Back to the barn door

HE'S BABE THE BLUE OX OF PIGDOM

Wisconsin State Journal (Madison, WI)

Published on August 18, 2002
© 2002- Madison Newspapers, Inc.

Byline: Susan Lampert Smith
Wilbur the pig had his friend, Charlotte, who in the first recorded instance of cross-species public relations, spun webs extolling his swinish virtues.

"Some Pig," wove the spider, in E.B. White's classic "Charlotte's Web." "Terrific."

"Radiant."

"Humble."

Ranger the pig didn't need the help. Unlike the runty Wilbur, Ranger was picked from the litter at age 30 days, when owner Clarence Asmus decided that unlike 99 percent of male hogs, this little piggy wouldn't be castrated.

"He looked outstanding at that age," Asmus recalls. "The best pigs I sell as breeding stock, and the very best pigs I keep for my own breeding stock."

And so Ranger grew and grew, and lived a life at least as nice as Wilbur's, dining on corn and soybeans, and breeding with the Asmus farm's finest Yorkshire sows. His offspring number more than a thousand.

Then he got too big to breed.

"At that point," said Asmus, "it was, 'Does he go to market or go to the State Fair?'"

Asmus is either a lawyer who farms or a farmer who practices law; he says "it depends on who is squealing the loudest."

And he saw that he had some pig on his hands. Ranger's long and tall frame looked like it could handle a few more pounds, so Asmus added pig pellets, a sort of pig baby food, to Ranger's diet.

By early summer, it looked like Asmus had a champion on his hands. That's when he took a tip from the spider. He printed up T-shirts extolling Ranger as "The Biggest Boar on Earth." (No humble pig, this one.)

Ranger's groupies wore the T-shirts to the Wisconsin State Fair, where Ranger easily the crushed the competition, weighing in at 1,105 and winning the state's biggest boar crown. Asmus figures Ranger weighed more when he left Monroe, but he wasn't taking any chances with the champ. Last year's biggest boar died of heat stroke right at the State Fair.

"We put him in a cold bath for a half an hour, and then we put a fan on him," he says. The next day, despite skipping a couple of meals, Ranger became the first boar in state fair history to weigh in at more than 1,100 pounds.

Asmus checked the Guinness Book of World Records and found no listing for biggest pig. "The 'Biggest Boar on Earth'," is just a figure of speech," says Asmus, "But until some one comes up with a bigger one, we're using it."

Asmus posed Ranger in front of his wife's car, to emphasize the boar's 9-feet length and nearly 5-feet of height. Margit Asmus reports that "my husband had me wash and wax the car before it could be in a picture with Ranger."

(She also notes that her husband carries a brag book of Ranger photos - and none of his own children.)

"It's almost like a celebrity situation," Asmus said. "People I know and people I don't know are coming up to me to shake my hand."

Asmus has already printed Ranger T-shirts, with the Ranger and the car on the front, and Ranger's rear end, and the slogan, "Biggest Boar on Earth," on the back. Asmus figures he'll do a good business in people buying shirts for their brothers-in-law.

Next, he's thinking of postcards ("I have a bunch of slogans -- "Road Hog, "Road Rage," he said.) And maybe a tie-in with Harley Davidson ("Really Big Hogs Ride Harleys,") and even baby bibs, with the slogan, "Really big hogs eat all their vegetables."

"What grandparent wouldn't buy those?" he muses. And he's having a prosthetic dentist make copies of Ranger's tusks (which were removed for safety before the state fair) for a line of Ranger jewelry.

Ranger is taking this all in stride. He's retired to a shady paddock just south of Monroe, where eating and sleeping are his major diversions. He arises only grumpily to have his photo taken, making a noise like Jabba the Hutt, from "Star Wars."

The scary thing about Ranger, says Asmus, is that he doesn't seem to be done growing. Unlike most boars, whose legs get weak after they top 1,000 pounds, Ranger is still strong and agile enough to lower himself slowly to napping position.

"See that? That's a good sign," he says, as we watch Ranger make a yoga move to regain his spot in the mud. "If he stays sound he could gain more, maybe even go to 1,200 (pounds)."

Asmus is thinking of displaying Ranger at Cheese Days, coming up in Monroe on Sept. 21 and 22. And he's launching an Internet site, www.biggestboaronearh.com to sell Ranger paraphernalia.

And so Ranger will finally have what Wilbur the pig always did -- his very own Web site.

How to get boar shirt

Until the World Wide Web site is up, you can order "Biggest Boar on Earth" T-shirts and tank tops (sizes child through XXL) by writing to Clarence Asmus, P.O. Box 739, Monroe, WI 53566. The shirts cost $15 each or two for $25. Include $2 for shipping and handling. STEVE APPS/WSJ photos
Celebrities dont like to be rudely awakened from their naps and neither does
Ranger, as his owner and promoter Clarence Asmus gets the Wisconsin State
Fairs biggest pig to his feet.
Ranger, a purebred Yorkshire, is nearly five feet tall, nine feet long, and
weighed 1,105 pounds the last time anyone got him near a scale. Hes a bit
muddy from relaxing in his celebrity crib - a shady paddock outside Monroe.
A much cleaner version of Ranger is selling briskly as a T-shirt subject.
Coming soon: Ranger postcards, jewelry and a World Wide Web site devoted to
The Biggest Boar on Earth. 


Holy cow ... er ... boar


Monroe man’s animal wins State Fair’s big boar contest



By Brian Gray

of the Times

MONROE — Despite droves of politicians who showed up in West Allis to
grip and grin before the November election, the biggest boar at the
Wisconsin State Fair was Ranger, from Monroe.
Ranger, owned by Clarence Asmus of Monroe, isn’t just any big boar. He
was the biggest boar at the fair weighing in at 1,105 pounds. Ranger
left the other six contestants in the mud, beating them by 65 pounds.
Asmus beams like a father whose son just won the Heisman trophy when he
talks about his favorite pig.
“He’s the Shaquille O’Neal of pigs,” Asmus said. “There wasn’t any other
boar as big as him and they brought them from all around the state.”
Ranger has a huge pedigree. The three and a half year old Yorkshire
hog’s father was a prize stud boar from an Iowa farm. So Ranger’s size
is genetic. He has a larger skeleton than other hogs which enables him
to gain weight without becoming, well, a pig.
“He’s 9 feet long and about 5 feet tall,” Asmus said with a bit of
disbelief though he’s seen and measured Ranger. The boar is a gentle
giant, Asmus said. He lets Asmus rub his back and scratch behind his
ears like a little puppy.
Asmus said Ranger weighed even more than his winning size of 1,105
before the fair. It isn’t uncommon for pigs to lose weight while
traveling and Ranger might have even been up to 1,140 pounds before the
fair, Asmus said.
“He weighed 1,105 pounds Wednesday morning before we gave him
breakfast,” Asmus said, with a laugh. But after the contest Ranger ate
his usual meal of ground corn and pig pellets with water.
Other contestants and their owners, spectators and judges watched
awestruck as the scale climbed higher during Ranger’s weigh-in, Asmus
said. “One lady was standing there with her son and she was cheering us
on,” he said. “She was mesmerized.”
The crowd included about 15 friends from Monroe which Asmus calls
‘Ranger’s Groupies’ wearing T-shirts with Ranger’s picture on the front
and his rear end on the back. “We stood there watching as the other pigs
were weighed and it became obvious none of them were going to weigh more
than Ranger,” Asmus said.
Ranger has become quite an attraction at the state fair, Asmus said. He
estimated the line to see Ranger and the other two runners-up was
probably a block long.
Despite winning the prestigious award as Wisconsin’s biggest boar,
Ranger didn’t get any cash, trophy or crown. All the winner gets is
bragging rights. Asmus is happy with that.
Ranger will get a reward when he returns home. He’ll be pampered and
spoiled by his fans. Asmus said Ranger might even make a special
appearance at Cheese Days so people can admire his size. Asmus is hoping
Ranger’s popularity continues to grow with his weight. He’s printed
T-shirts with Ranger almost obscuring a Mercury Tracer and he thinks
“Biggest Boar on Earth” might be a good catch phrase.
“I can see a lot of brothers-in-law getting this shirt for Christmas,”
he said, laughing.
But Ranger is unfazed by the publicity and excitement. He hasn’t let the
fame go to his head. After all, he’s a pig not a peacock.END

 

 

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