Delta High FFA student raises prize-winning hogs

If you want a hog to like you, give it an Oreo cookie.

That's what Ryan Glenzy, a junior at Delta High School, uses to train his hogs to be more people-friendly while being judged at the SEMO District Fair.

Glenzy works on his family's farm located about a mile from Kelso, Missouri. He said they mostly raise cattle, but every spring they buy 10 to 15 piglets. Most of them are raised for meat they sell to friends and family, but Glenzy picks one or two he thinks look good enough to win at the fair.

Judges at the fair look for different things, and Glenzy said they each have their own preferences. He said some judges like muscular hogs, while others like long pigs or tall pigs.

"It's just the luck of the draw," Glenzy said. "Personally, I look for colors. Like if it has spots on its face or just a different color on one ear. Something that sets it apart from other pigs."

Glenzy said the pigs he raises "live the life". He said they get brushed and bathed so "they get used to being messed with". He works with them so they are calm and not aggressive while being judged.

Along with growing up on a farm, Glenzy participated in 4H and when it was time, Delta High School was the obvious choice because of their FFA program. Alissa Swindell, the Agriculture instructor and FFA sponsor at Delta High, said Glenzy is a very good student.

"He's had a passion for farming and showing hogs," Swindell said. "He's always up for doing whatever we need for FFA. I don't have to beg and plead with Ryan."

Glenzy said after high school he'll continue to work on his family's farm, but he wants to be a heavy equipment operator, and his dream is to one day own an excavation company with his own fleet of tractors and trucks.

Glenzy said his family will be purchasing a new batch of pigs soon, and, come September, he hopes to have at least one pig to show and sell at the fair.