From the time Trevor Parde first stepped into the barn to raise 25 feeder pigs at the young age of 7, he was hooked.
That summer he decided to get into the show ring with the pigs that he spent countless hours caring for. Parde’s pig showing career began, starting at the county fair, moving onto state fair in his high school years, and now national shows for the last three years while he works for his undergraduate degree in animal science, with minors in agriculture economics and the Engler Agribusiness Entrepreneurship Program.
It was that love for agriculture and a desire to be around guys with similar values and interests that led Parde to the Gamma Chapter of Alpha Gamma Sigma (AGS).
While being a part of AGS and studying for his degree, Parde has continued with his show career, celebrating his greatest show accomplishment in July of 2024.
In early 2024, Parde backed his trailer into Kyle Baade of Baade Genetics’ driveway to load the Yorkshire gilt he handpicked. That summer, he stayed busy showing her in eight shows throughout the summer, with her consistently winning the Yorkshires, consistently in top five purebred, earning top five overall twice, and winning a belt buckle and cooler at state.
Then came the 2024 National Swine Registry Summer Type Conference in Louisville, Kentucky in the first week of July. Parde loaded up his Yorkshire gilt and began the long drive to Louisville with his two best friends and fraternity brothers, Carter Holtmeier and Evan Hartman.
He showed her on Wednesday, where she won the Yorkshires. They entered the ring again on Thursday, where she won again. With lots of whispers around the barn that his was the best one there, Parde decided to opt into the sale on Saturday.
The bright lights lit up the show ring on sale day as pig hooves tactfully maneuvered the ring, led by their owners. The nerves began to course Parde’s veins as he stepped out with his gilt, hoping the countless hours of nutrition plans, exercising, shampooing and conditioning and more would pay off.
“She came to play, and she came to play hard,” said the judge over the microphone, announcing that they were all in agreeance on which is the best.
It paid off. Parde’s Yorkshire gilt sold for $72,000 to Chad Day Show Pigs & JP Enterprises, making it the World Record Selling Yorkshire Gilt.
The pair left the show ring, greeted by big hugs and a few proud tears from Parde’s parents and Holtmeier and Hartman.
“I don’t know that it ever set in because she was in my barn. I put in all that work with her and then to go do that, it’s something you never dream of,” said Parde. “It was a lot of fun to be down there with my two best friends that AGS gave me and it’s something I’ll definitely remember for the rest of my life because what an experience.”
From his first belt buckle as a champion intermediate showman at the Gage County Fair to a world-record setter in Louisville, Kentucky, Parde has leaned on discipline and hard work to stay focused and try to make the best out of each day.
The kind of discipline that breeds a world record showman, with his two best friends and fraternity brothers alongside him for all of it.
