Live Oak High School graduate and Future Farmers of America
member Tiffani Petersen sold her pig to a generous buyer for a
whopping $12,852
– about 10 times more than the typical hog’s asking price.
Live Oak High School graduate and Future Farmers of America member Tiffani Petersen sold her pig to a generous buyer for a whopping $12,852 – about 10 times more than the typical hog’s asking price.
But the 17-year-old earned it. The bright-eyed teen has been through a lot in her short years. The week of the Santa Clara County Fair, July 28 to Aug. 3, was the culmination of three particularly hard years in Petersen’s life. Petersen’s mother, Michelle Cordova-Maggiora, died at 37 of liver cirrhosis on Aug. 1. The pig sold on Aug. 3.
Just a few days earlier, Petersen won third place for novice showmanship and then seventh place for advanced showmanship. She didn’t expect to make much money off of him. A hefty heifer at 252 pounds, Fat Boy, who was just under a year old, was ranked at the bottom of a list of salable swine. He weighed so much that Petersen was afraid he wouldn’t qualify for auction since the cap weight is 300. And the year before, her lamb Moolah fetched just $315.
But word that her mom had died and she couldn’t make it to the auction traveled quickly around the fair, with Petersen’s teacher and FFA advisor Erin Larrus making sure the rules would be bent so that Fat Boy would sell at auction without Petersen present, since she needed to help take care of funeral arrangements. The funeral was in Gilroy.
“The fair manager told the auctioneer, he mentioned what happened,” Larrus said of the chain of events on Aug. 2 that led to the pig making record profit. “Everyone knew she’d had hard times. She was a senior going on to college.”
More than one person was interested in helping Petersen, and a bidding war ensued, Larrus said.
“I kept asking if the price was in dollars or cents. I was in shock,” Larrus said. “I kind of lost track when it got up to $40 a pound.”
The buyer did not wish to be named, saying she didn’t want attention brought to her for the good deed, Petersen said.
It was Petersen’s hard work, more than the porky pig, that people were interested in rewarding her for.
Current FFA Live Oak Chapter Vice President and classmate Alex Salvador said Petersen was a hard worker who did “remarkably well” in competition.
“Tiffani’s always been a very self-sufficient person,” he said. Salvador said Petersen is sweet, optimistic and has a positive attitude. He said she always puts people above herself and was always willing to feed another member’s animal if they couldn’t make it in that day.
“When I think of a good friend, I think of Tiffani Petersen,” Salvador said.
Larrus said Petersen is “an awesome student and an awesome person who works extremely hard for anything.
“Despite all of her trials and tribulations, she kept herself with basically a 4.0 (grade point average) and was involved in anything she could be.”
Petersen said she steeped herself in school activities to get away from a tumultuous home life.
Cordova-Maggiora’s health deteriorated quickly after her husband, Petersen’s father figure, left the family.
But home was never far away: Petersen signed up for the same after-school activities her mother had when she was a Class of 1988 student at Live Oak, including FFA. She raised a lamb her first year, just like her mom had. Being mindful of money, Petersen wore her mom’s old dark blue FFA jacket with orange writing rather than buying a new one.
Petersen said she had had a few bad days since her mom died.
“There are good days and there are bad days,” she said. What she’ll miss the most is how her spirited non-traditional mom would embarrass her.
Petersen remembered when she was a 7-year-old cheerleader riding shotgun while her mom gave a ride to six football boys.
“She was singing along to Kid Rock and Limp Bizkit,” she said. “She kept telling me to bang my head. I was totally embarrassed.”
Petersen will be the first of her family to go to college. A Morgan Hill Police Department Explorer Program participant, Petersen plans to become a police officer. Petersen said the career choice is just an extension of the natural motherly instincts she’s always used.
Petersen said she’s going to give part of the money to her grandparents for much-needed plumbing repairs to their home in Gilroy, to buy a car, and she’d bought a sleek black Mac laptop for college. Since FFA students can participate for an additional year after they graduate, she’ll also invest in three more animals for the upcoming FFA season: a lamb, a pig and a steer.
“I want to go out with a bang,” she said jokingly.
Petersen will also attend Gavilan College in the fall.
