We caught up with Mr. Nick Hofschulte after he judged the Market Barrow Show at the 2024 Arizona National. Check out his thoughts below…

What breed stood out as the toughest and deepest?
The crossbred show was very solid all the way through.

At what point did you know that your champion was your champion?
I had a really good feeling about him when I first sent him to the scales, and knew he would be tough to beat

What’s one thing you wish this generation of showmen needs to be more aware of?
I wish this generation of showman and fitters would understand that you can try to hard at the show, not only with electrolytes and sugars, but also with hair products. I don’t mind hair and paint, but it has to look natural. Pigs look much more fit and tidy with a little bit of a hair cut and everything laying natural

When judging do you ever wonder what the pedigrees are on some of the animals or think I bet that one is a ……. ?
Absolutely! I feel any judging that is interested in making them better is always curious what the pigs they gravitate to are out of.

Any funny encounters throughout the day?
We took our little 2 year old boy Will with us and he was bound and determined to ride the Watusi steer in the pen as you enter the fairgrounds. Watching him climb the panel and try to crawl in the pen with him while his mom wasn’t watching was pretty humorous

What has been the biggest change in the ring since you were an exhibitor?
I finished showing in ‘06 so you can imagine the change that’s occurred since then. It is amazing how far we have come in terms of making them stouter, especially when talking about structure and bone. Yet I think we need to be mindful of history, and remember the past in terms of the negatives that come with chasing extreme traits and only selecting for them. I believe that we have a stout enough hog at the time and need to begin to search for traits of functionality and ad some genetic diversity before we see more and more genetic defects than we are experiencing today