A Duroc boar weighing just over 1,000 pounds got his 15 seconds of fame on MSNBC’s Today show this morning. Featured in a special segment on state fairs, Bowser, a pedigreed boar out of Bold Adventure and owned by John Harrison of Mt. Airy, Pa., calmly ate pellets for the camera alongside record-breaking watermelons and discussions on fried food. His popularity as the repeat “Big Boar Display” at the Maryland State Fair earned him the notoriety to be selected to visit the Today show.
Harrison says he bought Bowser in 2007 from Dave Holloway of Glen Rock, Pa., after they were unable to purchase his sibling – The Bus, bought by Shipley Swine Genetics – at the Keystone Classic auction. They used Bowser as a stud for two years, then retired him to a fenced area in the woods at their farm, where they plan to let him live out his life.
Harrison says their family swine business, Lantern Light Farm, got its start raising pigs in 1997 when sons Nick and Ben were in 4-H. After they were too old for 4-H, Harrison and his wife, Sandy, started showing in open shows at the Maryland State Fair and the Keystone International Livestock Exposition, which they still do today. They continue to farrow three registered Duroc litters a year, and sell the pigs as local 4-H projects.
View a clip of the Today show segment below.
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