#bidbuyshowwin Showmanship
For the 7,000 youth who exhibited at this year’s event, only the breed champions experience the stage-like atmosphere that being in the Grand Drive offers. This year’s Grand Champion Market Barrow exhibitor can testify to the amazing feeling of being a top winner at OYE.
Karli Schwerdtfeger is a 12-year-old Stratford, Okla. girl who shows hogs and lambs. She hits the National Junior Swine Association’s summer show circuit and in the spring, goes to her county, district and state shows.
Schwerdtfeger was born in Louisiana and her family moved to Oklahoma when she was three years old. That same year she showed her first pig, a small Berkshire gilt named “Bitsy” that she took to a jackpot show. The pig won its class and her love for showing began. Schwerdtfeger says being around her livestock show friends makes each show feel like a vacation
But at this year’s OYE, Schwedtfeger and her barrow shifted from vacation mode to work mode.
The Hampshire pig she drove to the show’s top spot at OYE has a special story. The Schwerdtfeger family had been working with their really close friends, the Fontenot family in Louisiana. Kyle Schwerdtfeger sold them five sows and gave Yimmi Fontenot one of his first Bone N Hand gilts to start her herd. This gilt produced a barrow that was named Louisiana State Champion Hog this year. In return Kyle was to receive a gilt from this sow and continue that sow line. However, Fontenot’s new sow only produced a single gilt in her first two litters and Kyle did not want to take the only females. So, John Fontenot told Kyle to pick a barrow out of a litter sired by Kyle’s Bone N Hand boar for Karli to show.
Kyle says he knew the Hampshire-marked barrow he and Karli picked had potential. Karli named the pig J.J. after their Louisiana friends, John and Joanna Fontenot. He was an easy pig to feed but she says she had to work to keep him in shape. The pig gave her trouble only one time and Karli attributed that to him having been in the ring five times in a row.
Throughout the show season, the pig did well, winning its class and eventually being breed and grand champion at the county and the district show. While at the county show, Joanna Fontenot told Karli that if she won this prestigious show their family was coming from Louisiana to watch her show at OYE.
“They’d never been before and they’re just so much fun to have there,” Karli says.
But at OYE this year, something changed. Karli says the pig’s demeanor was entirely different.
“It was like he knew he was good,” she says. “We were going in for the Grand Drive and his attitude was, ‘Move out of my way.’ In the holding ring he was almost bullying the other pigs and even tried to fight one. He had never done that before. I could almost tell the pig was thinking, ‘I got this.’”
Winning a breed championship in one of OYE’s four market shows means something special. The animals are penned near the ring in advance and the crowd gathers in the stands with anticipation. As the grand drive begins, all of the breed champion exhibitors are driven into the show arena in a limousine and are announced by name as they exit the car. The reserve breed champions are given recognition with a quick walk in the show ring while the breed champions are getting ready.
“When I came out of the limo my hands were shaking,” she says. “Another friend of mine in the limo with me asked if I was nervous and I said, ‘Oh yeah.’”
Next each breed champion was announced as it entered the show ring. Karli says she worked so hard to get her pig in front of the judge and when the judge gave reasons he cheered them up in the ring, stating how hard they worked and what an honor it was to be in Grand Drive. When the judge came toward her he was also looking at another hog but he turned and slapped her hog as the winner. Karli says her heart swelled and she was stunned, hardly believing what had just happened.
Watching video of the Grand Champion drive still makes her teary-eyed. After all, she only hoped to win her class at OYE. Her other hog, a crossbred named Whitty, was 7th in his lightweight class.
The rush of winning the show has not quite settled in for the Schwerdtfeger’s. In addition to a nice premium check she also took home an aluminum hog trailer, with the title Grand Champion Market Barrow, OYE 2016 imprinted on the sides. The family has use of the trailer for one year and Karli told her dad the first thing she wanted to do with her premium money was buy it outright once their year was up.
Karli has an older brother, Tate, who is 13 and also shows hogs. She says he has been a huge help getting her pigs ready when she’s had evening cheerleading practice. Her goal now is to help him win OYE too.
“There’s so many hogs at OYE and everyone is trying to do something good,” she says. “We all have pretty good quality pigs so it’s a really competitive show. That’s what we’re preparing for the whole year.”
Kyle says OYE is unique in that it truly showcases and rewards the kids.
“The whole time you’re there the staff and the judges say things like, ‘We are so glad you’re here,’ and ‘We appreciate the hard work you’ve done every day,’” he says.
Though the Schwerdtfeger’s have just come from an unbelievable high, last year they had extreme lows with their show pigs. One pig died and another broke its hip. This year they decided to focus on something more than winning a show.
“We always made this as a family deal but we went a step further and made this year about God,” Kyle says. “We prayed for the pigs, for Him to let us use our abilities to make things go smoothly and to focus on that as a family. We wanted to make it more than just about showing. And it was just so special the way it all came together.”