For 68 years, farmers and hog enthusiasts from around the nation have come together over their love of hogs. Hundreds of people are continuing that tradition in Austin, Minnesota, this week during the National Barrow Show, held inside the Mower County Fairgrounds.

“It’s really changed,” said Wayne Beyer, of Lewiston, Minnesota. Beyer has attended the National Barrow Show over the past three decades and was in Austin this week to exhibit a boar. He said the huge event has gotten smaller over the years, but you wouldn’t know it as hundreds of people watched the junior and senior college judging contest Monday morning.

The events included a truckload competition, where students and volunteers guide six pigs from one end of a building to another and are graded on how uniform the hogs travel.

Twenty-year-old Tyler Gradert was among the volunteers for the morning competition. Gradert, from Western Illinois University, has come to the Barrow Show for the past six years and later competed in an individual truckload competition Monday afternoon.

“I enjoy the competition,” he said. “And I really like coming to Austin. There’s nice people, and nice weather most of the time.”

Gradert hopes to earn his bachelor’s degree in animal science and work in the agricultural industry.

The action continued Tuesday with a breeding stock show at 8 a.m. Awards and judging contest results will be distributed at 9 a.m. The Barrow show concludes Wednesday with breeding stock sales.