Staff photo by Clay Schuldt Olivia Hammer and Aubree Schmidt show swine during the Brown County 4-H Hog Show.

NEW ULM — The Brown County 4–H Swine Show was held Saturday morning, and, with a variety of qualified pigs, no one exhibitor hogged the spotlight.

Kate Schmidt of Milford took purple ribbon in Breeding Gilt. Her Commercial January breeding gilt was judged top in its class.

Schmidt has shown pigs for seven years. Her favorite part of the pigs is how they are, and how raising them is like having a great pet. She said the secret to showing pigs is to be calm while showing the animal.

The Champion Market Gilt ribbon went to Kiera Lafferty of the Burnstown/Broookville 4-H Club. Lafferty received many of the top awards in the Open Hog Show on Friday with her pig Penelope. She was able to add a few ribbons during the 4-H Show. Lafferty said that overall, Penelope behaved better on Saturday. Lafferty would also win the Senior Showmanship prize and Pen of Three.

Olivia Hammer won the Purebred Market Barrow and Intermediate Showmanship award.

Aubree Schmidt won the Champion Crossbred Market Barrow and would go on to win champion for Overall Market Barrow. The winning pig was named Shooter Jennings. Schmidt’s advice for swine shows was to keep calm while showing. She had previously had difficulty with one pig that liked to hug the gate forcing her to swap in Shooter Jennings who performed much better.

The Best Club Truckload went to the Comfrey Comets this year with Burnstown/Brookville taking Reserve.

Judge Ben Drescher said the Brown County4-H students were a tremendous group of kids.

“You can tell they work hard on their projects,” he said. In judging several fairs this summer, Drescher saw swine shows rebounding. It was not unusual to see 300 head a show. He believed the State Fair would have strong numbers.

He said the sheer quality of the swine program is growing by leaps and bounds within the last five years.