On Tuesday, October 4th, Italy High School freshman and Italy FFA member, Alex Jones, showed her heavy weight Dark Cross Barrow, Stewy, at the State Fair of Texas Livestock Show in Dallas. After 5 months of feeding twice a day, exercising once a day, spending weekends at camps and jackpot shows Alex had Stewy ready to compete with other hogs across the state.

Early Monday morning Alex, Stewy and Ty Sparks headed to Dallas. After waiting in line with the other Exhibitors and their hogs for about 6 hours, Stewy was finally in the barn. After a few hours of resting Alex immediately started working with Stewy just like she would at home to make sure he adjusted well to the new environment. This was a critical time for Stewy because he needed to be at a certain weight to make the weight class Alex thought he placed best in. The pair were placed in the last class of the day, which is where they wanted to be.

After waiting all day, the time had come for Alex to present Stewy to Jim McCoy, the market barrow Judge. It took Mr. McCoy about 30 minutes to get his top hogs picked of the 30 in the class. Stewy would be the 2nd place Heavy Weight Dark Cross Market Barrow and Texas Bred Champion!

On Friday, October 7th Alex had the opportunity to sell Stewy at the Auction of Champions. After the long hours at the ag barn, waiting in line, early mornings and late nights, Alex’s hard work paid off.

Congratulations to Alex and Stewy on a job well done in Dallas!