Microsoft word - cheyanne noland swine booklet.doc

There are many different aspects to showmanship. First thing you must do is prepare your animal at home before you ever get to fair. A couple of days after you purchase your animal you need to go out to its pen and try and rub on it, scratch it and just make it friendly. At least forty five days out you need to start walking your swine. Walk it a short distance to begin with and gradually start walking it longer and longer. Walk it every day. At home you want to have washed your pig. Washing your pig will make it friendlier and it will stay cleaner. When it comes to clipping your animal you can either slick sheer it 21 to 30 days out or clip it with a guide to a quarter of an inch a week before fair. When you get to fair you need to keep your hog clean. When you’re in the show ring you need to keep yourself clean. Keep eye contact with the judge at all times. You must never get between the judge and your animal. Always move slowly throughout the ring even if your pig decides to be a squirt and run away. Keep fifteen feet away from the judge at all times. Never let your hog touch the judge…that’s a major deduction. The judge wants to stay un-slimed. Keep your pig out of corners, in front of the judge and out of fights with other pigs. During showmanship it is very important to have prepared and you know a couple simple questions the judge might ask. past decade. It is important to remember that AI is a tool that will Before you purchase your breeding stock you should install proper living arrangements. There are many different types of fencing you can use to contain swine. You can use woven wire that is about twenty six to thirty four inches high to willing to manage and use it properly. One of the disadvantages where most hogs can not get out, but just to be safe I would put a of AI is that it may require a higher level of management than a line of barb wire above the woven wire. Although woven wire boar. For example, there is a greater chance of human error and barb wire do work nicely I prefer to use hog panels because associated with AI than with natural service. When a boar of their durability and safety. Yes, barb wire and woven wire will naturally mates a sow, the semen is not subjected to severe work for your project but hog panels were designed specifically changes in environment and is generally deposited into the for swine and you should stick with them. female more than once during a period that spans the optimal time for fertilization. In contrast, many environmental changes Live Cover Versus Artificial Insemination
are possible when semen is collected, diluted, transported and then deposited artificially. The inseminations must be done correctly and at the optimal times. The estrus cycle in the pig In live cover you need to have a boar where as in the averages 21 days but can range from 17 to 25 days. The first day process called AI you can choose which blood line, boar and of standing heat, when the female is receptive to the male and whether he’s a stress carrier or not by just paying for the semen. will stand to be mounted, is referred to as day 0. The two or three When you have a stress carrying sow it’s not a good idea to get a days that the female is receptive is termed estrus. stress carrying boar because there’s a greater chance of having a stress carrying baby. When you take a stress carrying baby to fair sometimes they will turn colors in sensitive spots, like behind its ears or in its flanks or forearm, and that’s not a good thing. Artificial insemination(AI) in swine is not a new technique. However, use of AI in the United States has skyrocketed in the When first bringing a show pig home the most important things are food, water, and shelter to be available after the pig’s long hard trip to its new home. A pig licker or a dog nipple are very useful for watering swine when hooking it to a hose. You  Feed (Honor, Sunglow, Ringmaster, Show Master, Bar Ale, could also use a bucket but it is definitely not as useful. There are many different types of swine food you can use Honor, Moormans, Sunglow, Ringmaster, Show Master, Associated, and Bar Ale, just to name a few. Moormans and Sunglow are of the highest quality. That does not mean that the others are not good. Honor, Associated, Ringmaster, Show Master, and Bar Ale are in the second bracket when dealing with quality. It is important that you feed a show feed and not commercial feed as the nutrient Before you bring a pig home you should make sure it has When picking out your pig you want to look for a pig that been vaccinated and wormed. It’s important to know when your has several characteristics: healthy, correct conformation, depth, breeder vaccinated and wormed your animal so you know how long width, length, and muscularity. You want the swine to be until you should do it again. You should worm your pigs every 4-6 healthy. Make sure the pig you select does not have any weeks. There are a few different types of wormers I prefer to use respiratory issues, eyes are clear, is not lethargic, does not have a depending on how many days away from fair you are. My favorite runny nose, cough or is wheezing. The first thing I look for is two are Atgard and Ivermectin. Atgard wormer is as simple as make sure that the hogs are sound. You want your hog to be free adding it to the hogs food for removal and control of mature and moving in all its joints. I always have the breeder walk the pig immature whipworms, nodular worms, large roundworms, and thick towards and away from me. You want the pig to have a level stomach worms in swine from the littlest piglet to the largest hog in back and to be flexible at the hock and knee. The second thing I your herd. Atgard wormer has no withdrawal time therefore you can look for is skeletal structure; you want the pig to be skeletally use it as close to fair as you want and you won’t have a problem. correct and big boned. Next you want to choose a pig that is deep Ivermectin has the broadest range of swine parasite control and wide. When I say deep I mean the length from the bottom of available in feed. You can also use this wormer in swine of all ages, its belly to its back. You want your pig to be wide through the and there’s a five day withdrawal in the feed through and an shoulders and back and have a wide stance. You want your pig to eighteen day withdrawal for the injectable. Don’t use that one to close to fair or you will have a problem. It’s important to know be long from the point of the tail where the dimple is to the nose. what normal vital signs are. Normal temperature is 101 degrees Now you look and see how wide its rib cage is. The purpose for Fahrenheit, normal heart rate is 60-80 beats per minute, and normal having a wide rib cage is then you know that the animal has a respiration rate is 30-40 breaths per minute. Knowing your animal good growing capacity. You also want your hog to have muscle and his vital signs will help you recognize more quickly if he is ill. definition. You don’t want it to have leaping muscles when you first pick it out because as it grows that could cause unsoundness. CHARACTERISTICS TO LOOK FOR!!!  Structurally sound  No bowed  Flat along its top line  Legs bend at the hock  Level shoulders  Deep  Long  Wide rib cage  Structurally correct in skeletal design  Muscle definition  Dimple  Clear eyes  Alert, not lethargic  No runny nose, no coughing or wheezing  Wide throughout shoulders and back 

Source: http://cetrinity.ucanr.edu/files/107619.pdf