Puget Sound Junior Livestock Show and Sale

1. Puget Sound Junior Livestock Show and Sale Mt. Baker FFA

2. When? Where? • June 5-7, 2014(Thursday-Saturday) • Miss 1 day of school (Friday) and probably Thursday. • Skagit County Fairgrounds • Haul to FFA barn on June 4 or prior • Students may stay there with adult • 8:00 am Friday and 8:30 am Saturday • Show pig in Type and Fitting and Showing • Clinic on fitting and showing in April

3. Raising Pigs Info • Can be kept at barn with barn agreement • Student pays $250 to Mt. Baker FFA on tag date. Remainder balanced at the end. • Student must sign a barn contract!! • Can be kept at home • Need constant water supply • Heat lamp and straw until March • Mr. Rightmire will weigh 1 time for students never showing before, student weighs at least twice • Must be kept dry and clean • Shelter from wind and rain • Plan on investing up to $500 in feed, hog, etc. • Free choice feed until 220 pounds – that means all it will eat!!!! • Worming and dusting pig • Pigs will have all vaccinations • Must feed a quality balanced ration • Sicknesses must be reported promptly and with a rectal temperature • Keep a notebook with all info in it, record book, and calendar.

4. Feeding a pig • 18-19% protein (Crude Protein) • Elenbaas Excel 18 or Laurel Farm Supply Feed • 13 bags of feed usually (650 lbs) - $18 +/- a bag • 1.0% minimum lysine content • Free choice feed until 230 pounds – starts at 4 lbs/day. Gradual increase to almost 10-12 lbs per day • Calculating gain per day • Monitoring weight is important • Keep fresh feed, no mold • consider a self feeder if you will be doing this for a while

5. Pig Draw • Based on activity points • Expensive hogs vs. cheaper hogs • Date – • Location: FFA barn • If not taken that day, $1.50 per day for feed. Or provide feed • 2 pigs are better than 1

6. Sponsorship Basics • Necessary for a student to make money • Needs to be done early (April/early May) • Money stays with the student who received it • Sell hog (corporate sponsor) = $400/pig or whatever you want to charge (it is your pig) • Additional sponsors = $150+ • All animals sell no matter what. If you make or lose money, that is up to YOU!!! • Mr. Rightmire bids on animal, Keizer hauls pig to butcher • Total money divided by weight = Price per pound • This is an artificial auction in most cases.

7. Sponsorship

8. Swine Evaluation Traits for weaner pigs • Muscle • Leanness • Structural Correctness • Balance • Growth Potential • Volume

9. Muscle: • Loin • Ham • Ideally you want a groove down the top and a dimple before the tail head. • Wider standing

11. Leanness • Over loin edge • Jowl • Observe shoulder blade movement when walking • At the lower third of the ham. • Toughest to evaluate and predict at weaning • Picture of pig is lean, but very shallow body, no rib shape

12. Structural Correctness • Length/width of body • Width of eyes tells a lot about the future look of the pig. • Taller/bigger isn’t better. • Levelness of top • Soundness of feet and legs – hocks and knees

13. Balance • Design • Proportion • Completeness Ex. Pietrians are a breed that are not extremely well balanced as they may be overly muscled. Usually indicated by unusual black spotting

14. Tail set • Higher on ham is more desirable, as close to being part of the back as possible. • Pretty good indication of muscle and structure!! • Lower tail set (down ham) – not desirable

15. Other important considerations • Rib shape is more important now • Depth of body, not a lot of space between belly and ground. • Don’t base it on size (differs due to age, etc).