Hollister
– Former California State Champion Sam Doty is riding high on
the hog after after earning first place with his pig Smile in the
Grand National Junior Livestock Show at the Cow Palace last
week.
Hollister – Former California State Champion Sam Doty is riding high on the hog after after earning first place with his pig Smile in the Grand National Junior Livestock Show at the Cow Palace last week.
Doty, a 15-year-old freshman at San Benito High School, wasn’t sure how much Smiley sold for at auction, but said it was “a lot of money.” Doty’s pig beat out about 200 other entries.
Doty is no stranger to success in swine shows. In 2004, the 4-H and Future Farmer of America member won Supreme Grand Champion at the California State Fair in Sacramento.
Although last Friday’s first place award can’t top that, it’s still an honor, Doty said.
But, he’s not thinking about Smiley anymore. Doty is already preparing for the 2006 State Fair in August.
The competition at this year’s state fair will be tough, Doty said. He said he doesn’t expect to do as well as he did in 2004, with Atilla, who eventually sold at auction for about $6,000.
“I’m just going to have fun,” he said. “I’m going to going to do my best, but (2004) was a just a lucky year.”
Doty doesn’t know how many animals he will enter in this year’s state fair, but said he is considering another pig.
“I’m still shopping,” he said. “So I don’t know how many I’m going to get yet.”
Doty’s livestock trophies have earned him the ire of his three older brothers, who never had much luck at competitions. But he denies there is a secret to his success.
“I do the normal things. Wash them, feed them,” he said. “There’s not really any secret.”
He does, however, give some credit to his mother, Becky Doty.
“She’s very supportive,” he said. “But usually she just lets me do my own thing.”
Doty invests most of the proceeds that he earns from livestock shows into a college fund and uses some of it to buy animals for the next competition.
Brett Rowland covers public safety and agriculture for the Free Lance. He can be reached at 831-637-5566 ext. 330 or
br******@fr***********.com
.
