SAN ANTONIO – Monday is day one of the annual Walter Gerlach Livestock Show— a day hundreds of Northside ISD Future Farmers of America (FFA) students have been waiting for.

  • Event goes from Monday to Saturday
  • Hundreds of students participate
  • One students spends hundreds on pigs he raises

For 47 years, students have shown off their skills raising animals and utilizing agriculture mechanics in hopes in earning thousands of dollars in scholarships.

One of the students entering this year’s competition is Luke Holland, the FAA president at O’Connor High School. For three years, he’s dedicated countless hours to raising pigs.

“Class starts at 9. So we're here from early when the barn's open until we have to go to class,” he said. “We have final exams this week, so last night I was up until 1:30 doing calculus. So you do whatever you have to do to get everything done in a single day.”

Holland spends $200 to $300 on each pig and raises them for months. He pays for their food and all other expenses until the pigs are later auctioned off for a profit.

“I've been showing for the past three years,” he said. “I've opened up a college savings fund. I funded my entire Eagle Scout project. I put down a deposit on a lease for an apartment at Texas A&M. I'm really excited. It's given me the opportunity to invest financially in myself.”

Holland does grow attached to his three pigs, but believes he provides them with a better life then they’d normally have on a commercial farm.

“With this way, you get to give them the best life you can possibly give. You get to love on them. You get to give them the attention they wouldn't normally get elsewhere,” he said. “You have to look at it from a positive - a glass half full perspective.”

The Walter Gerlach Livestock show begins Monday January 20 and runs through Saturday, January 25.  If you’d like to learn more, click here.