BUTTE — On a pretty day like this most people like to wash their cars, but the members of the Butte Silver Bow Youth Leaders Program spend their day washing pigs.
“Um, it’s a bit of a challenge. They’re hard to keep still,” said 14-year-old Adelaide Thomson.
The teens are making sure their hogs are sparkling clean for the livestock show and auction July 27 and 28 at Harrington’s Red Barn in Butte.
“We want people to say, ‘That’s like a pretty pig,’ and we want it to look clean because nobody wants to buy a pig that's covered in mud,” said 14-year-old Katie Breitmeyer.
But getting pigs clean can be a challenge, especially when they don’t want to go in the washing trailer.
“Oh no, no, when they decide they don’t want to do something, it’s pretty tough to make them,” said Don Berryman who owns the ranch where they were cleaning the pigs.
Once inside, the teens were busy scrubbing the pigs with water and dish soap in order to get them as clean as possible for the competition the next day.
“For showmanship in the show ring, they don’t want to see any dirt. That can take off points, so you want them as clean as you can possibly get them,” said Thomson.
The program is designed to teach kids not only how to care for livestock, but learn leadership skills as well.
“They have to work going to talk to buyers and introducing themselves, so they learn these key skills that are going to take them through a lifetime,” said program board member Amy Thomson.
