Colourful teams pulled out the stops around the the pig ring at the New Zealand Agricultural Show, dressed in pink suits, Bavarian lederhosens and dapper tweed attire.
Many looked as though they had been partying from the early hours.
Hundreds of competitors, supporters and mesmerised onlookers turned up to watch chaotic scenes. While judges ignored distractions to select a winner, board-carrying volunteers did their best to prevent the top six finalists from sparring.
The contest has cultivated a lively following among rural youth and is a growth event in the livestock pens with 46 entries. Barely 10 years ago it struggled to muster a single entry until brothers James and Henry Pearse won with a pig called Rammstein in 2014 and formed the Boar Breeders' Association.
That caught the imagination of following teams who, behind the fancy dress and quirky costumes, take the competition seriously.
Sons of Hakatere syndicate members Joe Redwood, Scott McFadden, Tony Bryant and Tom Plunkett — wearing Hawaiian-style shirts — were jubilant in their first Commercial Boar Supreme Champion win for the Rammstein Memorial Trophy.
Only afterwards did they admit being distracted by the partying and initially didn't realise their boar, Horse, was in the final ring.
"It came down to great breeding, genetics and feeding. They say the formula is 70% breeding and 30% feeding."
The champion pig came from South Canterbury breeder Hamish Cottle, with the team crediting him for much of their success. Then it was raised on pig pellets by Mr Bryant at Alaska Farms just outside of Methven.
"We picked him as a weaner and we've had him for 20 weeks and he's grown to this enormous size," Mr Redwood said.
"He'd be 100kg now."
The Sons of Hakatere are all mates and play in the same rugby team at Mt Somers. They vowed they would never touch the trophy until they'd won it.
Putting earlier losses behind them, they've done their homework on what judges look for in winning animals and picking their brains on why they hadn’t made the cut previously.
The winners got a good run for their money from 9-year-old runner-up Campbell Robson.
He said his pig performed well in the competition because it was well fed, looked after and had good shelter.
Mr Redwood said there was no shame in beating Campbell as he had a good pig.
"[There were] 45 other pigs as well. We will be back. We talked about retiring if we won it but I think we will probably be back for a back-to-back win."
Mr Plunkett took credit for their fashionable outfits, which they believed caught the judge's eyes.
They were undecided whether to invest their winnings into pig genetics or their "own genetics".
Third was the Rocky Boar Breeders syndicate with Rocky 5 and fourth were the Boy Snouts with their boar, Boy Snout.
