SHOW TIME: 4-H’ers and their animals take their turns in the ring

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4-H’ers try to keep their animals corralled in the show ring. (Tom Russo | Daily Reporter)

HANCOCK COUNTY — Several years ago, when Reed Hedrick first started showing hogs, he had quite the experience. After training the animal for the Swine Show at the Hancock County 4-H Fair, his hog wanted no part of the main event and ended up in a corner of the arena digging a hole.

Reed could do nothing but look at the judges, shrug his shoulders and wonder what he was supposed to do next.

“I remember it well,” Reed said with a laugh, “I’ve had pigs running down the alley way of the barn, getting into the show ring, going all kinds of places they shouldn’t.”

Raising and caring for a championship pig requires an untold amount of time, dedication and good decision-making. But it’s all worth it for the 4-H members who endured all the hard work for months before heading into the show ring for the 2021 Swine Show on Saturday and Sunday, June 19-20.

A much wiser trainer now, Reed, a senior at Eastern Hancock in his ninth year of 4-H, was one of the dozens of 4-H competitors taking part showing off their animals. He said he started getting serious about showing hogs a few years ago.

“Pigs are just fun to work with,” Reed said. “They have such fun personalities. The hardest thing is trying to keep them together because pigs can change so much in a fast amount of time.”

Reed hopes to become a professional livestock judge one day. It’s something he does on the side, and the work helps him prep for shows. He plans to go to college and study agriculture, but always wants to be around livestock. He sees the county fair Swine Show as one of the best in the state.

“This really is such a great show,” Reed said. “We’ll have close to 400 pigs here, and it’s all top-quality, a highly competitive show. You’ll see lots of winners here go on and do well at the state fair.”

With a hot Sunday morning sun shining on the fairgrounds, a massive light pink and black spotted hog named Fred Flintstone was loving the cool water his owner was spraying on him as they prepped for his turn in the ring.

“Here we go,” the hog owner said, as he helped the young trainer walk the hog inside to take his turn at showing the animal before the judges. The scene was repeated many times as nervous 4-H’ers ushered their animals into the ring for their moment of truth.

Jeff Jones, superintendent of the 4-H swine program, has raised hogs and likes seeing how the participants care for and handle the animals before and on show day. He said many elements go into taking care of a show hog, from feeding to housing.

“If you’ve ever watched a dog show on television and seen how serious some of the people are, it’s the same way here,” Jones said. “A lot of the kids and parents are the same way because for a lot of the kids, this is the only show they’ll do.”

The swine are shown and judged by breed, sex, weight, age, degree of muscling, growth, capacity or volume, degree of leanness, structure and soundness.

While some animals are judged by consumer standards as to how butchers might want them to look, the hogs raised for breeding are judged on how they might be able to produce future animals for the meat case.

The 4-H participants themselves are also judged during the showmanship part of the daylong event and can shine even if the animal isn’t too cooperative, which can happen even after months of training.

Jones said the 4-H kids were judged by people who know about farm life and have even gone to judging school. Most judges are those who have been part of a judging team in high school or college or enjoy judging swine as a hobby.

Eric Schilling, left, and son Luke, 14, work together preparing for the 4-H Swine Show at the Hancock County Fair on Sunday, June 20. (Tom Russo | Daily Reporter)
Eric Schilling, left, and son Luke, 14, work together preparing for the 4-H Swine Show at the Hancock County Fair on Sunday, June 20. (Tom Russo | Daily Reporter)

Eric Schilling was born and raised in Nebraska, where he took part in various 4-H events. When the family moved to the area 16 years ago, he wanted to make sure his son Luke, 14, an Eastern Hancock freshman, got to experience all the things he did as a kid surrounding the 4-H swine show.

Luke planned to show three hogs during the big event and said he loves every minute of the competition, something he’s been doing for six years.

“For the first few years, when I didn’t have a clue, my dad helped me a lot,” Luke said. “But, now that I’m older and understand it more, I do a lot on my own.”

Still, his father always offers tips on showing, feeding and preparing the hogs. The family gets their hogs from different breeders and trains them just for the 4-H fair.

“Showing pigs 20 years ago is a little different than it is nowadays,” Eric said. “We wanted Luke to do something he enjoys like the Swine Show and learn about hard work, responsibility and be competitive.”

Eric’s father — Luke’s grandfather — also participated in 4-H, making three generations of Schillings at the show Sunday who enjoy working with animals. For Luke, the best part about the swine show is the comaraderie.

“It is for sure fun, because I love hanging around my friends for the day,” Luke said. “But, when the show starts, I will get a little nervous because I want to do a good job. It’s tons of fun.”

Heather Hill is the 4-H swine assistant superintendent. Her daughter Addison, who also won the 4-H fair queen contest, is diverse when it comes to fair competition and also loves showing hogs.

Addison, a recent Greenfield-Central High School graduate who is headed to Purdue University, is a 10 year 4-H member said despite showing pigs for 10 years, she still gets nervous on show day.

“Showing pigs is really a big part of my life,” Addison said. “My family raises commercial hogs, so I’ve grown up around them.”

As a fourth-generation show hog presenter, prepping for the Swine Show is a big part of her summer. She particularly loves working in the barn with her two siblings laying the ground work for the show.

“It’s a lot of work for a 15-minute show each time you walk out there,” Addison said.

She and her siblings started working with the hogs in April. It includes walking, washing and getting their hair just right.

“You want them to be presented as best as they can,” Addison said. “It all starts early at home.”

For Heather, the Swine Show is one of the best parts of the 4-H fair. Whether a participant is a fourth-generation family member showing hogs or the 4-H’er is doing it for the first time, it’s all rewarding and fun.

“It’s just a great way to come out as a family,” she said. “The 4-H fair is a family-oriented activity, and it’s great to see the all the hard work pay off during the Swine Show, because these families have worked with the hogs for many months.”

The show ring is the final step to all the hard work, and no one can predict how the animals will react, regardless of the training.

“It never fails, on show day, some of those hogs are just not going to cooperate,” Heather said. “It’s something all competitors experience.”

Jones noted the swine show is a important because for some of the 4-H participants, it’s a great way for them to earn college money.

“The better they do presenting and showing their animals, the more money they can make in an auction setting,” Jones said.

Unlike in years past, the hogs are not sold to market right after the 4-H fair; that task is now left to the 4-H participant to do, if they choose to.

“We don’t bring the semi in anymore and have them take the hogs to the packer,” Jones said. “All the fairs are like that anymore including the state fair.”

The whole 4-H swine experience is a great learning opportunity for participants, Jones said, because not only do they get to raise and care for the animals, they are also asked to make decisions about their animals, which helps them learn about responsibility.

Sunday’s show wrapped up with the Grand Drive, where all the champions of all the breeds got to show off the animals while the judges selected the champions.

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Here are unofficial results of competitions at the Hancock County 4-H Fair. These results, provided by fair organizers and the superintendents of the various shows, may be incomplete and are considered unofficial until certified by 4-H officials. A complete roundup of results will be published in July in the Daily Reporter’s 4-H Fair Scrapbook.

SWINE SHOW

Barrows

Grand Champion: Hayden Joyce — Crossbread

Reserve Grand Champion: Reed Hedrick — Crossbred

Third overall: Inez Friddle — Duroc

Fourth overall: Luke Schilling — Yorkshire

Fifth overall: Hannah Womack — Landrace

Gilts

Grand Champion: Landon Stanley — Yorkshire

Reserve Grand Champion: Inez Friddle — Spot

Third overall: Rylee Grinstead — Hampshire

Fourth overall: Rylee Grinstead — Crossbred

Fifth overall: Caden Nation — Tamworth

RABBIT SHOW

Best in Show: Claire Bishop

Grand Champion Fryer: Devon Kelley

Grand Champion Meat Pen: Sean Kelley

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