That's some pig: Swine so fine on parade at fair

In just her second year of showing pigs, Kalispell FFA member Jordyn Greene, 16, is the Northwest Montana Fair's senior swine showmanship grand champion.

No stranger to animals, Greene used the help of her 252-pound Hampshire cross pig, Daisy, to best a field of nine in the finals at the fairgrounds Trade Center on Wednesday morning.

"After working with horses for a couple of years, I decided I wanted to get into livestock. It's so amazing to be able to have success so quickly," Greene said about her accomplishment. "I just made sure I was always smiling and had my pig under control."

Reserve champion winner Anna Tretter earned her spot despite being forced to take her second choice of her pigs into the arena with her.

Tretter's top pig, named Aretha, was held back due to an injury, but her second choice, a Duroc Landrace Yorkshire named Franklin, nearly won her the top prize.

"I couldn't take an unsound hog into the ring, so I went with Franklin," Tretter said. "He wasn't my first choice, but it really worked out well."

This was Tretter's third year showing swine at the fair.

Judge Brett Moriarty said he had a tough time narrowing down the large field of competitors in the senior division as the showmen attempted to keep their hogs 10 to 15 feet from him while keeping them off the fence, out of the corners of the ring and moving at all times.

"It doesn't necessarily take the best pig in the world to make it to the finals, but it does take making your pig look as good as you possibly can. That includes, skin, hair, feeding them and learning how to drive them," Moriarty said.

"We had a lot of really good things going on here today," he said. "There was a lot of variation with one really nice class and a few that might have needed a bit more work. There wasn't one competitor that really jumped out and grabbed me, but our winner was one that was elite every time she made a good pass."

According to Moriarty, showmanship is more about hard work and presentation than anything else.

"As you can see, some pigs are easier to train than others, but if the effort is made to make them better, you can get them where you want them to be. Some are just a bit more challenging than others," he said. "Sometimes you just don't have the best pig in the world, but you have to be proud of what you have and get the most out of it that you can. Sometimes, it is all about who is working the hardest."

Reporter Jeremy Weber may be reached at 406-758-4446 or jweber@dailyinterlake.com.