Adair County residents go hog wild at the state fair

DES MOINES — The Iowa State Fair wrapped up Sunday, ending a 10-day run of non-stop action each day including people from all over the state and all over the world.

As such, many from Adair County took part in activities at the fair. Coincidentally, many of the highlights of locals at this year’s state fair came from the pork industry, as an area youth was a winning showman, a Greenfield man finished second in the hog calling contest, and a Greenfield farmer had one of the biggest boars at the fair.

Lilly a finalist in big boar contest

Adair County farmer Greg Lilly had a boar named Cupid that took fourth in the state fair’s big boar contest.

In Lilly’s case, deciding to enter the contest was something his family somewhat stumbled upon. One of their boars on their farm began to get rather large, so they had the idea of entering the contest. Lilly’s father, Steve, had a boar finish highly in the contest several years ago.

Cupid weighed in at 1,058 pounds, still 230 pounds out of first place. The winning boar, The Irish Cowboy, owned by Bryan and Tricia Britt of Monticello, topped the class at 1,288 pounds. Brutus, a boar from Sioux Center, was runner-up at 1,258 pounds. Magic Mike, a boar from Sigourney, took third at 1,134 pounds.

“We were going to try it last year, but with the fair being canceled we decided to keep him another year,” Lilly said. “It probably took more feed, and the one thing during the summer is that you’ve gotta make sure you can keep them cool, either by keeping them in the shade, giving them lots of water, and maybe sprinkling them off every once and awhile. Otherwise, it wasn’t too much different [than raising other pigs].”

Laughery earns scholarship through horticulture project

Rural Fontanelle teen Olivia Laughery received a $500 scholarship toward her future post-secondary education because of a project she took to the Iowa State Fair covering how to propagate a kalanchoe plant.

“You can take this plant, cut off stems, limbs or leaves of the plant, replant them, and they will grow a whole new plant,” Laughery said. “You don’t have to have seeds or anything, it just grows.”

Laughery said she’s developed a love for horticulture from growing up on a farm and is grateful for what she learned from doing this project.

“With this plant, there’s a lot of trial and error, so a few of the things I learned were that if you want the plant to look thick or more full, you can cut off the stems from the main branches because two stems will grow back in its place,” Laughery said. “I also learned how to keep it in enough sunlight, but not too much.”

Yount second place in hog calling contest

After sharing second place in 2019, Bill Yount of Greenfield took second place all to himself in the hog calling contest at the Iowa State Fair.

Yount said that in comparison to his last try, he held out his “sooeys” longer and had a big finish. He enjoys stepping outside the box to entertain people and make them laugh. He’s looking forward to next year, when he’ll aim to win the championship.

“It’s fun to participate in the fair,” Yount said. “It’s fun to get outside your box. I like people and like to entertain. They can laugh at me all they want, but at least we’re having fun.”

Rohrig is champion junior swine showman

Taylor Rohrig of Orient was the champion junior showman at the Iowa State Fair’s swine show.

Other 4-H results

Other 4-H results from the fair included:

Sophie Dorsey, beef, 2 p

Jennifer Holliday, beef, p

Krista James, swine, 4 b

Lukas James, swine, 4 b

Kamryn Nourse, horse, 2 r

Tucker Rohrig, swine, 1 b

Taylor Rohrig, swine, 2 b

Cash Suhr, swine, 2 p

Connor Beane, tractor seat chair, b

Delaney Blomme, macrame wall hanging, b

Ethan Blomme, wood cutting board, b

Bailey Carstens, working exhibit, excellence

Bailey Carstens, GF angel food cake, b

Cameron Christensen, wall hanging, bird feeder and poster, 2 b

Madison Christensen, working exhibit, merit

Madison Christensen, GF blueberry and banana muffins, r

Carley Fagan, herd record book, b

Carley Fagan, Herd It x2 presentation, merit

Kacie Ford, bubble wands working exhibit, merit

Molli Gettler, wooden clock, b

Slade Gettler, dutch oven accessories, b

Terrin Gettler, personal development, certificate

Storm Hoadley, pumpkin chiffon cake, r

Hope Kading, $10 meal challenge, b

Mark Kilborn, memorial table, b

Kaydence Kirkland, chair, b

Olivia Laughery, kalanchoe propagation, b

Taylor Laughery, decoupage desk, r; cinnamon scones, b

Gavin Meisenheimer, butterfly photo, b; walnut apple bundt cake, b

Lauren O’Brien, rhubarb leaf bird bath, b

Chloe Rardin, sunset/binoculars picture, r; creative cat photo, b

Chloe Rardin, black hexagon pencil skirt, r

Zayden Rawlings, photo of dead wood, b; photo of river and branch, b.

Ava Rectenbaugh, discover the fair poster and write up, b

Tucker Rohrig, sunset pig photo, b

Austin Shelley, rolling shop stool, b

Kiara Stevens, photo of a leaf, r

KayLynn Virtue, shadow box with paper flowers, b