Thru the Farmgate, one of main agricultural awareness components of the Royal Manitoba Winter Fair, offers the public a hands on opportunity to see farm animals as they would be housed on a typical Manitoba farm.

The 100th anniversary edition of Royal wraps up tomorrow at Brandon's Keystone Centre.

Manitoba Pork Council Public Affairs and Marketing Manager Tracy Bryksa says this display is a really good opportunity to bring the farm to the public.

Tracy Bryksa-Manitoba Pork Council

This is a great way for us to show people what pigs are all about so we've got a mother sow and her ten piglets and it's a hands on experience.

People can come in and touch the piglets and learn all about the sow and the whole birthing process.

We also have a trivia section where people can come and answer questions all about how pigs are raised, the hog industry, the market place and then they win a prize so it's really focused on education.

We're in the midst of an advertising campaign for 2007 and the goal of that is to educate the public about the hog industry, about farming, pig farming specifically and how pigs are raised, our contribution to the economy, kind of the whole gambit about the hog industry ion Manitoba and it's significance.

This is a perfect element to be involved in because we're out here, we're talking to people one on one, we're providing information and again they can see the piglets and mother pig hands on.

It's just another venue for us to reach literally thousands of people in a one week time frame.

Bryksa says, in terms of interest, the piglets are a huge draw and people are flooding the booth.

In terms of knowledge, she says, a lot of people are coming in from the surrounding rural communities and they are quite knowledgeable but everybody is interested whether from the Brandon area or from Winnipeg.