Pictured, from the left, are Swine Judge Ryan Michael, Grand Champion Market Gilt winner Hayden Baxley, Reserve Grand Champion Market Gilt winner Evelyn Baxley with their parents Kelly Baxley and Whitley Carnes. (EXAMINER PHOTO | NIKKI BURKHAMER)
By Nikki Burkhamer
Examiner Contributor
“I feel like I have the best gilt in the county,” Hayden Baxley, a fifth-grader at Benjamin Logan Middle School, beamed on the evening of Monday, July 8 at the Logan County Fair.
He was awarded the Grand Champion pennant for the female show pig his own family bred. So, he had every reason to feel “awesome” during his after-show glow as excited family and friends surrounded him.
“I’ve shown pigs for two years,” he shared, and he has also been a member of 4-H for that long.
Zedeker and Baxley Show Pigs were not only responsible for breeding the Grand Champion Market Gilt, but also the Reserve Champion Market Gilt. Hayden’s sister Evelyn Baxley garnered the reserve honors. She will be in fourth-grade at Benjamin Logan next year.
“It feels really amazing to win because it’s my first year,” Evelyn said smiling.
With one year under her belt in 4-H she “expects to get better every year.”
Benjamin Logan students fared well in the Swine Show this year, as the Market Barrow winners also hail from the rural district. Brock Bates, an incoming BLMS eighth-grader won the Reserve Champion Market Barrow pennant.
“I’m ready to compete at the Ohio State Fair,” Brock said.
Though he is “a little upset that his pig will be put down,” the young man then talked of his more than four years in 4-H. His experience comes from a family history of breeding pigs. He did not name his winning barrow, but it was self-bred by his family business named Bates Show Pigs.
“I was happy I won, but a little defeated that I was not Grand Champion,” Bates said. Look for his competitive spirit in that ring in the coming years.
Zhoe Seeley, who turned 16 on Saturday, won Grand Champion Market Barrow. Also a Benjamin Logan student, she will be a junior next year.
“Winning is definitely a great feeling. All of my blood, sweat, and tears were poured into that hog.
“My Grandpa Seeley died in 2017. I know that he would be very proud of me. Showing livestock was his pride and joy. Today, I feel like I made him proud,” Zhoe shared.
Her years of 4-H experience have helped her to her current success.
“I’ve been showing pigs for seven years,” she beamed.
Responsible for the judging of this year’s show was Ryan Michael. From Farmersville, Ohio, he has been judging swine shows in several different states and all over Ohio for “a little over three years,” now.
A fourth-generation pig farmer, Michael has garnered his knowledge of this farm animal from growing up on an Ohio pig farm.
When asked about what he thought of the Logan County Fair, he said, “It was great. The people who put on this show are fabulous, and the quality of pigs in the show were very good.”
His advice to those who would like to win Grand Champion is to “watch a show ringside to try to pick up the things the judge is saying. Try to see if you can notice the things that he is calling out. You really should watch as many pig shows as you can,” the judge advised.
