How to Show a Pig

                                HOW TO SHOW A PIG

 First Things First

So you have decided to take an agriculture class in middle or high school for the first time. You are learning so much in that class such as animal science, AgTechnology, and even horticulture. Your teacher tells the class that you will each have a Supervised Agricultural Experience or SAE project that you will work on throughout the course. You think for a little while and decided to choose the animal systems route and raise a market pig for show and sale.

 Before you go anywhere or do anything typically you must be a member of The National FFA organization (Formerly known as Future Farmers of America) and/or a 4-H member. This is one of the major components of agriculture education. The other two are, your SAE project and classroom instruction. These projects are closely supervised by your agriculture teacher and sometimes a student aid who has many years experience showing pigs.

Time for the research

 Now that you have joined FFA, where do I start you ponder, there is so much to keep in mind about showing your very first swine project and there is a lot to know about raising livestock. First things first do your research for the county fair or state fair in which you would like to show in. Every fair has different guidelines on what types of pigs you are permitted to enter and the weight limits with that type of market animals. For example in Putnam County, Florida, all swine must grade a minimum of US. no. 2 quality grade. Which is the quality of the carcass when it comes to lean, thickness and fat. And in most fairs swine have a strict limit which is usually around 240-290 (depending on the fair policy). So you would want to keep that in mind when choosing your project swine.

 Before you even make a purchase, you first must find a place to house your project, which is typically on the school agriculture research farm. How you will feed it, either with a bowl or more common an automatic feeder, that way your pig will have access to more food, and of course water. According to the Animal Welfare Act. “All animals must have access to clean water at all times”. Once everything is squared away, you will need show equipment, such as a cane or pig-whip. Now it's time to start looking for your pig

Types of Show Pigs

There are hundreds of different types of swine breeds in the US and the world, but keep in mind that pigs have to be at least a grade 2. For the most part the most common seven breeds that most showman will choose. They are;

Duroc


Berkshire


Yorkshire


Spotted


Landrace


Poland China


Hampshire, and


Chester White.


 Every single one of these pigs are different and they all have their strengths and weaknesses, and their pros and cons. After you research on what is best for you, you make a purchase. These pigs can sell anywhere from $75 to $300+ depending on the breeder. Depending what food your pig is on, you may want to upgrade their food to a higher protein feed to help build muscle and fat marbling, aging research is key when it comes to pig food always read the labels if you are unsure what's in the food.
The food label shown here is the one I used all four years of showing this particular brand costs an average of $20.50/ per 50lb. bag. But when buying your pig they will most likely be on a cheap grower feed. You NEVER want to switch feeds right away, use the same feed they were on at the farm for two days after transferring the pig to the new location, then after two days mix in 1/4th of the new feed with 3/4th of the old feed for two days, then 50/50 for two days, 3/4th new and 1/4th old for two days then on the 9-10th day they are on the completely new feed. This is to insure your pig likes the food, and so they wont get sick from a switch to a higher protection content feed right away.

Once you choose your pig, and get it registered for the fair of your choice, you will more than likely be given a record book to record and document every little detail in your project. Every single bag of food you purchase, any supplies, equipment, cold protection such as hay or heat lamps, even just treats. You will have to record everything, at the end of the year, this is the way to tell if you lost money, broke even, or made a profit, and that's what you're after. You want to make money. Always keep the receipts, if you happen to lose your record book and still have records of all the purchases including the cost of the pig, you may be able to get a new book and input all the information.

 It is now the official start of show season with about three months before the fair, these next few months are crucial. The first step if you haven't already, you will need to gain the pigs trust, they are pray and social animals so they will need attention and you will need its trust. The pig-whip or show cane may be scary to the pig so you will want to introduce it to them very slowly so it knows you are not going to hurt it. Once the pig has your trust you will want to stand next to the pig about a foot or two back and start taping the pigs shoulder with the whip until it begins to move to keep it walking straight, you will want to tap both shoulders firmly and at the speed in which you would like your pig to move. To make it go right tap the left and vise versa. You will have to practice this every day up until the check in day, as you won't be allowed to work with your pig at the fair for safety reasons.

ITS SHOW TIME

 The day you have been waiting for, check in day. If your school does not have a scale or away to weigh your pig, you have no idea what the weight of your pig is. Try not to be nervous, lots of students pigs will not make weight both being under and over. If you happen to fall into one of those categories, do not feel discouraged, you tried your hardest and you will be able to try again next year with a new pig. Your pig walks on to the scale, and the number reads 270lbs. YOU DID IT! Congratulations. Now it is time to prepare for show night.

Before the Show

 You go to the bulletin board to see what class you are in, classes are groups of students about 10-15 in light, medium, and heavy weight. For this fair that would be, light weight is 240-256lbs, Medium weight is 257-273lbs (which is your class) and heavy weight class is 274-290lbs. And you see what class number your in that's when you will have to report to the arena to show your animal. You enter the ring with your FFA jacket zipped up, and show stick in hand. The pigs are released into the show arena. Approach your animal slowly, as running can spook pigs very quickly and easley.

During the Show

And they're off,  you start to show your pig, you want to keep your head up, and eyes on the judge and the audience. You start to notice the judge talking to the exhibitors one by one and those are eliminated to the top 5. The fair will announce the top 5. You see the judge walking towards you with a green ribbon. You got 5th place, it might not be the coveted blue ribbon or grand champion plaque, but you still placed and that's amazing.

After the Show/ Sale Night

A few nights later, it is time for the livestock auction, prior to the fair you would have had to wright buyers letters, that is a letter telling someone or a business about yourself, and your project, and you invite them to support you, not to buy your pig, because that is rude.You walk into the arena and your pig is let in from the other side. Bidding usually starts at $3 a pound, depending on how well you placed and it goes from there. Numbers are being said in a rap form pretty fast. You hear “Going once, going twice SOLD!” to Mr. Whoever for $4.00 a pound. After taxes that's about $1,000. You will then input that number and subtract what you spent. If the number is positive you made a profit and that's what you want. If you happen to have lost some money, don’t feel bad it is not a big deal, you can try again next year if you choose to do so.

After the Fair. show&sale

Last but certainly not least, make sure to thank your buyer, for me and most people that are in the form of a thank you basket with a handwritten note expressing your gratitude towards who ever bought your project and will be enjoying fresh homegrown pork from a local student. In the basket include small things like sauces, grilling supplies etc. anything you wish to include. You received a fair check for the amount above, whats next? The process starts all over aging with each new pig, but as the years pass by and after your 4th or 5th pig, you become a pro, and you can teach a newbie the dos and don'ts of cultivating a market swine for show and sale.