Fair's Birthing Center welcomes piglets, calves
Sep. 21—The first piglet popped out at 1:44 a.m.
Nine more followed.
Roughly 11 hours after Bella's delivery ended at The Great Frederick Fair Birthing Center, she napped in a hay-filled pen. Her babies suckled at her side.
"She did good," said Brittney Wivell, who owns the pigs with her husband, Justin. "She's soaking up the snooze time."
The Birthing Center, near Gate 5 at the Frederick Fairgrounds, is a place where the public can ask questions about and witness the miracle of birth.
"Probably the best place at the fairgrounds," Gene Bollinger said.
He might be biased, though. He is superintendent of the Birthing Center.
Visitors milled about the Birthing Center on Tuesday afternoon, ogling over baby animals.
"What more could you ask for?" veterinarian Lexi Book said, standing next to the Birthing Center's newest resident.
A male Jersey calf, dubbed Buzzy, was born at 12:12 p.m. Tuesday, according to Book.
"She actually did really well," Book said of Buzzy's mother. "She's been licking him clean for a long time."
A few hours after his birth, Buzzy stumbled around his pen, much to the delight of onlookers.
"That little fella is so darn cute," Linda Bruchey said.
Bruchey, of Littlestown, Pennsylvania, was at the Birthing Center with her friend, Kaye Staley, of Unionville. They came to the center earlier that morning with another friend who hoped to see the calf's birth, but she had to leave.
Bruchey and Staley returned in the afternoon to get photos of the calf for their friend. A Birthing Center volunteer overheard them talking and showed them a cellphone video of the calf being born. Delighted, they exchanged numbers, so their friend could see the video.
There is also a live YouTube stream of the Birthing Center available on the Frederick Fairgrounds page.
Educating the public is one of the main goals of the Birthing Center, according to Bollinger — in addition to caring for the animals. Veterinarians and other animal experts are available 24 hours a day in case the animals need help. Owners offer to keep their animals at the Birthing Center throughout the fair.
Book said they try not to interfere in births unless the animals need assistance. Buzzy's mother, for instance, pushed her baby out without any help in about 45 minutes. Cows are typically pregnant for nine months.
Hogs, like Bella, generally have a gestation period of three months, three weeks and three days, according to Bollinger.
Bollinger said they welcomed five calves and 10 piglets at the Birthing Center since the fair started, as of Tuesday afternoon. The Fairgrounds typically makes an announcement over the loudspeakers when a birth is in progress.
Bollinger estimates another cow will give birth between 10 a.m. and noon Wednesday.
"You can't top this," he said.
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