TETON COUNTY FAIR Jackson Hole News&Guide, Wednesday, August 1, 2012 - 3
TRAVIS J. GARNER / NEWS&GUIDE
4-H Swine contestants Brad Riotto and Wyatt Chapdelaine keep Riotto’s 271-pound hog happy Thursday before the 4-H Swine Showmanship competition at Heritage Arena.
Kids and their pigs dance for the judges 4-H kids shine at swine shows. By Brielle Schaeffer
K
irby Castagno’s pig, Steve Urkel, became a little sluggish in the arena Thursday during the showmanship contest at the 4-H Swine Show. Steve Urkel, the 253-pound Yorkshire Cross, did not want to parade around for the judge despite all of Kirby’s tapping of his jowl. But Kirby still dazzled the visiting judge with his composure and confidence. Dressed in a white button-up and black bolo tie, he was ready for his show. The 10-year-old Moran resident won a coveted lavender rosette as reserve champion in the showmanship contest’s
junior division. “I’m happy,” Kirby said. “He got a little lazy on me though. ... I’m usually always the winner.” Kinzie Castagno, 9, took the grand champion showmanship award in the junior division. She also took the grand championship award for the market contest, in which the pig’s body is judged, beating out her cousin, Brayden Castagno, 14. He took the reserve champion award for market. “I’m glad my little cousin won,” said Brayden, Kirby’s older brother. “She was so excited. I’m glad she beat me.” For four months, dozens of 4-H kids readied for the contests. The kids spent hours every day feeding, cleaning and grooming their pigs, 12-year-old Kylie Wilson, of Jackson, said. “You just really walk them and get them used to being around other pigs,” she said about her
JACLYN BOROWSKI / NEWS&GUIDE
Jack Vosika moves a pig off the scale during the livestock weigh-in on July 25.
TRAVIS J. GARNER / NEWS&GUIDE
Andy Techies, 4-H livestock judge, coaches Lexi Daugherty during the intermediate division of the Swine Showmanship contest.
two competitors, Rasckal and Roger, both “Blue Butts.” The pigs like to eat, sleep and drink, she said. It can be hard to convince them to do much else. “They really don’t want to do any extra work,” Kylie said. But her hard work paid off. Kylie received fourth place in intermediate showmanship and third and fourth places in her two weight classes in the market contest. Judge Andy Thies, of Roggen, Colo., said he looks for kids who present themselves and their animals as best they can for showmanship. These showmanship
contests are like dancing, he said. “If your partner doesn’t want to dance, you ain’t dancing,” he said. For the senior showmanship division, Kinzie’s sister, Reegan Castagno, 14, took grand champion and Jed Christensen, 19, took reserve. In the intermediate showmanship contest, Brayden was the grand champion and Derek Grant, 8, was the reserve champion. For market, Thies said he looked for productive hogs that gain weight quickly. “They should be balanced, they should be heavy muscled,”
he said. “The fewer dollars we can put into a product, the better it is for producer and consumer.” After the contests, unless awards qualify kids for the Wyoming State Fair in Douglas the pigs went up for sale at the livestock auction. Selling their pig pets can be hard, Kylie said, but “the more you do it, it gets better.” Plus, if their livestock sells, they can make a profit. Lexi Daugherty, 13, of Alta, received $1,500 at the auction for her pig last year, she said. The profit goes right into her college fund, Lexi said.