth Wilcut of La Habra Heights. Elizabeth knew Shortcake was a winner the moment she saw her and chose her from a brood to be her second 4-H project.

According to John Ellis of the Orange County Agricultural Department, nearly all pigs raised in Orange County start out like Shortcake, as the personal project of a 4-H or Future Farmers of America member. The animals are raised primarily to be shown and judged at the fair. Afterward, they are auctioned for breeding or go to slaughterhouses. Very few are kept as pets. Ellis estimates that 4-H and FFA animals--pigs, poultry and other livestock--netted at least $80,000 on the auction block at last year’s fair.

“My first pig ended up at Farmer John’s,” Wilcut said. “I knew Shortcake was special. She was really sweet when I first saw her, and she just stayed that way. I’m glad she’s still around.”

Unfortunately, Wilcut wasn’t there when Shortcake gave birth. Kevin Arnett, an exhibit supervisor, acted as midwife during the birth after spending two cold nights sleeping next to Shortcake’s pen. “I checked her about two hours before she went into labor and I knew then it wouldn’t be long. I grabbed a chair, pulled my sleeping bag around me to keep warm and waited. Everything went just fine. Shortcake’s a good mother,” he said.

Tart was the firstborn, appearing at 2:55 a.m. Jan. 11. Parfait appeared last, having to wait almost half an hour for her turn.

“All the piglets have different personalities,” Arnett said. “Tart is a squealer. She doesn’t like to be picked up and is the first one to try to get out of the pen. Berry loves people. He walks right up and starts chewing on their pant legs.”

The piglets weighed an average of four pounds at birth and will probably weigh 250 pounds each by the time the 1990 fair rolls around.

But what Shortcake doesn’t know is that there are plans to breed her again in the spring--just in time to produce another batch of piglets to delight fair-goers in July.