In the pig pens at the Baker County Fair on Thursday, dozens of 4-Hers groom and wash their hogs before their final test begins.

Each owner has spent about six months with their pig of choice. The judges wait adjacent to the pens — at the show ring.

As others make finishing touches to their swine, Gretchen Morgan kneels beside her pig and simply pets its ear.

“It’s so soft,” she says to her mother, Mandy.

Apart from bonding, Gretchen says she chose this particular pig because of its length and shoulder width. She focused on developing the animal’s muscles through regular walking and running exercises.

But Gretchen’s favorite part of the experience is bonding with her oinker, a female she named Diva.

“She actually is a diva,” Gretchen says, “She’ll eat only certain foods, and if you hit her too hard, she’ll kick at you.”

Gretchen says Diva demonstrated that pickiness from the start. As she bonded with her pig near her friends, Diva would only chew on Gretchen’s shoes, ignoring her peers’ different footwear.

She went on to describe Diva as sassy and energetic, the polar opposite of her pig last year.

Gretchen says that animal, simply called “Pig,” would sometimes lie down in the arena.

That attitude isn’t acceptable to the judges.

They look for flexibility and power build, attributes Gretchen kept in mind when she picked her 245-pound mammoth hog.

Throughout the process, Mandy has helped her daughter, calling back on her own experiences as a youthful 4-Her, albeit showing lambs, not swine.

Mandy sees the months leading up the Fair as a chance for Gretchen to familiarize herself with animals and the 4-H lifestyle.

Her husband, Luke, also supports the endeavor.

Mandy points to Luke, laughing, “He calls me a pageant mom,” she says.

During the fun and games, an announcement calls Gretchen to show Diva at last. Classes are divided by pig weight — not the competitors’ ages.

Gretchen opens the pen gate and leads Diva with a cane. Even though she is usually unruly, the pig is quiet, unlike other swine that are squealing and wrestling with their owners.

The duo marches past them toward the dirt-floored show ring.

As they enter the arena, Gretchen finds herself surrounded by a crowd to spectate the class of 4-Hers, who are eager to demonstrate their showmanship.

Gretchen leads Diva around the ring, only running into a couple mishaps. Diva occasionally stops to plant her snout in the ground, covering her nostrils with dirt.

Diva also tangles with a fellow pig, owned by Cody Eskew, another fifth-grader.

At the end of the competition, the winner comes down to Gretchen and Cody. Judge Janine Johnson gives the nod to Cody’s pig, citing a slightly better skeleton foundation.

See more in the Aug. 12, 2016, issue of the Baker City Herald.