Boy, show swine build bond
Staff writer
While most teens spent the day after Christmas tinkering with their presents, Landon Roberts, 14, was busy loading up his 388-pound show pig, Lucy, to head out with his family and two other competitors to the Arizona National Livestock Show in Phoenix.
Landon acquired Lucy from her breeder immediately after she was weaned. From there began a tight knit relationship between boy and show pig.
From chores every day, to walking her in the yard, to various competitions, the personality of Lucy became evident to her owner.
After Lucy was announced as the heavyweight crossbred gilt class winner in Arizona, Landon realized he would have to sell her at the show. “Before her success in Arizona, we had the intentions of selling her back to the breeder we got her from and buying one of her piglets, so it was definitely bittersweet,” said Sonya Roberts, Landon’s mother.
“I knew she was good and I knew it was her time to win,” Landon said. “She wasn’t able to go out in the cold weather much here, so I’m glad she went to California, where it’s warmer.”
Lucy was the first swine the Robertses had shown.
“We used to only show sheep, but Landon was more interested in swine,” Sonya said. “We were unsure at first but are glad now we decided to go for it.”
After winning first in her class, Lucy went on to fifth in her division and 20th overall.
Other competitors from the county at the Phoenix show included Tayle Black of Marion, who showed three swine, and SaRae Roberts, Landon’s sister, also of Hillsboro, who showed two sheep.