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GoinBackToCali

GoinBackToCali

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, Texas, USA
Peg told me one time she had no idea what qualified as a showpig.

Most people think of a pig and think of round squishy things..

We found out who the judge is for the state fair this year, and he has his own Farm/Genetics company. He pretty much looks for what he breeds.. quality wise..

We have our work cut out for us..



http://www.realmccoygenetics.com/viewallsires.html
 
Hm..so why do people often see the "fat round squishy" type pigs in pig farms? are they classed as "over weight" or is that just certain types of pigs?

I am absolutely in love with Texas Flood! so cute ^-^
 
Luv-bunniz wrote:
Hm..so why do people often see the "fat round squishy" type pigs in pig farms? are they classed as "over weight" or is that just certain types of pigs?

I am absolutely in love with Texas Flood! so cute ^-^
Click to expand...

I think that they are maybe meat pigs?

I love the pigs that look like dutch bunnies, soooo cute!
 
People who show pigs or sheep or any meat animal are being judged on the quality/quantity of meat they raise. When you show the neutered boys they are for market, girls can be for market or breed reproduction.

When showing sheep, we teach them to "push" or "brace" against our leg. That shows the muscle in their butts..... the meat.

ZIN - I'll try to get some pictures of my niece's pigs. They are Yorkshires. So danged cute!
 
Bo-- I lurve piggy pics!!!



Those are all boars... breeders, uncut. Legally you can only show gilts or barrows. Gilt's are females who have never Farrowed, or had a litter, Barrows are neutered males. Females that have had litters are called sows.But pretty much.. you can make any pig look SOMEWHAT like that.


Price point equals quaity.. as with all things..


With pigs... it's mostly genetics.. but it's also the feed..for the smaller shows.. we pay around $250 for a pig, because the auction money isn't that good, and theirs alot less competition. For the state fair coming up, we paid around $500 for a pig, and the auction money is pretty good. For example, my son was number 39 in an auction of 40 pigs.. he got $3200. With auctions, if your not grand or reserve champ.. you wanna go in directly after.. or towards the end. The middle is suckage. The buyers are enthustiastic in the beginning, lackluster in the middle, and by the end they have been plied with so much free beer by the livestock committee, they get stupid with their money.

I just paid a deposit on a Houston pig... that pig will run us around $1000, but the payout is DRAMATICALLY different..but here's the catch.. there's 40 places in Houston... first place is GUARANTEED $55,000... yes... FIFTY FIVE THOUSAND!!!..so you can imagine what the other places can get ya auction wise. We call that the big show.The catch? 40 places..500 pigs competing, if not more. It's a terminal show.. meaning the pigs don't leave the grounds except on a meat truck once they are there. So you walk down this long aisle to the judge.. he watches you...the aisle tee's off in 2 directions. You either get pointed to the show ring to compete and possibly get culled there, or win. Or you get pointed straight to the meat truck, and you get market price. A friend of ours paid $900 for her pig. It went straight on the meat truck. She got $72.48 for Big Tuna...suckage.

Squishy pigs (we call those feeder pigs) are fed slop, or just feed feed..show pigs get fed feed with special meds, proteins, or fats.. and their are so many different feeds formulated for the type of body your pig has. For instance, Christian's last pig needed more cover (the shoulder meat) so he got 256 Moormons feed which is a high fat sow feed, mixed with 18%, which has a high protein, and a shot glass of veggie oil per feeding, and an egg each feeding. So he got 256 for bulk, 18% to make the bulk firm, veggie oil is used as *liquid fat* and the egg is for a shiney coat and supple hide.

Here is somethin that will BLOW your mind..3 days before a show, you pull them back.. ration the water, ration the feed..and you can seriously make a pig lose as much as 30lbs OVERNIGHT. Like body builders, makes their muscle pop, then we baby oil them down.....

They also lose alot of weight in transit.. we rolled into the state fair with a pig that was 10lbs over limit.. we drove to Winnie and back 15 miles each way.. so 30 miles..

When we got back in line and reweighed.. the pig was 8lbs under the limit..so he was 285 when we got there, and he came in at 267.8..

Wish I could drive around.. poop and pee and lose that kinda weight..

 
GoinBackToCali wrote:
Bo-- I lurve piggy pics!!!



Those are all boars... breeders, uncut. Legally you can only show gilts or barrows. Gilt's are females who have never Farrowed, or had a litter, Barrows are neutered males. Females that have had litters are called sows.But pretty much.. you can make any pig look SOMEWHAT like that.


Price point equals quaity.. as with all things..


With pigs... it's mostly genetics.. but it's also the feed..for the smaller shows.. we pay around $250 for a pig, because the auction money isn't that good, and theirs alot less competition. For the state fair coming up, we paid around $500 for a pig, and the auction money is pretty good. For example, my son was number 39 in an auction of 40 pigs.. he got $3200. With auctions, if your not grand or reserve champ.. you wanna go in directly after.. or towards the end. The middle is suckage. The buyers are enthustiastic in the beginning, lackluster in the middle, and by the end they have been plied with so much free beer by the livestock committee, they get stupid with their money.

I just paid a deposit on a Houston pig... that pig will run us around $1000, but the payout is DRAMATICALLY different..but here's the catch.. there's 40 places in Houston... first place is GUARANTEED $55,000... yes... FIFTY FIVE THOUSAND!!!..so you can imagine what the other places can get ya auction wise. We call that the big show.The catch? 40 places..500 pigs competing, if not more. It's a terminal show.. meaning the pigs don't leave the grounds except on a meat truck once they are there. So you walk down this long aisle to the judge.. he watches you...the aisle tee's off in 2 directions. You either get pointed to the show ring to compete and possibly get culled there, or win. Or you get pointed straight to the meat truck, and you get market price. A friend of ours paid $900 for her pig. It went straight on the meat truck. She got $72.48 for Big Tuna...suckage.

Squishy pigs (we call those feeder pigs) are fed slop, or just feed feed..show pigs get fed feed with special meds, proteins, or fats.. and their are so many different feeds formulated for the type of body your pig has. For instance, Christian's last pig needed more cover (the shoulder meat) so he got 256 Moormons feed which is a high fat sow feed, mixed with 18%, which has a high protein, and a shot glass of veggie oil per feeding, and an egg each feeding. So he got 256 for bulk, 18% to make the bulk firm, veggie oil is used as *liquid fat* and the egg is for a shiney coat and supple hide.

Here is somethin that will BLOW your mind..3 days before a show, you pull them back.. ration the water, ration the feed..and you can seriously make a pig lose as much as 30lbs OVERNIGHT. Like body builders, makes their muscle pop, then we baby oil them down.....

They also lose alot of weight in transit.. we rolled into the state fair with a pig that was 10lbs over limit.. we drove to Winnie and back 15 miles each way.. so 30 miles..

When we got back in line and reweighed.. the pig was 8lbs under the limit..so he was 285 when we got there, and he came in at 267.8..

Wish I could drive around.. poop and pee and lose that kinda weight..
Click to expand...


I'm curious though, if one pig can bring in $55,000 how much have you had to spend between prime feed, medicines, nutritional supliments, vet bills, show fees, transportation, and transportation expenses.....the full monty.
a6.gif
To get him ready to win like that?

I openly admit that I know nothing about this...but it seems to me that even your hard work to maintain the pig is worth something...and that $55,000 may be A LOT...
doh2020.gif
But you've got A LOT invested in that fine swine don't you???
dunno.gif


Interesting reply by the way...thank you.
a6.gif
The closest I've come to a pig were the orphan piglets that my girlfriends mother used to let sleep with us when I visited their farm.
rofl.gif
I always loved it there.

 
The average price of raising a pig from start to finish, health certificates, castrations if needed, wormers, feeds and supplements,and tag in feesis averaged at about $600..unless you have a lame one, or a skinny one, .. or any other variable of such.

Pigs can get piggy pox, conjuctivitis, ulcers, I forgot the other name, but basically they get a snout infection and it twists the snout all up... it kinda like destroys the cartiledge, swine flu, swine fever, shingles...and any other of one of aboit 400 swine issues.. most are pretty rare.

Worst cases for me was a hamp that had constant conjuctivitis, piggy pox is always an issue every year, it's a virus, and pigs that get to big to fast and walk stiff legged, or overly hyper pigs that pull a muscle and walk lame.

Of course we also had the $300 piggle die last season.
 
BTW-the pigs that look like *dutch bunnies* are Hamps.. or Hampshire's, or as my youngest son calls them *Oreo's with Double Stuff*

Hamps don't always have the stripe I just found out.. I picked up my neighbor a pretty lil solid Black pig, who was sired from an *oreo* sow and an *oreo* boar.. half the litter had the stripe, half didn't..

Learn something new everyday..I always thought Hamps had stripes..
 
GoinBackToCali wrote:
The average price of raising a pig from start to finish, health certificates, castrations if needed, wormers, feeds and supplements,and tag in feesis averaged at about $600..unless you have a lame one, or a skinny one, .. or any other variable of such.

Pigs can get piggy pox, conjuctivitis, ulcers, I forgot the other name, but basically they get a snout infection and it twists the snout all up... it kinda like destroys the cartiledge, swine flu, swine fever, shingles...and any other of one of aboit 400 swine issues.. most are pretty rare.

Worst cases for me was a hamp that had constant conjuctivitis, piggy pox is always an issue every year, it's a virus, and pigs that get to big to fast and walk stiff legged, or overly hyper pigs that pull a muscle and walk lame.

Of course we also had the $300 piggle die last season.
Click to expand...

Wow! $600 doesn't seemtoo bad; I really expected it would be more costly than that. Thanks for the info. ;)

I'm sorry you lost one of your pigs.:(
 
I've got to be honest...I've never had any interest in pigs of any type. Not show, not meat, not pet. Not because I don't think they're cute, but because they're an animal I really have no knowledge about. I did see a sow with a mess load of babies that were positively adorable last year at the county fair, but that's about it. But when you talk about pigs, Zin, it makes me want to learn more. I've become enthralled with them and just spent quite a while at that site you listed. Not only did I love seeing all the cute piggies with the cute curly tails, but I thoroughly enjoyed the breeders' choice of names. Come on, Jail Bait, Witness Protection, and Muscle Shirt?! Classic! I was partial to Reload though - so freakin' cute!

So thanks for sharing about the pigs. I've honestly learned a lot and have come to the conclusion that I like pigs. I like 'em a lot.


 
Emily- did you miss the whole first post?

Showpigs..

Most people think of round and squishy when they think of pigs..

Hence...SHOWPIGS!

:pullhair:

:foreheadsmack:

:panic:

:sigh:
 
:(I remember that little piggy. It is when I fell in love with Blake. :)
 
Zin, Marsh (the girl) was standing looking at me yesterday just as proud as a peacock! She had pushed the stall mats up and over.... dumped her water pan that's hooked to the side of the stall (she steps on the edge to get the water to spill) and rooted all over in the mud she made! Pink piggy - black muddy face... I swear she was smiling! and looking to invite me to join her and Mallow.
 
Them's some fancy show pigs! Almost nobody around here really does special show pigs, mainly the normal pink ones they raise for eating and take to the 4H fair. Although 4H show pigs are how my dad paid for his college back in the day but he's always been more of a cow man. I think my hubby showed just about everything except pigs and horses, nowhere to good keep either and no interest.
 
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