After more than 30 years of raising wrestling pigs, Ron Dalin knows what it takes to be a winner.

The owner of D&D Livestock in Greybull will transport his 60 wrestling pigs to 22 shows in three states this year. Local teams competing in the 2018 Park County Fair found just catching up to one of Dalin’s pigs in the 28-foot, mud-filled ring a challenge.

What makes a good wrestling pig? Speed, Dalin said.

“I love watching the kids have fun and the faces in the crowd,” Dalin said.

Interest in the messy sporting display continues to grow. Thirty-seven area teams signed up to compete this year. They had but one goal: getting their swine adversary into a barrel in the center of the ring within a minute. While a few teams seemed to have the task dialed in, most found it difficult to catch the pigs, let alone lift the screaming porkers and efficiently move them to the barrel.

Seems the last place a pig wants to be is in a can.

Dalin got his start as boss of the hogs in the 80s, while renting pigs to wrestling organizers. He had so much fun he offered to buy the business.

Now three generations of the Dalin family run the show. Ron’s son, Todd Dalin, mixes the slurry (made of sticky, slick bentonite), sorts the animals and keeps a steady stream of pigs of varying sizes moving to the ring. Tyler Dalin, Todd’s son, helps with set-up, gets the pigs to the staging area and lubed for battle while assisting at the hog wash.

Cleanup is not easy. Even getting close to the ring means being sprayed by the bentonite mix.

“There’s a 10-foot spray zone,” Ron Dalin said.

After the battle, the pigs and the contestants are washed in the same manner: by high-pressure hose. While the pigs were washed in view of spectators, contestants were allowed a modicum of privacy, being sprayed down by Jessica Connour in the parking lot.

Kaylee DeGlau, captain of team Blue Butts, entered the contest with confidence. The team, dressed in blue, was the returning champs in the intermediate division. They solidified their strategy while watching other teams struggle in the ring.

“We pick them up by the belly, then the head and the butt. The strongest people are in the middle,” DeGlau said.

As the Blue Butts entered the arena, they focused. So many factors come into play in a ring — including the possibility the pig will simply jump the fence and run away. But this little piggy didn’t stand a chance against the experienced team of friends.

“We’re all really close. We met here at the fair,” DeGlau said of the mix of Powell and Cody high school and middle school students.

Team members sprinted to their hog, which seemed somewhat dazed by the sudden onslaught. DeGlau quickly latched on to the pig’s midsection with a mean-looking bear hug. Screaming and kicking, the pig was slicker than the little piece of fat in a can of pork and beans. But DeGlau’s grip was too tight for escape as Acee Molasky, Kylie Kahl and Vanessa Richardson zoomed in to grab a part. Then, slowly, they worked as a team to move through the mud and to the barrel.

In a victory dance, the Butts raised their arms in victory and then did belly flops in the soupy ring. There are no medals for the winners, just the thrill of victory. DeGlau wanted a special prize for her efforts: the pig.

“I want to take it home,” she said.

(It was unclear if she was looking for a pet or the main ingredient in a barbecue.)

But victory is slippery on the pig wrestling circuit and the Blue Butts finished second to the Swine Slayers by a few seconds in the intermediate division.

The SBW Ham Slammers, from Powell, won the cash in the women’s division. Previous years of experience helped the team secure the win — the only team in the women’s division to get the pig in the barrel.

“We don’t like to lose,” said Sara Skalsky, the team captain and chairman of the Park County Fair Board.

Despite blood trickling down the leg of the captain, the Slammers were ready to party after their victory.

“What are we going to do with the money? Go get a beer,” Skalsky quipped.

Results:

PeeWee Division

1. Porkasaurus (Russel Goolsbey, Rhett Goolsbey, Sawyer Eck and Kasen Asay)

2. Mudmen (Blake Wood, James Shaefer, Tucker McDonald and Karzten Carter)

3. Roasted Pigs (London Peterson, Sawyer Peterson, Kamea Wisniewski and Megan Peterson)

Junior Division

1. Ham Slammers (Hoyt Wells, Tanner Seifert, Cody Seifert and Kaden McDonald)

2. Swine Sisters (Shandi Salas, Lauryn Bennett, Olivia Wells and Isabella Ouellete)

3. Super Kids (Michelle Hedges, Andrew Cline, Victor Cline and Brie Eicher)

Intermediate Division

1. Swine Slayers (Member names unavailable at time of publishing)

2. Blue Butts (Kaylee DeGlau, Acee Molasky, Kylie Kahl and Vanessa Richardson)

3. The Studlets (Wyatt Peterson, Sheldon Shoopman, Riley Bennet and Jace Hyde)

Men’s Division

1. Heart Mountain Pignappers (Juston Carter, Dave Ferfes, Carson Kleinfeldt and Chance Sheridan)

Women’s Division

1. SBW Ham Slammers (Sara Skalsky, Mary Johnston, Marina Steerman and Vickie Hogen)