Autumn Nuccio with the Battlecreek Beavers 4-H club stepped into the show ring at the Lake County Fair for the first time Wednesday and walked away a winner.
The 9-year-old Hebron girl took first place in her division and her hog was named the crossbred champion heavyweight.
“It feels pretty good,” the first-time competitor said. She was all smiles and kept eye contact with judge Hayden Wilder of Remington when she moved her hog around the ring with the other champion hogs and their handlers as they vied for the title of grand champion barrow.
It was a tough field of veteran 4-H hog handlers including Noah Hayden with the Shelby Ag 4-H Club, who had four champion hogs in the ring, and Jacob Covaciu with Eagle Creek Up & At Em 4-H.
Jacob walked away with grand champion barrow bragging rights. Wilder told the crowd gathered to watch that the hog’s shape, definition and walk just stood out above the others. Earlier in the day Noah claimed grand champion gilt and Mackenzie Hein with the Saddles & Spurs 4-H club showed the grand champion market gilt.
Showing hogs is a big part of the Lake County Fair and a champion ribbon means a better price Saturday when the hogs are auctioned off.
“It is going to be hard for her,” Barb Nuccio, Autumn’s mom said, adding the kids know the ultimate fate of their animals but they still get attached.
Showing livestock is a large component of the county fair, and 4-H members who do not live on a farm are provided barn space by volunteers so they have the opportunity to experience raising farm animals.
Bill Reed of Hebron was in the goat and poultry barn. Reed was trimming the hair on a young boer goat his daughter, Clara, 15, would be showing Thursday.
“It’s her first haircut,” Reed said. The goat’s head was down in a defensive position, ready to ram if given the chance, he said. The animal’s anxious bleating could be heard two barns over.
“She’s a good one,” Reed laughed. Unlike the hogs, which are auctioned at the end of the fair, Reed said the goat will become part of the family’s herd and will likely live eight or nine years.
The creature is just one of 14 goats Clara will be showing.
“It’s all about the kids,” he said.
It is also about teamwork and helping out. Makenzie Parker, 11, of Crown Point, was tending to her sister Riley’s horse Frog while Riley, 12, took a break from the competition.
“She just finished the barrels,” Makenzie said, adding she tried riding but it didn’t work out so well, so this year she is just helping out.
“It’s still fun,” Makenzie said, as she tried to keep Frog from munching on grass with the bit in his mouth.
Meanwhile Lillian Smith, 11, of Lowell, was waiting with her horse, Princess Aurora, for her chance to run the barrels in the horse arena. She took third place in her age group for bareback riding.
Lillian said she likes “pretty much everything” about horses. “I saw some on TV and I thought it would be cool to just ride one.”
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Carrie Napoleon is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.