Showmanship question

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Wiscofarmer8
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Showmanship question

Post by Wiscofarmer8 » Sat Mar 11, 2017 10:21 pm

I've recently seen in the shows I've been to that some of the top showman (which I consider are the kids that do many shows during the show season, and are more in the loop than I am cause I only do three shows during the season) have been using their hands on their pig during the shows and showmanship, such as giving it a good hit on the side to get it moving or using their hand to drag the pigs head to get it out of a corner and take their hand to drag the pigs head to get it to turn/moving. Being the good showman they are, they placed high and won in showmanship even when they touched their pig like I explained before. I lost first place showmanship at my county fair because my pig decided he did not want to go in the holding pen, and when the judge released me from the ring, he said I should have hit and pushed my pig to get him into the holding pen. This confused me because I've been told my whole life by advisors to not touch my pig during showing or at least not when the judge is looking. Is this a new trend in the industry? Are judges now looking for a showman to do that?

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futurepigbreeder
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Re: Showmanship question

Post by futurepigbreeder » Tue Mar 21, 2017 9:06 pm

The kids that are placing may know the judge and he may be playing favorites. The kids that use their hand to get the pig out of the corner is doing it right as long as they are doing it without the judge seeing but using their hands to turn their pigs or to move them isn't what I've been taught either. I have made it to the champion drive in showmanship for the past two years and this year the top 3 weren't even showing, one sat in the corner the whole time one was sitting with their pig in the middle of the ring and the last one couldn't get their pig to move it really depends on the judge and what he likes to see.I have not heard of any trend like this but there is a trend where they use a brush to hit the pigs back with to get them to move. I recommend going up to the judge after you show to ask him how you can improve.

Pac
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Re: Showmanship question

Post by Pac » Mon Apr 24, 2017 11:41 am

I think there is a bit of difference in the type of shows you are at...county and state shows are generally more traditional. All of the pigs are at market weight and shouldn't need much encouragement if raised and trained correctly.

I think you might see more acceptance of "on hand/brush" techniques at Jackpots and shows that have pigs of all stages as a lot of those animals are still in the training phase of show development.

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