Published: March 04, 2009 10:30 am      

Brothers experienced at showing pigs

Tristan Gambill, 11, a fifth-grader at Tuttle Intermediate School, and his brother Steven, 18, know what it’s like to be winners.

Growing up around pigs, the two began raising them when they were three or four years old.

“We’ve raised pigs probably since I was born,” said Tristan. “My dad has raised a lot of pigs.”

The boys brought four pigs to the Grady County Junior Livestock Show to the fairgrounds in Chickasha, including “Roscoe,” a one-and-a-half-year-old “Hamp,” who won the title of Reserve Grand Champion at a stock show in Washington, Okla., and “Junior,” another “Hamp” who took first place in the Tuttle Livestock Show last weekend.

“We raised Junior, this is his second show,” said Tristan, who likes pigs because they are interesting and fun. “And you can win prizes when you show them, like ribbons, plaques and trophies.”

Tristan is learning about agriculture under the guidance of Ag teacher Mr. Mittelstaedt, a difficult name big brother Steven volunteered to spell. “It’s on every test,” he said, laughing.

Steven, an 18-year-old senior at Tuttle High School, took top honors in the 1997 Grady County Junior Livestock Show with a Grand Cross Gilt.

His entry for the Grady County show is “Bluie,” so named because of his blue coloring, whose only previous experience in the ring was last week at the Tuttle Livestock Show where he placed second.

Steven and Tristan are the sons of Barbara and Kirt Gambill of Tuttle.