OSU Yorkshire gilt named champion at 2018 World Pork Expo

Tuesday, June 19, 2018

The OSU Swine Research and Teaching Center exhibited the Champion Yorkshire gilt at the World Pork Expo in Des Moines, Iowa, on June 8th, 2018. The champion gilt sold the next day at the Pork Expo Yorkshire sale. The team consisted of associate professor Scott Carter, herd manager Jim Coakley, and student workers Jared Harshman, Justin Leonard, Cooper Wood, Andrew Coakley, Georgena Ratliff, and Alex Adams.

“The World Pork Expo was an amazing event for Oklahoma State University,” said Coakley. “Exhibiting the Champion Yorkshire Gilt is a huge honor that everyone who wears orange and black can be proud of. The OSU swine program has been built with a great deal of tradition, excellence, and heritage. This honor reflects on all of the people that have had a hand in the OSU Swine Center from past to present.”

The OSU Swine Center is well known for its outstanding purebred herd. It has experienced numerous national show champions throughout the years, as well as high-selling boars. With hard work and determination, the team was able to add the 2018 Champion Yorkshire gilt to the center’s substantial record.

“Having the Champion Yorkshire gilt at the 2018 World Pork Expo was exciting, memorable, and a huge blessing,” said Wood. “All of us at the farm are on one team, and it’s always so prideful when hard work pays off. It reminds us that as a team we can accomplish huge things. Our drive and passion for this industry is huge, and we are so thankful for the experiences OSU and the OSU Swine Center gives us.”

The OSU Swine Center shows and sells breeding swine at national shows 3 to 5 times each year. As a student worker, Leonard has participated in a number of swine competitions and successes.

“This win is one I will always remember,” said Leonard. “The work ethic and determination that everyone at the Swine Center has is second to none and it is bound to take the farm to great success. In four short years, I’ve seen the Swine Center win the Hog College boar, the $12,000 Reserve Champion York boar at the fall closure, a historic National Barrow Show win, and now the Champion York gilt at the World Pork Expo. Needless to say, I am proud to have worked at the Swine Center and cannot wait to see more and more success in the years to come.”