What is everyone experiences with this?I am looking to add mass to pretty, just wondering if I can get the same mass with exotics or are durocs the best choice? Will they be too ugly to win major shows?
Thanks to all responses

I was thinking about going the other direction and taking a duroc sow and breeding her to an exotic. I have not tried my experiment yet. Anxious to know what people think as well on this topic. I am worried about the down ears from the Duroc!

Well that makes three of us. I have 2 pretty nice blues that could use more mass and a little more bone. Looking at putting them with a duroc boar.

if I remember right it was around 1992 when I saw a down eared belted pig do anything in a show. lol but I could be wrong.

X-RATED

Will all of the pigs ears be down?

No, but most.

I HAD A DUROC SOW BRED TO X-BRED HAMP BOAR AND HAD HALF RED CROSSES AND OTHER WAS BELTED AND OUT OF 12 ONLY LIKE 3 OR 4 WERE FULLY FLOPPY

Yeah, but you probably got a lot of those half-way ears which are not really attractive either.

ears on a hog are like hair coat on a steer. I don't eat either one. As far as major shows go you may not win there, but I did see some down eared blue butts do decent at a local show. Maybe the judges at the large shows don't have the sense to pick the best pig no matter what their ears look like. Or maybe no one is showing bent ear hogs because they are afraid they won't be pretty enough to place in the crossbred class. Be the trend setter. It may take a few shows but it will only take one judge picking a bent eared hog to make everyone scramble to find floppy eared crossbreds.

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khog,

I agree that the ears are not relevant to the hog's carcass composition, but there is really nothing in the showring relevant to production, so a judge's opinion comes down to simple appearance and I would say that the majority of showpig industry people prefer the look of a hog with erect ears. When it comes down to 2 more or less identical pigs for champion and one has down ears, the erect-eared pig has a better "showring look" and is more likely to win. You wanna change the trend? Great! You go first.

Ten years ago we had some Duroc and Duroc cross sows that we mated to Hamps, Yorks and Exotics to get show pigs. We also competed against Duroc crosses from Whitman and others.
Based on that, I think a person will have better results in the show ring by breeding Duroc to Duroc rather than crossing them. Cross breeding Durocs results in some funky colors, down or half-down ears, and pigs that just are not competitive in the ring.
The Duroc crosses did grow well, however.

show boat will make good barrow

Many years ago it was common practice to breed Durocs to Hamps for sow pigs. They make a great cross. We did it many times and always had black and white pigs.