The hog barn of the Freeborn County Fairgrounds was quiet Friday morning except for the hum of propane heaters, parents whispering and the sound of men tapping pigs with canes and plastic rods to move the animals so the silent students and adults in the bleachers participating in the judging contest of the Minnesota State Spring Barrow Show could rank the pigs.

“The focus of our whole show has always been on the youth, and on the educational aspect, not only for the contestants and the exhibitors, but also for the public as well,” Pam Koenen said.

Koenen, the FFA adviser at Alden-Conger schools, has been involved withthe Minnesota State Spring Barrow Show for about 20 years, and she said the atmosphere of the judging competition was of friendly competition.

“I know a lot of the kids out here today are sixth- seventh- eighth-graders,” Keonen said. “This may be the first judging contest of any kind they’ve ever been involved in. For the older kids and for the adults, it’s a chance to compete in a contest that has a really long history.”

As Koenen helped compile the scores of the judging contest, she said 28 youth teams competed with about 150 total contestants.

“You’re looking for soundness,” Koenan said. “You’re looking for muscularity — all those different terms they’re going to hear, but to see it in that class and not just have to rely on their memory is a whole lot more meaningful to them and it’s going to make a huge difference in how those kids do if they continue to compete down the road.”

In the student portion of the competition, teams of four were split between four bleachers so they couldn’t work together. For five rounds, they ranked four pigs and received different points for how their rankings compared with the rankings of the three judges. They also received points in comparison to the difficulty of the ranking, said judge Randy Morris.

“The ultimate goal is for the young people to understand the pork industry and where the pork industry is at now. And the pork industry has changed over the years,” said Marty Cotter, FFA adviser for Northwood-Kensett.

St. Ansgar FFA student Willie Weis said he didn’t think he performed well because he preferred a larger framed pig and the judges often chose a smaller frame, but Weis finished third in the individual student judging competition. Nicole Johnson of St. Ansgar finished first, and Jayson Olson of Northwood-Kensett finished second. Valerie Ujazdowski won the adult portion, and the first St. Ansgar FFA won the team competition, and Northwood-Kensett finished second.

Finding the top or bottom animal in a set of four is how Weis said he started each round, because he could then compare the others with that animal, but that isn’t always an easy task.

The hardest part “is when you get two hogs that are completely different and you have to take which one you’re going to use over the other one when you have nothing the same — none of the same qualities… They both have problems, and they both have some good things, but they don’t really fit together,” Weis said.

Cotter also teaches his students to find the best or worst pig first, and then he tells his students to put them in pairs.

“Try to find the two you think are the top two, the two that might be the bottom two,” Cotter said. “And after that it comes down to some personal things and what you think about the pigs themselves. Normally if can get the top two and the bottom two where they need to be, you’ll come out with a pretty decent score.”

For some, the barrow show competition works as practice for the state FFA show in the spring, said Annie and Kelly Tomschin of the Alden-Conger FFA.

Matt Jensen competed for the Alden-Conger FFA. Jensen said his adviser used slideshows to prepare students to judge animals that Jensen said are often built differently.

Nathan Moretz said the Northwood-Kensett High School FFA also practices by traveling to different farms before contests, but practice doesn’t guarantee a successful contest.

“Well everybody has preferences,” Moretz said. “If you get lucky, your judge will have the same preference as you.”

Moretz, who won the individual portion of the 2008 judging contest, said the contests are at a slight disadvantage because they are in bleachers, when the judge is up in the ring close to the pigs.

Morris said it’s important for the youth to be involved in a competition like this because they’re the future of the pork industry.

“I like the kid aspect of it you see all these young exhibitors — get them involved in something they like and show them that there’s opportunity in the industry, and when they get older and go to high school and college, they can come back into the industry and make a positive contribution to animal agriculture,” Morris said.