The 2017 Royal Manitoba Winter Fair Pork Quality Competition is slated for Wednesday March 29, at Brandon's Keystone Centre.

The hogs will arrive in Brandon Monday for processing be judged Tuesday and winners will be announced Wednesday.

Randy MacDonald, the Events Coordinator with the Provincial Exhibition of Manitoba, says this year's competition has attracted a full slate of entries.

Randy MacDonald-Provincial Exhibition of Manitoba

There is a lot of interest in it because it's mostly bragging rights.

Anyone can enter and a lot of the Hutterite Colonies enter.

You're allowed three pork entries per sow operation.

They're judged on just about everything, quality trait measurements, the carcass weight, backfat, marbling bonus, loin eye area measurements and color and belly bacon and that sort of thing.

We have a class limit of 30 and, this year, as a matter of fact, it just closed last night and we have 29 entries so we were one short but the late folks who phoned in today to try to enter were out of luck because we do have to cap it at 30.

They're going for prize money and the excellence in pork production in itself is the reward.

Mr MacDonald notes a minimum of 50 percent of the prize money handed out for the top carcasses gets donated to the charity of the winners choosing and the grand and reserve champion carcasses will go to Assiniboine Community College for preparation by the college's Culinary Arts Students.