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 For those who may not be aware, hogs do not have
sweat glands, therefore they overheat quickly. While humans rely on
perspiration to moisten and cool the skin, handlers have to provide
that cooling moisture for their hogs. Fans run constantly in the
holding barns on days such as Wednesday, and even in the show arena,
large fans suspended above ground level helped to keep the air
moving.
With the weather warming up quickly, the swine shows moved equally
as fast with the judge spending a minimal amount of time selecting
and speaking about the individual class winners.
Even so, the shows that started at 9 a.m. lasted until 1 p.m. with
only one 15 minute break between the gilt shows and the barrow
shows.
Both the gilts and the barrows were judged first by breed then
weight category within each breed with those sub-classes being
categorized as light, medium, heavy.
In both the gilts and barrows there were entries by breed in
Spotted, Chester White, Hampshire, Duroc, Berkshire, AOB (or All
Other Breeds,) and Commercial in gilts and Crossbred in the barrows.
In the final breed classes in both the gilt and barrow competitions,
there were four weight divisions, light, medium-light, medium-heavy,
and heavy.
Gilt Show
The first series of competitions for the day were the gilts.
In the individual class judging the Olson family dominated the breed
wins with Luke Olson winning the Champion Yorkshire, Braden Olson
winning the Duroc, and Kelton Olson winning the Commercial. Luke
Olson also won the Reserve Champion Duroc and Kelton Olson won the
Reserve Champion AOB.
Therefore it came as no surprise when the Olson’s also took home the
Grand Champion and Reserve Grand Champion over all breeds.
Braden Olson
pictured center in plaid shirt.
Those awards went to Braden Olson in the top spot and Kelton Olson
as the reserve.
Braden Olson was also the 2022 recipient of the Don Crane Memorial
Traveling Trophy for the Grand Champion Gilt, given by Linda Crane
the widow of the late Don Crane and her grandson Aiden Crane, who
would later compete in the Barrow Show.
Barrow Show
In the barrow show the judging also went quickly. There were more
kids and pigs competing in barrow than gilt so the show ring had a
circus like atmosphere that brings one to recall the phrase “like
herding cats.” We truly don’t believe it is any easier to herd and
show hogs than it would be to herd cats.
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As the temperatures were warming up, the hogs were
becoming a little more restless and less manageable for some of the
youngsters. We noted one pig that instead of being shown by his girl
was apparently just spending time leading her around the arena
playing “catch me if you can.”
In spite of the challenge, she kept up with the
animal and finally, with great tenacity got the upper hand on the
stubborn swine.
Many of the exhibitors in the barrow show had also shown gilts, but
the dominance changed. While the Olsons still did well with Braden
winning fifth place over all breeds, the individual classes saw a
wider variety of top winners.
In the Spotted class Clay Aylesworth was the Champion with Hollis
Scheets taking the Reserve Champion.
Kaden Entwistle was the winner of the Champion Yorkshire with Reed
Naughton winning Reserve.
In the Chester White breed, Kaden took a second Champion win and
Luke Prestegaard earned Reserve.
Grant Hayes and Brett Hayes cleaned house in the Hampshire breed
taking home the breed Champion and Reserve Champion respectively.
Palmer Scheets was a strong competitor. She and her hog won the
Champion Duroc with Braden Olson winning Reserve.
Claire Bobell, a past Grand Champion winner was in the ring on
Wednesday showing a Berkshire Barrow that took the breed
championship. The Reserve Berkshire went to Sydney Ramlow.
In the AOB class Kelton Olson was the Champion with Max Ramlow
taking the Reserve title.
Clay Aylesworth was back in the winner’s circle in the Crossbred
Barrow judging, taking the championship there with Kaden Entwistle
taking the Reserve.
At the end of the breed classes, the champions of each breed were
back in the ring to compete for the Grand Champion over all breeds.
Once again it was a tough call for the judge. Throughout the day he
would call out his champion and reserve and tell the audience, “if
you want to switch them, I wouldn’t argue,” indicating that in most
cases the top two were so similar and so strong that it could have
been a coin flip as to which one was best.
However, at the end of the barrow show, the judge seemed very
certain when he called out Clay Aylesworth as the Grand Champion
winner for the Barrow Show. Clay won the championship with his
Crossbred entry, a black and white with the solid look of a
Hampshire.
He also called out Kaden Entwistle for the Reserve position.
In addition to the championship banner and other hardware,
Aylesworth is also the 2022 recipient of the Don Crane Memorial
Traveling Trophy for the Grand Champion Barrow. Aylesworth was
handed the trophy by Linda Crane, the widow of the late Don Crane.
In addition to Aylesworth and Entwistle, the top five overall
winners were named with each receiving a banner.
Palmer Scheets won third place, Claire Bobell took fourth, and
Braden Olson was named as the fifth place winner.
[Nila Smith] |
