College Park FFA and The Woodlands FFA Swine Manual

College Park FFA and The Woodlands FFA Swine Manual

Goals for the FFA Swine Projects: 1. This is an educational experience as well as an opportunity to instill responsibility into the student. 2. This should be a family oriented activity. 3. Provide an opportunity for the student to be competitive since the College Park FFA Chapter is highly competitive. 4. To have more parental involvement in the barn. Expectations for the Year: 1. The teacher will be a catalyst for success in the barn. 2. The barn will be kept in tip top shape at all times and it is every student s responsibility to achieve this expectation. 3. All animals must be cared for twice daily. 4. Communication is the key to a successful year. A very open line of communication will exist between the teacher, student and parents. Frequently asked questions: 1. What is a show pig project? A show pig project is where a student selects a genetically superior pig, as compared to a commercial pig, and feeds it a higher than normal quality feed. This project most definitely costs more than a commercial animal and the rewards if you place are most definitely more than that of a commercial animal. 2. What is the difference between Montgomery County and the Major shows? Montgomery County is just for Montgomery County students and will sell 10% of all the pigs that show. Where as at the major shows, the show is open to any one in the state and sells only 10-20% of what shows up. At Montgomery

County and the majors you can only show males. Also the majors are a terminal show and Montgomery County is not. This means once you go to the show your pig must stay there but you can take them home from Montgomery County. I typically recommend that a first year feeder show only at Montgomery County. 3. What is the difference between a barrow and gilt? A barrow is a castrated male and gilt is a female pig. Gilts will typically out place a barrow because they are leaner and more expressive in their muscle shape. You can only show BARROWS at the Texas majors and Montgomery County. 4. What age of a pig do I show? This is really only a concern to those who want to purchase a pig on their own or those who would like to show at Montgomery County and the majors with the same pig. A pig should be no younger than 6 months of age and no older than 7 months of age at the show. This means they must have been born between mid September and mid October for Montgomery County and mid July to the first of August for San Antonio. Typical budget for a year: ($500-900) 1. *Facility use Fee $100..00- this is a one time fee per pig for the use of the school facilities, equipment, etc. 2. Medication and Miscellaneous Supplies Fee $25.00- this is a one time a year fee per pig that is use for routine medications and barn supplies. 3. Cost of the Pig- a pig will cost a minimum of $200.00 and can go as high as you want on the upper limit. Typically most pigs will cost between $350-$500. Typically speaking if you spend more you will get a better pig but this is not always the case. 4. Equipment for pig- this is hard to predict because it is greatly determined by how well your student keeps up with their equipment and how much you spend on a tack box. However $75.00 is a good figure. 5. Feed- the average feed cost is probably around $300.00

6. Entry Fee- the validation fee is $2.00 or $7.00 depending on the show and the entry fee is $20 per animal depending on the show. How do you get started raising a pig? The first thing you must do is pay your facility, medication fee, the price you would like to pay for your pig and your FFA Dues ($15) This is to be turned into your ag teacher. No one will be given a pig nor will a pig be purchased for someone until your money is turned in. This means that you will not be given an opportunity to pick a pig until you have paid. We work off a first come first served basis Selection of a Pig The student will be involved in some aspect of the selection process. There are many ways to get your pig. A few people would like to go out on their own and get their own pig or go to a certain breeder. This is acceptable, however it is very important that you have someone with lots of current knowledge of show ring qualities assist you in this process. However, most people will simply leave the locating of the pig totally up to the teacher. The teacher will go out and located pigs that are of the quality that we need. When the teacher brings back pigs students will then be given the opportunity to select their project. When selecting a project you first want to look at the pigs skeletal structure. You want a pig that is sound on their feet and legs, and has adequate length and height. Next you will want a pig that has excellent muscle volume and lean expression down there top and through there hams. Lastly, a pig should be attractive in its appearance. Let s remember that selecting, raising, and showing a champion is a lot of hard work and a little luck. Only one person can have the champion, but a whole bunch of people will place. The animal s genetics will largely dictate the performance of the animal. The animal must come from outstanding parents to have a chance to do well.

Deciding on a Feed Deciding on which feed to use is as important as the selection of the animal. You are feeding a show animal that costs more than a commercial animal and has superior genetics. Thus you must feed the animal a superior feed. When you spend as much as you do on an animal you cannot sacrifice quality of feed for the cheapest feed. The exhibitor must select a good feed from a reputable company that specializes in show feeds. Show feed companies use higher quality ingredients that are more easily digested and that pass on a higher level of nutrition to the animal in order to make the elevated genetics perform to its potential. As an example, a racehorse doesn t eat regular horse feed, a athlete doesn t eat like most of us eat, and a race car does have a normal car engine. How do you purchase the feed? Feed can be purchased in one of the following places: 1. The family can purchase the feed, as they need it from New Waverly Feed. Just ask for directions on how to get to the store. New Waverly Feed (Mike or Kim Hunter), New Waverly, TX, 936-344-2306. There are others in the area but they are the best for show animals. 2. I recommend either the Sunglo Feeds or the Moormans Showtec Feeds. 3. If you choose Sunglo Feeds I recommend you buy 1 bag of 101 to start of with or if you feed Moormans then I recommend you buy 1 bag of 272 or 273 to get started with. This bag should last you about 2 weeks for one pig. When you get down to about a half of a bag left talk with me and I will recommend which ration you should buy next.

Facilities The most important part of the facilities is that they stay clean, sanitary, and the dust is kept to a minimum. Dust is very bad for pigs it causes lots of problems. The pens should be moistened twice a day every day no matter how cold or hot it is in the barn. During the sunny times of the year keep the pigs cool and the white pigs need sun block applied to keep from sunburning. During the cool time of the year the pigs need to stay warm by providing wind blockage and bedding to burrow in. The aisles also need to be dampened to settle the dust and kept free of tools and wheelbarrows to prevent injuries from occurring while walking the pigs. Supplies The following is a list of supplies that are needed to raise and care for a pig. Clip board to hang on the pen to record information Long show stick without a flapper, just ask at the feed store and they can help you Wash type brush with a handle that can be slipped into your pants pocket Griddle or Grill Brick Squirt bottle Shampoo Old towels Hair Care products, like mane and tail conditioner, show sheen, sudden impact, revive, etc. Purple oil for dark skinned pigs. Ant poison + fly/mosquito spray A 3lb scale that can also measure down to an ounce

Daily Care The pig project should be and is expected to be treated as a member of your family. It should fed twice daily at regular intervals. The pig should be fed before 9am and by 7:30 pm daily. IT IS BEST TO FEED AT A 12 HOUR INTERVAL. The animal s pen should be cleaned daily. The animal should be bathed once a week, weather permitting. The pig should be exercised daily once the pig has calmed down enough to be let out of the pen. A typical routine would consist of the following: Each student is expected and will work out a feeding arrangement with their pen partner if need be. This will be dependent on number of hogs at the facility. The partners will take turns feeding the two pigs in the pen. One person will always feed the pigs in the morning and the other will feed the afternoon. You must feed both pigs, because it is to difficult to separate the pigs at feeding time and by doing this each person will use the same amount of feed. AM Arrive at the barn and feed if its your time to do so If its not your time to feed, make sure pen mate has fed Get the pigs up and make sure they feel ok and do not have any problems Brush your pig Dampen the pen and aisle before you leave if you have a dirt pen PM Arrive at the barn and get the pigs up and make sure they are doing ok Work with your pig to get it used to you by talking to it, rubbing it, scratching it; use the show stick or training stick on the pig. Once you get past this stage, take your pig out and work on showmanship.

Give the pig a bath if its time to Weigh if it is your day of the week to weigh Feed the pigs if its your time Clean the pen while the pigs are eating. I suggest that you only clean the pen in the afternoon due to time and I suggest that the pen mates switch off day to day on the cleaning if you have one. Dampen the pen and aisle before you leave It is very important that you get your pig calm and used to you before you ever take it out of the pen. Pigs get stressed out very easily which can cause death. This will be discussed in the health section. It is important that you weigh your pig once a week only after they have calmed down. Starting in November we will have weekly showmanship clinics to teach you showmanship skills. It is also wise to attend some jackpot shows to watch how exhibitors show. Showmanship Showmanship is very important in determining how you place at the show. The judge cannot make an adequate evaluation of your pig if it is unruly and is running around the pen. The judge also cannot make an adequate assessment of your pig if you do not guide your pig in front of the judge. Showmanship is very difficult and there are as many opinions on proper showmanship as there are letters in the alphabet. My opinion, which is based on observing the best showman in the state demonstrating the latest preferred style, is as follows. 1. The showman and pig should be calm. 2. The showman should have prior knowledge of the ring setup, how the show is being run, and how the judge is working the classes. This is only accomplished by watching the show prior to you showing. You cannot learn what the judge is doing and how the show is ran by running around and

playing. 3. The showman should be comfortable in their posterior. 4. A good showman will always make and maintain good eye contact with the judge. 5. A good showman keeps the pig away from the fences and out of the corners. 6. A good showman guides the pig around the arena instead of the pig wondering around and the showman simply walking behind the pig. 7. Lastly a great showman always displays good sportsmanship. Health The health of the pig is crucial to the performance of the pig. A pig that is sick or that stays sick for to long can be set back and will not perform, as they should. Pigs typically have a very fragile immune system. This is mainly due to three things that lead to most of the sickness. First, pigs do not have a very good respiratory system. Their lungs are very susceptible to problems. Secondly, they can develop digestive problems. However, the most crucial health risk to pigs is stress. 1. Stress- today a high percentage of show pigs contain a gene that causes the animal to stress. There is no way to know prior to buying your pig if it is a stress gene carrying pig or not. A blood test can determine it but it takes about a week to get the result and it is expensive. Consequently a breeder is not going to test nor will they hold a pig for us while it is tested. Most will inform you that there is a chance of having the stress gene in the pig. Nearly all the pigs that look the best and have the look that is needed to win have the stress gene. So what is the stress gene and what does it do to my pig? Well it is genetic and it affects a pig just like it does us. If a pig is subject to too much stress at a given moment they could have a heart attack and die. This can and will happen and has happened before. There is not a whole lot

to do if they stress out. However, they can be administered a relaxing medication to calm them down if administered quickly enough. Sometimes when a pig stress out they can have a massive heart attack and die within minutes. Other times after a pig has been stressed and have been put up, and given a sedative to calm down they still die hours later because they continue to have mild heart attacks and their heart will eventually fail. This sounds very bad and as if there is not much to do for a pig once it has stressed, and there really isn t. However there is a lot that we can do to prevent STRESS. Stress is easily prevented by never getting the pig excited. Never over work a pig and persist too long in trying to make it do something it doesn t want to do. Don t run the pig around and chase it. Don t man handle a pig unless it is a last resort and only do this if the man handling only last for a second or two. Always keep in mind that this is a fragile animal and treat it as such. 2. Respiratory Problems- Pigs are very prone to respiratory problems due to the weakness of their lungs. The number one irritant to the lungs is dust. The more dust that a pig is subjected to the more problems they will have. The second irritant is temperature changes. The first can be prevented by always dampening the pen and the aisle to keep the dust down. The other is not as easy to deal with. So we have to make the best of it and treat when pigs get sick. The first signs of a possible respiratory problem is redness of the eyes and coughing. It is not uncommon for a pig to have red eyes and sneezing. This because it is dusty. However this can lead to a more chronic problem and the pig will start coughing if the dust is not controlled. Once the pig starts coughing we generally need to start a treatment, so notify me and we may decide to monitor it for a day and then treat. But, the sooner we start the better we can do. It is very difficult to cure and prevent all

respiratory problems. I saw a statistic that said that 80% of all pigs slaughtered have damaged lungs. 3. Digestive Problems- Digestive problems are the easiest problem to fix, but can be very bothersome. We are mainly talking about diarrhea. Pigs can get it very easily. Simply changing their feed will upset their stomach and cause diarrhea. Nearly every pig will get diarrhea when we first bring him or her in due to the change of feed. This will work its self out after some time. We can help them by given some Imodium AD once we see a problem or by using another type of buffer like oatmeal. If it persists we can try a medication. The other time of the year that we will see scour problems are when the pigs start eating a lot of feed. They will basically overload their system with protein and they will scour. This is easily corrected by the same means plus decreasing their feed slightly. Lastly we will see diarrhea problems with sudden weather changes. These will generally work themselves out with no intervention. 4. Lameness- Lameness can be a problem with pigs. It is very serious, and is difficult to treat. It usually takes long term medication to get them over it with not a very high success rate. We typically see two types of lameness. First, is stiffing of the rear hocks and secondly pulled muscles in the hams. Lots of things can cause these lameness issues, like holes in the pen, getting a foot caught in the fence, a pig running to hard, stepping on something, being forced somewhere, and certain viruses. The reason the success rate is so low on treatment is because arthritis sets in fairly quickly and is hard to knock out. So be very careful with your investment. Keep the pen leveled out, don t take the pig out of the pen to walk it unless you can control it, keep the aisle picked up of tools and lastly don t force the pig.

I hope that this information has been helpful to you. It is by no means everything you need to know. A lot will be learned along the way. There are three other supplements that will come out as the year progresses. They will be a Feed Supplement, How to Clip a Pig, and Getting Ready For the Show. Please remember that this is a fun but educational project that is designed to teach the student responsibility, discipline, and hard work. It should not be looked at as a money making event because remember only 10% will make the sale. Hampshire Hog Crossbred Hog (Blue Butt) Yorkshire Hog Duroc Hog

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