browerville blade - 09/01/2011 - page 1
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8/4/2019 Browerville Blade - 09/01/2011 - page 1
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y Tarissa Host
On August 19th, Husky Lee,
on the title of largest boar in
Minnesota for the 2011
Minnesota State Fair. Huskys
wners, long time fair goers John
nd Barb Tabatt, are excited to
avel to the state fair again this
ear to showcase their boar.
Husky Lee is a four year old
oar. He weighs in at about 1,160
ounds as of August 19th, mak-
ng him the heaviest in
Minnesota. He likes to eat corn,
ats, garden scraps, and some-mes apples. You cant force
ed a pig, said Barb Tabatt, he
ust eats what he wants.
Barb revealed that Husky Lee
kes to think he is part of their
eef cattle herd. Husky escaped
om his pen in the barn and
hey found him grazing with the
eef cattle. He would go out
ith the cattle, sleep with the
attle, and travel the two blocks
o Harris Creek for water with
he cattle.
The Tabatts have been partic-
pating in the largest boar com-
etition at the state fair since
004. The Tabatts raised pigs forheir sons, John Jr. and Jason,
ho were both active in 4-H.
ow that the boys are grown,
arb and John Tabatt continue
howing boars at the state fair
ach year.
In 1999, the Tabatts bought a
little Yorkshire-Landrace boar
pig from Terry Rickbeil. They
planned to use the pig for breed-
ing purposes so the boys could
show them in 4-H. By 2002, the
boar was too big to use for breed-
ing so the boys decided they
should keep him and see how big
he would grow.
In August of that year Barb
Tabatt contacted the state fair
board to find out how to enter the
fair contest for the largest pig.
She was told the pig would needa name, and be weighed at a cer-
tain time. The Tabatts decided to
name the pig Terry, after his
original owner. They had him
weighed August 8, 2002. He
came in at a whopping 935
pounds, but was still not big
enough for the contest that year.
In 2003, when Terry was four
years old, the Tabatts tried
again. Terry was still not big
enough. Barb then did some
research on raising pigs to gain
weight. After gathering a ton of
information, she made a plan to
fatten the pig up.
In order to fatten him up theyneeded to change the ratio used
to make the pigs food. Barb
learned apples provided a very
good source of protein, so they
gathered apples from anyone
willing to give them away. Lastly,
they fed Terry an ice-cream pail
of milk each day.
On August 13, 2004, Terry
weighed in at 1,220 pounds. That
evening the Tabatts recived aphone call that said they had
won the largest boar contest.
Terry was on display at the
Minnesota State Fair in 2004 as
the largest pig in Minnesota.
Ever since then the Tabatts
have entered the largest boar
contest at the Minnesota State
Fair. Again in 2007, the Tabatts
entered the contest with a four
year old boar named Squeaky.Squeaky weighed in at 1,240
pounds. One of the rules for the
contest states that once a pig
makes a trip to the fair, they can-
not go again. So the Tabatts get
a new pig every few years to
raise for the contest.
Husky Lee has now followed
in the footsteps of Terry and
Squeaky by becoming the largest
boar in Minnesota 2011. It is apassion of ours, said Barb It is
fun. The whole family goes down
to the fair to see the pig. I feel
famous when we go down there
with so many people asking
questions. It is well worth it.
By Tarissa Host
On August 22, at 8:38 pm, an
injury at a gravel pit on county 80,
rural Eagle Bend was reported.
Todd County Sheriff s Department,
Eagle Bend First Responders, and
Bertha Ambulance responded and
found that 17 year old Aaron
Johnson, Eagle Bend, dove into ashallow area of the pond at the
gravel pit and was unconsious and
unresponsive when helped to
shore.
That day, Aaron and two of his
close friends decided to go swimmg.
Aaron dove into the water like nor-
mal, but hit his head and did not
come back up. One of his close
friends swam over to him and with
help from the other friend brought
him to shore. He was concious at
first but his breathing slowly
altered and the friends had to pre-
form CPR on him.
When the first responders and
police arrived his pulse waschecked and a defribulator was
used. He was transported to Tri-
County Hospital in Wadena, and
air lifted to North Memorial
Hospital in Minneapolis due to
severe brain trauma and neck
injuries.
Aaron Johnson passed away on
Thursday, August 25 at 4:58 p.m.
The funeral was on Monday,
August 29th at the Clariss
Elementary Gym. Visit his website
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/a
aronjohnson1 and show your sup-port.
A community newspaper serving Browerville, MN and surrounding areas. USPS 067-560
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Volume 95; Number 12
www.bladepublishing.net
Wed. Aug. 31
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Thur. Sept. 1
Partly Cloudy
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Fri. Sept. 2
T-Storms
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Sat. Sept. 3
Showers
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Sun. Sept. 4
Mostly Cloudy
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Mon. Sept. 5
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WEEKLY WEATHER REPORT
75
One Big Pig! Meet Husky Lee
A beautiful evening for a picnicThe Browerville Commercial Club had perfect weather for their 7th annual Harvest Fest
held on August 26th. The fest, featuring locally grown sweet corn, gave friends and relatives
chance to visit while enjoying the late summer evening. Many items were also donated to the
Browerville Area Food Shelf.
Swimming accident
claims the life of
Eagle Valley teen
Husky Lee, pictured above, won the largest boar competition at the 2011 Minnesota State
Fair, making him the largest boar in the state of Minnesota.