Troy Elementary School student Landon Cole gives a playful pig named Zack a good brushing after his second-place win in the market swine 4-H division at the Pennsylvania Farm Show. Zack’s win made him eligible for the 4-H livestock auction scheduled for Tuesday morning.
Story and photo by Rick Hiduk
(originally published in the Daily Review)
Landon Cole is off to a great start as a livestock handler. The Troy Elementary School fifth grader has already been showing animals for three or four years and took a second-place ribbon with a market swine named Zack at the Pennsylvania Farm Show in Harrisburg on Sunday.
He has previously shown a sheep and a cow but was especially pleased with the performance of his 263-pound hog. In 2020, a pig he took to the Farm Show took sixth place.
“Swine are easier to control. They are definitely more cooperative, and they are funner than other animals,” Landon remarked. “Zack is friendly. He’s a good pig for here especially.”
Landon is the son of Jake and Erin Cole, who have a pig farm on Snowdrift Road in Columbia Crossroads. Not only is Landon a bit taller than his classmates, his eloquence in discussing livestock handling is as impressive as his stature.
At Troy ES, he excels at social studies and math. As much as he is enjoying handling animals now, he’s not sure that farming is his lifetime goal.
“I like sports a little more than agriculture,” he stated. “I’d like to be a professional football player. If that doesn’t work out, I could be a historian or a farmer.”
Landon was joined at the Farm Show by fellow Bradford County 4-H’rs Jace Olsyn, who took a seventh-place ribbon with his pig named Ted, and Shelby and Corbin Bruce who took awards for photos they submitted.