Athens —
After consideration of about 250 swines and after more than five hours of judging and qualifying members of class-after-class by weight, Luke Mills, 11, who attends classes at LaPoynor Junior High, won Grand Champion in the Market Swine category in the Henderson County Livestock Show late Thursday. Reserve Grand Champion honors went to Malakoff resident Josie Driskill.
Mills showed a 266-pound Hampshire swine as his entry into the competition. He said this is not his first time.
“My sister, Cherith (Mills) got me interested when she was showing hogs,” he said. “I just wasn’t old enough at the time. Now, I have been showing hogs for the past four years.”
Mills also was the Henderson County Livestock Show Reserve Champion Duroc in 2012, in his class with a Hampshire.
Mills has two older brothers, Joshua Cole, 25, and Daniel Cole, 27. They have shown pigs, steers and rabbits.
“I feel great and very pleased,” Luke Mills said. “I was confident from the beginning, because I saw that the judge was looking at my pig a lot.”
Luke is the son of Mark and Marsha Mills. His mother said pig farming is a tradition in their family.
“He comes from a long line of pig farmers. His great-grandfather, my father, was a pig farmer,” Marsha Mills, who is principal of LaPoynor Elementary said. “Now we do it on 20 acres outside of Athens. We work very hard as a family to help each other, and do the work necessary.”
Luke Mills said he wants to continue raising pigs, but with his love of that activity, it probably will not be his profession in life.
“I want to be a pro-basketball player,” he said. “After graduation, I’d like to go to either Baylor or Texas Tech. No major is undecided. The good Lord has a blessing waiting.”
Local News
Related Photos
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Luke Mills, 11, of LaPoynor Junior High School won the Grand Champion designation late Thursday at the Henderson County Livestock Show for the Market Swine. He is shown with Judge Brandon Anderson of Haskell. Anderson holds a jacket which was also awarded to Mills after the determination had been made. Jeff Riggs/Athens Review
Discussion
Hoggin’ the Grand Champion spot
LaPoynor youth takes top honors in Market Swine at the HCLS
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