Aaron & Janice

Tilmann & his pig Gobber. Tilmann's pig won First in his Class, overall placing 12th. Tilmann also placed 4th in his class for showmanship. Showmanship is judged on how they show their pig, not the quality of the pig. All the boys were able to get their pigs penned. Which means the jugde takes the top half of the showman and has them put their pigs in the pen, and then send the second half of showers back to the barn.
Tavin and his pig Obama. (mostly black with a little white and the worse of the bunch) Obama injured the pad of his foot the night before so Tavin was showing a limping pig. The pig was good quality like his brothers. Tavin's pig placed 4th in his class, overall 42nd. Tavin was able to place 2nd in showmanship in his class. I love this photo for he is so involved on keeping an eye on the judge.

By the way the placement of these pigs is for selling purposes. There was 387 pigs that weighed into the fair.(That is A LOT of PIGS!) Some kids bring spare pigs, but can only sell one, or there are many who don't make weight, which can't be sold either. They sold 147 pigs....so with that in mind, being 42 doesn't seem so far down on the list!
Taft and his pig Bob won First in his Class. Then went on to show and made 2nd in his Division. He then had his pig chosen as Reserve Champion Market Swine....which is 2nd place overall. Grand moment for us! Happy that my mother was able to be there watching. Taft was placed 5th in his class in showmanship.
When the boys are showing their pigs, the show ring has at least a dozen or more pigs and kids....kind of difficult. Here is a photo of Taft and the neighbor boy Charles, they grew up together....born just a month apart.
Drey and his pig Fatty (weighing a couple pounds more than the brothes pigs at 284). Drey's pig placed First in his Class, and went on to place 2nd in his Division. His pig placed 5th. For showmanship Drey placed 7th in his class. His pig wasn't behaving very well, making things difficult.
Drey talking with the judge, Rex from Iowa. When they pen their pigs, the judge will go around and ask them questions. We really liked this judge, he judged well, and instead of making the kids feel bad on what they did wrong, he would point out things that they could do to improve. He was impressed with our sons and their pigs.
Days are long at the fair...are we having fun yet? The boys & Aaron spent the nights at the fair in the back of a Horse Trailer. Air mattress and even a home-made hammock. They made due, for they had to be up in the pig barn by 6 a.m. cleaning out the pigs pens. I would arrive later and bring breakfast & lunch (most days), they also had an assortment of junk food in the trailer.
The last contest with the pigs is a Pen of Five. Here each 4H Group can get their best selection of pigs, also the ones that are most uniform to each other. This was Aaron's grand moment, since the group choose 5 of our 6 pigs (we brought 2 spare pigs) and then WE WON the showing! Which means money for our club for a pizza party! We had GREAT PIGS THIS YEAR! (This is our pen in the barn afterwards, moving all the pigs into one pen)
Another shot of our Amazing Pigs!
Here is Taft with his trophy & metals for his Reseve Champion Market Swine.