NSR Summer Spectacular Under Way in Louisville, Ky.

The 2012 NSR Summer Spectacular is off to a great start in Louisville, Ky., this week! With a great set of contests, shows and sales on tap, we look forward to bringing you some sights and scenes from throughout the week. Be sure to watch the NSR Shows & Sales blog, where we'll have results from tonight's Junior Purebred Barrow Show appearing throughout the evening. Below are some photos from the first couple days of activities here in Louisville.

NSR Director of Junior Activities Cally Hass helps pair up some young NJSA members at Tuesday's MVP (Mentoring Values People) event.

NJSA Junior Board members Amy Newnum and Kaylee Miller help their group during the scavenger hunt.

One of nearly a dozen Barnyard Olympics teams concentrate on catching their egg during the egg toss contest.

An annual favorite in the NJSA Barnyard Olympics, the water relay proved exciting again in 2012. Here, Nalaney Guyer  tries to fill her team's bottle without getting her team member wet!

The Skillathon Contest, held on Wednesday, saw a large number of juniors demonstrate their swine industry knowledge for facilitators.

Before Showmanship Preliminaries got underway, the NJSA Junior Board of Directors and NSR staff officially kicked off the NSR Summer Spectacular at the Opening Ceremonies.

NJSA Secretary Kayla Meyer addresses the crowd during the NSR Summer Spectacular Opening Ceremonies.

Meet the Interns - Katie Powers

Hey NSR! My name is Katie Powers and I am very excited to be the Pedigree Department Intern this summer. We are busy in the office preparing for the upcoming shows, and I cannot wait to attend these incredible events! Time is flying and they will be here in no time.

Please allow me to introduce myself. My background is diverse – I am a native of Townsend, Delaware, and a proud alum of Oklahoma State University. I just entered the “big kid world” on May 5^th, when I graduated from OSU with my bachelors degree in animal science with an emphasis in livestock merchandizing. 

Raising livestock and working on my family’s farm throughout my childhood fueled my passion for the agriculture industry and still burns steady to this day. I grew up raising and showing all four species of livestock. My first show project was a crossbred lamb at the age of eight, and then I acquired my first show pig project – a Duroc gilt – when I was nine. As I got older, my devotion to showing continued to grow.

What started as a small farm operation of commercial sheep, hogs, turkeys and steers for ‘farm fresh’ meat sales quickly expanded to a small herd of purebred Duroc, Yorkshire and Poland China sows, 100-head purebred flock of Dorset and Hampshire ewes, along with a few goat and club calf projects.

Breeding and raising my own livestock and showing at the local, state, regional and national levels has allowed me to make many connections with industry leaders. My brother, Will, and I have experienced much success with our projects. We were both active in FFA and 4-H growing up and attribute many of our accomplishments to these agricultural education organizations.

The countless hours spent in the barn with my family taking care of livestock, getting ready for stock shows and managing our family farm was a full-time commitment. However, the memories made and time spent with my family, especially with my brother, and the friends I met through showing can never be replaced.

Growing up in this tremendous industry has taught me countless life lessons. These lessons truly helped me succeed in my college career, and are now helping me take on the challenge of pursuing a career to make an impact on the livestock industry.  To our junior members, I encourage you to appreciate the guidance and support of your mentors – ranging from parents, ag instructors and 4-H or industry leaders – these individuals will influence and shape your life.

I am very excited to be part of the NSR team and look forward to what this summer will bring. Best of luck in the upcoming shows – I look forward to meeting our breeders and seeing all of the entries at World Pork Expo!

Meet the Interns - Taylor Fritsch

Hello everyone! My name is Taylor Fritsch, and I’m pleased to introduce myself as National Swine Registry’s Marketing & Communications Intern for 2012. It’s such an honor – and such a pleasure – to be serving the members of the NSR. I’m very excited to jump right into the mix for the M&C division this summer assisting with writing, design, social media, photography and so much more.

My journey in agriculture didn’t begin with swine. As a proud Badger from the state of Wisconsin, my family is involved in the industry that makes up almost half of our state’s agriculture – dairy. Growing up I was active with my family’s 70-cow, 600-acre operation, feeding my fair share of baby calves and helping out in whatever way I could. When I became old enough to show, I was pretty excited about breaking a dairy heifer to take to the fair. When my dad also bought me a couple feeder pigs, I wasn’t quite sure what to think.

If you had told me back then that I would develop such a passion for pigs, I might have told you that you were crazy. But eleven years later, that’s exactly what has happened. By my freshman year of high school, show pigs had won me over – so much so that we quit showing dairy altogether.

Although our focus is the dairy operation, my family is no stranger to swine production and livestock. They operated a 90-sow commercial herd until I was about four, at which point the operation was liquidated in favor of the dairy and grain aspects of our farm. Showing has been our way of staying connected with the swine industry, and over the years, those pigs have taught my sister, Bailey, and me a lot. Showing at the Wisconsin State Fair, our local county fair and other Wisconsin circuit shows, we’ve both been fortunate to have moderate success in the ring. But more importantly, we’ve learned a lot along the way – both about pigs and about life.  

Without a doubt, my involvement with swine, 4-H and FFA has helped chart my course for the future. Next fall, I will start my junior year at the University of Wisconsin-Madison studying agricultural economics and life sciences communication. I have a strong interest in consumer outreach and public perception of agriculture, and I hope to eventually work in a role that allows me to tell agriculture’s story and address the challenges that face our industry.

I look forward to communicating and working with many of you over the course of the summer, whether it be in-person, through one of our NSR blogs or in the pages of Seedstock EDGE. If you see me at one of our shows or sales, be sure to say hello and pose for a photo. Have a great summer and best of luck in the show ring and on your operations!