Packed grandstands quickly turned to standing room only Wednesday evening as the swine show commenced at the 112th Routt County Fair.

Exhibitors proudly displayed their projects as the judge, Brett Kaysen, assessed their work and quizzed participants on their swine knowledge.

The show remains one of the most popular events with 45 exhibitors. The showmanship event, lasting over two hours between three age categories, featured some of Routt County’s best. 

The evening kicked off with Kimberly Gray showing off a swine project that earned her grand champion for overall drive in the market swine division. Weighing 295 pounds, the champion swine was right in tune with Gray and her commands. 

Following Gray, the eldest age group, seniors, entered the pen with their projects. Exhibitors kept their gaze locked on Kaysen as they walked their swines around with a whip. In the showmanship event, Kaysen looks not only for steady eye contact from an exhibitor but also a calm, controlled presence over the project. For the swine itself, Kaysen looks at the skin, hair and overall health of the project. 

After the initial drive, Kaysen narrowed down the field from 20 senior exhibitors across three heats to six finalists. The final drive looks nearly identical to the initial one when it comes to regulations and goals, but a different energy is felt among both spectators and exhibitors. The already quiet barn was reduced to whispers and all eyes were on the pen. 

Kiley Iacovetto was named grand champion with Alexis Jones as reserve grand champion. 

The 17 intermediate showmanship exhibitors were up next. The group appeared eager to practice what they learned from the seniors and happy to be graduated from the junior category. Again condensed to six exhibitors for the final drive, it was Josie Iacovetto taking grand champion and Reata Paul taking reserve grand champion.

As the junior heat began with Routt County’s youngest exhibitors, one stood out from the crowd — 10-year old Aubrey Schlatter. This is Schlatter’s third year showing swines and she was eager to share more on her projects, Daisy and Spotty. 

Daisy is Schlatter’s gilt and Spotty is a barrow. All projects exhibited at the showmanship event were gilts — female swines that have not yet had a litter. Gilts can be exhibited or raised for market. Barrows are male swines that are exclusively raised for market.

Schlatter exhibited Daisy during the junior showmanship event and ended up placing third overall. She planned to exhibit both swines later that evening at the market event. She says her favorite part of taking care of the swines is getting to “love on them.” 

“They are so sweet and I can just love on them,” said Schlatter. “Sometimes when they’re in the pen, they get zoomies and run really fast around in circles. It’s funny.” 

During the drive, the judge will stop and chat with exhibitors to learn more about their project. The senior and intermediate exhibitors kept an eye on their swine and most swines waited near their person. In the junior group, the swines didn’t quite behave the same. There were indeed swine “zoomies” during the group’s show. 

Kaysen took extra time to chat with the junior exhibitors before their round to explain what he was looking for. This helped calm nerves and set expectations for the youngest exhibitors. 

In the end, it was Finley Daughenbaugh taking grand champion and Pearl Schwarz taking reserve grand champion for the juniors.