Lebanon County 4-H Livestock Club members achieved what’s believed to be a first at this year’s Pennsylvania Farm Show.
Clayton Heisey’s market lamb and Aubrey Mase’s market hog were selected as overall junior grand champions in their respective breeds. That means their animals were the very best to be shown in the youth division during the 110th edition of the agricultural event in Harrisburg.
Saturday, Jan. 17, is the final day for the PA Farm Show, with hours running from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. Parking is $15 per vehicle and payable by credit card at the parking lots.
“If this wasn’t the first time it has happened, it was the first in a very long time,” Dan Seaman, a 4-H adult Livestock Club volunteer, told LebTown. That same sentiment was also expressed by Mase’s mother Kris.
There are many similarities between the two youths besides being 4-H members.
Both attend Cedar Crest High School – Heisey’s a junior and Mase is a sophomore – and the families are friends given their livestock club involvement and strong religious beliefs. Heisey, 17, is a 10-year member of the local livestock club while Mase, 16, is in her 9th year. Both said they also show at the annual Lebanon Area Fair in July.
“It was a crazy feeling to be honest. I mean, I had thought back just before I went into it (the ring) and when I texted one of my mentors and asked him, ‘How about we try and make it a goal to win the state fair?’” Heisey said of his win. “It was just incredible all the time that we spend with the animals and all the years that we’ve been pushing to win the state fair and to finally get it done and to do it with the people, quote unquote, I guess the village that it takes to get it done, you know, all the people that support me. … It was just unreal, to be honest.”
“Honestly, I was a little bit surprised. We took him to a show in the middle of December called PAYLE (Pennsylvania Youth Livestock Expo). So we got to see what the competition would be like for the Farm Show,” Mase said. “We got division champion, which was still good, but then showing up to the Farm Show, we knew that we fed him right and why he needed to be fed. So we were, we kind of knew that we would place well. We were confident, but we weren’t too overconfident that we knew we’re winning this all. I just knew that I would do well and that’s all that mattered, no matter what place I got for him.”
Proper feed, as might be expected, is integral, among other factors, to showing a grand champion animal.
“So my older brother Wyatt, he’s 17. He’s really good with the feed bucket,” said Aubrey, who also notes that hers is a shared win with her sibling given his feed expertise. “I don’t really know much about feeding, but it’s a lot different than lambs. And pigs change every day. So you honestly have to switch up that feed every day.”
There’s a reason for the daily changing of the feed for hogs.
“Their body changes throughout the day, honestly. So you don’t wanna be putting him on feed that has too much protein if his muscles are getting tight. So that’s when you wanna lower the protein,” said Mase, whose family lives in West Cornwall Township on a 120-acre farm where they raise broiler chickens for Bell & Evans, grow and breed hogs, and have steers for butcher beef. “If he’s getting fat, then that’s when you want to increase the protein.”
Heisey told LebTown that the feed rations are also switched for his crossbred market lamb during the three-month period that he raised his animal.
“Over the course of those three months we’re constantly changing feeding rations, to get him looking his best with different supplements we have. So we’re constantly changing feeding rations, always looking at him to see what we could do better,” he said.
Then there’s the usual show ring prep that occurs, like walking the animals for exercise, with also some unexpected human-esque luxuries to help get their animals into fine form for showing.
“Getting him to work with me in terms of bracing so that way he presents well there in the show ring, and then we actually put them on a treadmill, a treadmill especially made for sheep, for livestock, sheep and goats,” said Heisey, whose family also raises goats on their farmette in South Lebanon Township. “That just helps with exercise to basically, honestly like humans, keep them in shape. So he doesn’t get too much cover on him, he doesn’t get too much fat on him.”
Unlike humans who work out on a treadmill, there’s also another show development technique for lambs.
“We’ll put him backwards on the treadmill to where his front two feet are on a platform and he’s walking his back two feet backwards just to build up his stifle muscle, which just builds his muscularity,” added Heisey, the son of Jason and Blythe Heisey.
Mase’s hog enjoyed his time in the spotlight in and out of the show ring.
“Something that’s interesting, which people don’t really know, is that we use a tanning light on him. So we put the tanning light over his pen to darken his skin,” said Mase, the daughter of Jake and Kris Mase. “Most market hogs, like their skin is usually dry and that makes them turn basically gray and you kind of want to darken their skin color. It makes them look better and more presentable.”
Another shared accomplishment was that both animals shattered sale records at the annual livestock auction.
Mase’s hog Bill was purchased by pork producer Hatfield Quality Meats for $16,000 while Heisey’s crossbred market lamb Big Dawg received $15,000, which was $5,000 more than the previous record set in 2023 for a market lamb.
The lamb was a joint purchase by U.S. Congressman Glenn “GT” Thompson (PA-15), who is also chairman of the U.S. House Agriculture Committee, and Fredericksburg-based poultry producer Bell & Evans, which is owned by Scott Sechler and family.
“It was a pretty surreal feeling, to have those kinds of people in agriculture support the industry that we live in every day and it’s just rewarding to see that there’s people like them that care so deeply about the show industry and what we do,” said Heisey, who noted his lamb was named Big Dawg because he developed the habit of sitting like a canine. “They said that I did a great job, and they appreciate what we’re doing, showing, but not really too much individually to me.”
Mase and Heisey said they purchased their animals from other states, with Mase sharing an interesting story about her buyer experience.
“I would say when we first bought him, we bought him on an online sale, so I did not actually see him in person yet. But a boar stud in Indiana, a pretty big boar stud, actually offered to buy him off of me for a better price than what I paid for him,” Mase said. “So I could have made money without even touching the pig, but I was … convinced that we were gonna do well with this pig and I really wanted this pig so we ended up keeping him.”
Both youths gave glory to God and the credit for making their shining moment in the show ring a reality.
“I couldn’t do anything that I’ve done without my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,” Heisey said. “I mean, to God be the glory for everything that I’ve been able to do with my family and all the people that have helped me.”
“This was all through prayer and God’s will,” said Mase.
If You Go:
- What: 110th Pennsylvania Farm Show
- Where: Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex & Expo Center, McClay & Cameron streets, Harrisburg
- When: Jan. 17, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Parking is $15, and the parking fee is cashless payments only.
Hours, a daily schedule of events, maps, and additional information to help visitors enjoy the show are available at farmshow.pa.gov under the 2026 Farm Show section.
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