BREEDING FOR PUREBREED SHOWING
No matter what breed we choose to show, we must try to breed to the breed standard to have any chance of winning on the show bench. The first thing to do then is to read the breed standard before you go to buy your chosen breed.On saying that you may not be lucky enough to buy showable pigs but they must be as near the standard as possible, with no major faults.
Faults to avoid. Folds in ears, any type of coat faults, even tiny ones. Very small ears and or eyes. Wrong coloured eyes for the breed. Poor colour. Flat straight coats on Rex. Misplaced rosettes on Abys. Badly mismarked.
A trio is good to start with, find an exhibitor who does well on the show bench and go on the waiting list if need be, talk to them about the breed they will advise you on what to look for in your first litters. Do not be tempted to get a lot of different breeds, decide on one or two to start. And concentrate on these for a while.
When the first litters begin to arrive do not be in too much of a hurry to sort out what to keep and what to let go, it takes a few weeks for the babies to come into there own, the general rule is, if it has no faults and its a sow hold on to it for a few months, boars need to be sorted a bit quicker, but if you are trying to build up a stud you do`nt want to be sorting them to quickly. If the babies are better than the parents you should keep them and you cannot tell this until they are about four months old unless they are a marked breed when its pretty obvious.
If you are luck enough to have a few showable babies put them into same sex pairs to grow on if you leave them all running together they do not put the weight on so well, and they are less likely to get nipped ears.
Apart from the breed standard the pigs are judged on fitness, no matter how well, marked or typy the pig is if its not fit it will not win. Feed to put on condition. Grass is good for this in the summer and always allow plenty of hay to eat and have water available. It all helps. Find a dry food they really enjoy and give them a good supply of fresh food every day.
Preparing you pig for the show is very important a lot of breeds have to have all the guard hairs groomed out, this comes with practice and should not hurt the pig if its done properly. And of course be spotless clean and nails must be clean and short.
You need to put some time in to win at shows but it is worth it, and the longer you do it the easier it becomes.
Faults to avoid. Folds in ears, any type of coat faults, even tiny ones. Very small ears and or eyes. Wrong coloured eyes for the breed. Poor colour. Flat straight coats on Rex. Misplaced rosettes on Abys. Badly mismarked.
A trio is good to start with, find an exhibitor who does well on the show bench and go on the waiting list if need be, talk to them about the breed they will advise you on what to look for in your first litters. Do not be tempted to get a lot of different breeds, decide on one or two to start. And concentrate on these for a while.
When the first litters begin to arrive do not be in too much of a hurry to sort out what to keep and what to let go, it takes a few weeks for the babies to come into there own, the general rule is, if it has no faults and its a sow hold on to it for a few months, boars need to be sorted a bit quicker, but if you are trying to build up a stud you do`nt want to be sorting them to quickly. If the babies are better than the parents you should keep them and you cannot tell this until they are about four months old unless they are a marked breed when its pretty obvious.
If you are luck enough to have a few showable babies put them into same sex pairs to grow on if you leave them all running together they do not put the weight on so well, and they are less likely to get nipped ears.
Apart from the breed standard the pigs are judged on fitness, no matter how well, marked or typy the pig is if its not fit it will not win. Feed to put on condition. Grass is good for this in the summer and always allow plenty of hay to eat and have water available. It all helps. Find a dry food they really enjoy and give them a good supply of fresh food every day.
Preparing you pig for the show is very important a lot of breeds have to have all the guard hairs groomed out, this comes with practice and should not hurt the pig if its done properly. And of course be spotless clean and nails must be clean and short.
You need to put some time in to win at shows but it is worth it, and the longer you do it the easier it becomes.
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