NJSA Bred & Owned Gilt Judge

What is your favorite Expo memory?
Attending the WPX Junior show for the first time in 2009 in Des Moines. I had never been to Expo before as some years we were still in school, and most years we had a younger set of pigs that were not ready yet. Family friends and mentors, Aaron and Sue Schafer of Owaneco, IL, offered to take me and a home raised Berkshire barrow that year. He was reserve champion Berk barrow in the show under Chris Danner. Aaron and Sue are Iowa State alumni, so on that trip they took me to Ames one evening and showed me the swine teaching farm and talked about their time at ISU. On the way home, we went and looked at Chesters at Schminke’s for their kids to show at NBS later in the fall. It was a very memorable trip that allowed me to see and experience things I had only ever heard about.

What is the most memorable boar/gilt/barrow from Expo?
This won’t mean much for most but for me, it was a unique experience in 2016. Fresh out of college, I had just started judging a few bigger, deeper quality jackpot shows that spring which was exciting. Lane Rinderer had a blue barrow that won the crossbred barrow show at WPX that I had gate cut at a show a few weeks before. I thought I’d never judge again and my world was ending.

A day or two later, Avery Rash has a Berkshire gilt that wins supreme team purebred gilt at the show in Des Moines. I believe that gilt was a littermate to Whatever It Takes that sold for $95,000. I had used that gilt for supreme overall at that same jackpot show and she sticks in my mind as one of my favorite pigs I’ve had the chance to evaluate still today. All was right with the world again.

I use that example to reflect back on now and remind myself not to get too high or too low about this deal. Everyone has an opinion and it takes all kinds of kinds. Pick them how you see them and that’s all you can do.