Sixteen-year-old Bradley Murphy of Foster, has a unique hobby: training show pigs. The rising Mathews High School junior also enters them in competitions and has the ribbons to show for it.

At last year’s South Carolina State Fair, Murphy won Grand Champion and Senior Champion. Other awards Murphy celebrated there included placing first in two premium competitions and second in two showmanship competitions.

He also competed in last year’s Virginia State Fair, where both his pigs placed fourth. In his first year, Murphy placed third in the Virginia State Fair.

Murphy started training show pigs after his horse passed away when he was in the seventh grade. In 2022, he borrowed a pig from family friends to try out the world of show pigs and developed a passion for the animals. Last year, his family purchased their own show pigs.

The Murphy family is no stranger to pigs as they have been breeding and selling them for the past five years on the family farm.

In the early morni...