My daughter loves to show a red hog. We usually have a red gilt on feed every year. Some of the areas we look at when selecting a young red prospect is structural integrity. Most red hogs will be rugged, stout and big bodied early. Many times they tend to stay that way and not get good enough design...

Geobstud wrote:Mary-Oakie what type of sow would you use elementary on?

They bought him to use on the Starbuck and I Got it females. So I would use him on those prettier fronted, good designed females that need some more power and mass.

If she is wide made, moderate and good muscle, use Bone N Hand.

You need to use I Cloud and Elementary for the yorks. Tree Trunx looks to be a lot like he sire. Half the litter will be awesome and the other half will have some sort. I don't really care much about someone's visual appraisal of a boar. I really care about what the pigs out of the boar look like. I...

Check out "Outmanned" at Morgan genetics. We are looking to use him again this fall. http://www.morgangenetics.com/sires.html

Genetics - 25% Feeding Program/Environment - 50% Showmanship - 25% I liken it to a golf tournament. You can't win a tourney in the 1st round, but you can sure shoot yourself out of it. Meaning, you need to start with one that is built right and has the potential to be a good one. You set yourself up...

I've always been a big fan of new showmen using a pipe. When they are small, it is difficult for them to have the right angle to hit the pig correctly with a whip unless they are trained on how to use it while at home. The pipe gives them more authority without needing a lot of power. It also helps ...

If he complements your females, I would use him. There are a lot of replacement females out there out of him. If you are a little worried about getting them a little too small framed, you may want to use his son that is at Moyers called Gain Control. From the females I saw out of him this summer, th...

Really solid judge. He's judged STC a couple years now. Will want them sound with a good design and plenty of thickness. He'll pick a good one.

We had a litter of Manchild pigs this January with most of them within three weeks of their fair. He made them tall fronted and really good designed. We she 12 in the litter. one was a head shaker that we feeder pigged, but sold the other 11 in our sale as showpigs. Easily the most consistent litter...

Tree Trunx at Triple B is a bigger outlined boar that is really good on his pasterns and tall fronted. His first litters will be hitting the ground in July. So you may want to see how he generates. Manchild at HF Genetics makes them tall fronted and really good designed. HillBilly Bone at 4K sires i...

Reduce the area where you exercise her. By confining her ability to get out and run, you should be able to start training her to walk at a slower pace. She will most likely slow her pace as she gets heavier and fatter as well.

We only use water the day of the show. Not sure there is anything that works better when heading directly into the ring. (Cools them down and makes them shine under the lights and is never considered illegal!) I think good hair care leading up to and during the fair is essential to a fresh and healt...

Late June to Early July pigs work well for Georgia. Barrows should be July, and gilts in that June and July time frame.

Show pigs need exercise, so having them walk around doesn't hurt them at all. However, if you are wanting them to respect your showing utensil, then guiding them during their exercise would be your best bet. Getting them head trained is one thing, but as important if not more important is getting th...