A day after winning the top hog showmanship award, Zander Ivey continued his streak of accomplishments on Wednesday by winning the grand championship trophy at the Fayette County Junior Fair market hog show.
When asked to put his victory into words, Ivey said, “I really can’t right now. I’m just very, very happy. While we were waiting on the announcement of who won, I was standing there and shaking.”
Ivey, 14, did add that he “put a lot of work into getting to this point.”
Ivey is a member of the 4-H Fun Bunch.
The reserve champion trophy went to Kasi Payton, who has been showing hogs since she was in third grade.
“The whole process was nerve-wracking, but I’m just very happy with what happened,” said Payton, 19. “It’s unbelievable.”
Payton won the grand champion sheep trophy in 2015. She is a member of the Blue Ribbon Champs 4-H club.
After Ivey and Payton, three other exhibitors placed in the market hog show: Third place Maya McCoy, fourth place Kaden Bryant and fifth place Tommy Hughes-Harris.
The judge of the show, Brian Down, said he was impressed by the Fayette County hog exhibitors.
“The grand champion was really complete, but still had all the extras,” said Down. “Overall, the hogs were complete and the kids here are really great kids.”
In other results at Wednesday’s hog show:
The champion purebred went to Maya McCoy and the reserve went to Hunter Havens.
The champion dark cross barrow went to Zander Ivey and the reserve went to Kasi Payton.
The champion light cross barrow went to Maya McCoy and the reserve went to Kaden Bryant.
The champion dark cross gilt was won by Tommy Hughes-Harris and the reserve went to Zander Ivey.
The champion light cross gilt was won by Dane Wilt and the reserve went to Trevor Barker.
