Piglets hamming it up at Centennial Farm

Sue Doyle

COSTA MESA -- The 400-pound sow earned the nickname of “Jumper” for the

way she could leap over a fence when the dinner bell rang.

However, life has slowed considerably for Jumper since she gave birth

last Thursday to 14 piglets, delivering them in fewer than four hours.

But there’s still some spunk left in the old gal, who will charge at

anyone who messes with her litter.

Jumper’s delivery was the first of about 12 litters expected this season

at Centennial Farm inside the Orange County Fair and Exposition Center.

A Yorkshire pig in the stall next to Jumper’s delivered 11 piglets April 25. Goats are expecting kids any day.

But it’s not only little piglets that attract people to Centennial Farm.

The farm is stuffed with a variety of people who all look at the same

animals, yet see something different in them.

Clusters of children line up around the stalls to catch a glimpse.

Overall, nearly 400 children, many on school trips, pass through the

3-acre working farm each day, said Gerome Hoban, assistant farm manager

of Centennial Farm.

“Baa-baa,” says one boy when he sees sheep in a pen.

His imitation is infectious and soon a pint-sized group marches around

the stall chanting, “baa, baa, baa.”

At the next stall, a kindergarten class from Santa Ana’s Wilson School

points at some goats and talks about them in Spanish.

Their teacher, Joanne O’Toole, reminds her class to say the animals’

names in English. Her class is for limited English-speaking students.

They’re at the farm to have a hands-on learning experience, O’Toole said.

“This is the greatest lesson. Not only can they learn the words, but can

see, touch, hear and smell the animals. It’s much more than any photo

could offer,” O’Toole said.

A pair of stay-at-home moms chat as they push strollers along the patchy

ground. Their children climb from their seats and run wildly toward the

piglets’ stall. They’re obviously familiar with the place.

“Every week,” says Hoban, nodding a hello to the regulars.